Thousands March into Merivale

By Rebecca Harris

Sydney bar magnate Justin Hemmes’ annual food and wine festival - ‘March into Merivale’ – opened with a bang last week, with more than 1800 patrons attending the official launch night (Feb 16).

From 5:30pm, the block outside Hemmes’ flagship venue, ivy, on Sydney’s George Street quickly filled as crowds formed an orderly queue to sample the food and wine that will be on offer throughout the two-month long festival.

This year’s festival will feature more than 50 events, including outdoor laneway dinners, an ivy poolside dinner, a vintage champagne night and a brewers’ dinner, as well as weekly rotating $33 dinners across all of Hemmes’ venues.

Hemmes said that this year’s festival would be bigger and better than the inaugural 2009 festival.

“Inspired by the success of our first March into Merivale, we have had a lot of fun creating the 50 plus events for next year’s event and have extended it to two months to accommodate them all,” he said.

‘March into Merivale’ will run until April 16.