City Cellar Door

City Cellar Door takes over Newcastle East on Saturday 21 November, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. It's a brand-new wine-tasting trail brought to the city by the Newcastle East 2300 Precinct, and it runs for one afternoon only. The whole idea is to take the cellar-door experience out of wine country and into the heart of the city: seven wineries from the Hunter Valley and Orange regions set up across seven Newcastle East venues, and you wander the trail tasting your way through them.

The wineries on the list are Margan, Charteris, Mercer, Vinden, De Iuliis, Swinging Bridge and Byrne Farm. They'll be spread across Humbug, Ship Inn, Customs House, Bartholomews, The Great Northern, The Grain Store and The Grand. It's a fair bit of ground to cover, but that's the point — you move from one spot to the next, sampling your way through the lineup rather than staying put in one place.

Food is built into the day, too. Each ticket comes with a A$30 food voucher to use at any of the seven participating venues, so you can pair your tastings with something to eat as you go. Hunter Valley winemaker Mike De Iuliis and publican Lukas Thodas of The Grand Hotel were among those involved in the announcement.

A ticket is A$80, which covers your wine tastings along the trail and the A$30 food voucher. It runs from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm on Saturday 21 November across Newcastle East.