Festivale: Expert wine and cider judge to taste test

The awards will decide the best cider, best perry, best non-traditional cider, and in the wine categories, best sparkling, rose, riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, best other red, and best other white, out of the event’s stallholders.  

This year, the festival will welcome Warwick Billings from LOBO Cider in South Australia as a guest judge.

Mr Billings joins local judges Curly Haslam-Coates, James Welsh, Luke Dempsey and Drew Burns for the Festivale Wine and Cider awards.

The winners will be announced in the afternoon of Saturday, February 2.

Mr Billings made cider in Somerset, England, before deciding to look for winemaking qualifications at Adelaide University.

His winemaking career has included working for large Australian companies, as well as being a flying winemaker all over the world.

Now the co-owner of LOBO cider, he makes their ciders in the Adelaide Hills, as well as contract winemaking and importing barrels from France.

Festivale chairman David Dunn said Mr Billing’s addition was a win for the festival.

“We are thrilled to have Warwick join our expert local judges for these awards,” he said. 

“The Tasmanian Cider Trail were instrumental in securing Warwick for our event and we look forward to him being part of our judging panels.”

 All judging will be conducted using blind panels.

There will also be separately judged Best Stall Awards, on the basis of visual presentation, atmosphere, customer service, use of Tasmanian products, innovative menus, regulatory compliance and environmentally friendly recycling practices.

Festivale will be held February 1 – 3 in City Park, with winning wines and ciders available for purchase.