Into The Vines: Valentine's Day

Into The Vines is back!

Collingwood’s favourite midweek wine-tasting event Into The Vines is back just in time to celebrate, commiserate or excoriate this Valentine’s Day.

Instead of sitting at home with a bottle of cheap red and a tub of ice cream (in true Bridget Jones fashion), we're inviting wine lovers to join us at Into Coffee on Valentine's Day and taste small-batch wines directly from their makers. Bring your mates, and dates – or just come by yourself!

In the fourth iteration of the event, our agency Tracado has rounded up another five epic Victorian wineries for wine novices, aficionados and everyone in between to discover.

However this Valentine’s Day, the event is being stepped up a notch with a new ice cream and wine pairing masterclass that features specially curated Gelato flavours from Hareruya Pantry and drops selected by wine guru, producer and academic Dr Alastair Reed (one half of the Konpira Maru duo).

The Valentine's Day tasting event will include In Two Minds, Rouleur Wine Co, Athletes of Wine, Mr. Velvet Ears and Hesket Estate.

We’ve structured it so it’s a wine tour in a room- with the chance to discover up to 20 wines made in family-owned, small-batch wineries, and special offers on take-home bottles (usually something you can only experience regionally, or in trade tastings).

If you want to step up the experience- join wine guru Alastair Reed as he hosts a 45-minute pairing masterclass with wines from our participating wineries, and his wines (Konpira Maru) with exquisite gelato from the coveted Hareruya Pantry. You’ll learn that wine pairs with more than just cheese- and understand what elements of the wine work well with the flavour profiles of the Gelato – it will be five Gelato flavours paired with five wines.

Ticket holders will also have the chance to pre-order a special one-litre tub of the five flavours from Hareruya Pantry that Alastair chooses should they wish to replicate the pairing experience at home.

About Hareruya Pantry:

Translating to ‘sunny shop’ in Japanese, Hareruya is a place where light is distilled. A sun-dappled convenience store, connecting Melbourne with specialty house-made Japanese gelato, breads, bento, onigiri, sando and rotating hot snacks.

Their best-seller, Daifuku, is a gelato-scoop wrapped in mochi. It's like eating a rice cake and a gelato at the same time!

Hareruya Pantry’s gelatos are classic, non-frill Japanese flavours. They love introducing Japanese ingredients and food culture to the Melbourne community, building bonds and creating conversations over them. Apart from classic tea flavours such as Matcha and Houjicha, they’ve had flavours such as Sake Lees, Sudachi citrus, Ume plum, and Hokkaido Pumpkin.

About Alastair Reed (PhD):

Alastair began winemaking in 2007 and subsequently has suffered through 18 vintages in Australia and Spain. After gaining a PhD in Forest Genetics from the University of Melbourne he was program coordinator of the Bachelor of Viticulture and Winemaking at Melbourne Polytechnic and Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University, where he continues to lecture. His interests include wine economics (winning the Christophe Baron prize for best presentation at the American Association of Wine Economists annual conference in 2015), sustainable water management systems, applied vine physiology and cricket. He began Konpira Maru Wine Company in 2013, which now makes minimal intervention wine in Victoria and Queensland and exports to 12 countries.

This event is 18 years and over only - ID required.

Please Note: Due to the limited flavours and small numbers, dietaries such as vegan + GF unfortunately can't be accommodated for this masterclass. However, Hareruya have some flavours that fit these dietaries, please visit their store to find out more.