There are fantastic beer, wine and spirit producers across New South Wales, with festivals all over the state showing them off. Whatever your tipple, there’s an event for you.
- 3 min read
Autumn
For one fabulous day in March taste small batch wines, feast on farm gate produce and dance to live music at A Little Bit of Broke, located only 20 minutes from the heart of the Hunter Valley. Roam between 15 of Broke’s best venues - tickets include a souvenir wine glass and four tastings.
On the mid-North Coast, meet local winemakers and beer producers at the Shoal Bay Food and Wine Festival before grabbing a glass of your favourite drink and watching cooking demonstrations.
Krinklewood Winery, Broke
Visit the Snowy Mountains region during May for the Batlow CiderFest, when colourful stalls take over most of the town’s main street to celebrate the end of the apple harvest. Taste boutique ciders, meet the growers and makers, and enjoy live music.
Celebrating its 10th year in 2026, Newcastle Beer Fest is one for hops lovers. Held at Newcastle’s iconic King Edward Park, find 100% local music and entertainment, food and, of course, beer – best of all, all 33 breweries represented at the festival are independent, Australian-owned companies.
Newcastle Beer Fest, Newcastle - Credit: Newcastle Beer Fest
Winter
The Hunter Valley’s Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival is a community event with over 50 stallholders. Tickets give you access to the festival and a memorabilia wine glass to sip from as you wander among the best local wineries, craft breweries, distilleries and gourmet food vendors. Children receive complimentary entry and can enjoy a jumping castle, train rides, a carousel and face painting.
Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival, Hunter Valley - Credit: Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival
Expect tipples to suit everyone’s taste at Wines of the West Festival, a festival showcasing vineyards from the Blue Mountains and the Central Tablelands. The two-day event, held at The Carrington in Katoomba, features dozens of winemakers, with opportunities to taste drops you’d usually only find at cellar doors and special prices.
If whisky tickles your fancy, ensure you book tickets to the Dubbo Winter Whisky Festival - it often sells out well before the event. Makers from Australia and beyond gather in Country NSW to celebrate whisky, rum, gin, vodka and liqueurs - it’s a great opportunity to dine with distillers and find limited-run spirits.
Dubbo Winter Whisky Festival, Dubbo
Spring
Once a small community event, Flavours of Mudgee is now one of NSW’s biggest celebrations of food and wine. In late September, Mudgee’s streets are lined with over 60 stalls doling out local food plus the region’s best wines. Expect big reds, bright chardonnays and fresh drops. Play wine trivia, meet some of the region’s best winemakers, go on twilight tasting tours and more.
Flavours of Mudgee, Mudgee
The rolling hills around Orange are famed for producing many of the cool-climate wines on show during the two-week Orange Wine Festival. Meet winemakers, sip your way through night markets, join the ultimate wine tasting with over 300 wines on show under one roof and explore local vineyards on a hop-on hop-off bus.
Enjoy a roving degustation of fine local wines matched with tasting plates at the Murrumbateman Moving Feast during the October long weekend. Find your favourite main meal and dessert pairing, not to mention new vinos.
Orange Wine Festival, Orange - Credit: ORVA
Held over the October long weekend, Gears and Beers Festival in Wagga Wagga combines bike riding with brews. With a range of courses on offer, from a 10km family-friendly ride on shared paths to an epic 130km gravel ride, they all end at the afterparty. Refuel with an incredible line-up of craft beers and ciders, local coffee and food, and live entertainment.
In Echuca Moama, jump aboard the hop-on hop-off bus and discover a handpicked trail of wineries, distilleries and riverfront eateries during the one-day festival Pop and Pour in November. Each stop offers something unique, so you can sip your way through the scenic Perricoota wine region enjoying live music, food trucks and signature drinks along the way.
Gears and Beers Festival, Wagga Wagga - Credit: Matt Beaver
Summer
Sip, swirl and taste your way through a non-stop weekend of regional craft beers, wines and spirits, local gourmet food and live music at the Snowies Beer, Food and Wine Festival. Discover who will win the beer vs wine dinner, explore the village square as it is transformed into a delicious marketplace, and meet the best spirit makers at alpine bars.
Bendigo Bank TumbaFest takes place along the shady banks of the Tumbarumba creekscape. Here you’ll listen to music from Australian performers, find your favourite local cool-climate wines and shop for unique handicrafts, not to mention, cheer on a duck race.
Bendigo Bank Tumbafest, Tumbarumba
