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ESSENTIAL INFO
If you purchase a ticket for this course, all the information on this page will be emailed to you with your ticket.
👥 Ages: Adults only 18+
📍 Venue: Bellingen Golf Club (Wheelchair Accessible)
📈 Level: Suitable for all skill levels
⏰ Schedule: Mon–Wed, 9am – 4pm (3 Full-Days)
🏷️ Extra costs: This course has a cost of $35 for supplies
🚗 Check your venue: If you are booking multiple courses, we are unable to provide transport between venues.
Required skills & experience
No experience required.
Supplies that will be provided by your tutor
Cost of $35 includes:
Wine
Use of tasting glasses
Light snacks to pair with wines
NOTE: Supply costs will be collected by the tutor before Camp Creative.
Learning outcomes
Evaluate Wine Structure: Learn to identify and break down the core structural components of wine, including acidity, tannins, alcohol, and body.
Understand the Winemaking Process: Discover how choices made from vineyard to bottle—including terroir, grape variety, and maturation—shape the final product.
Decode the Impact of Aging: Explore the unique ways vintage conditions and aging methods alter the character, aroma, and complexity of a wine.
Master Food & Wine Pairing: Gain the foundational confidence to smoothly select, pair, and elevate your dining experiences at home or out.
Navigate the Wine World: Learn how to interpret professional wine ratings, confidently decode bottle labels, and make the most of future cellar-door travels.
WEEK PLAN
DAY ONE
Labelling of Australian wines
Buying, storing and serving wine.
How we taste, what we can taste and how this varies between individuals.
A simple tasting of three or four wine styles to highlight the taste components of each style.
A discussion of the wine making process and how this leads to the flavours and textures we can detect when we taste a wine.
DAY TWO
Location, terroir, vintage conditions and maturation.
A discussion of how these factors are manifested in different wines. A structured tasting of a series of white and red wines to look at the influence of these factors on wine style.
DAY THREE
Enhancing the experience of tasting - matching food with wine.
Structuring your tastings
Pushing the style envelope
Visiting the source - the vineyard experience as part of travelling.
COURSE TUTORS
Richard Martin
With a professional background as a marine biologist, science manager, and strategic planner for the CSIRO, Richard brings a uniquely analytical yet deeply passionate perspective to viticulture. Now channeling his research discipline into a 55-year love affair with wine, his hands-on expertise spans from the soil up—including volunteer vineyard work in the Hunter Valley and Southern Tasmania alongside over 40 years in premier wine appreciation societies. An intrepid global taster, his palate has been shaped by adventures across Australia, New Zealand, South America, South Africa, Morocco, and the historic terroirs of Europe.
Closer to home, he is a founding member of the beloved local Bellingen GODS (Getting Old Drinking Society). Combining his scientific understanding of fermentation and climate with a relaxed, storytelling approach, Richard delights in stripping away the pretension of wine tasting to help others discover the pure joy and culture behind every bottle.
Mark Asquith
Mark brings a profound understanding of the land to the world of wine, drawing on his pre-retirement career as an environmental geographer and natural resources manager for the Marine Parks Authority and Local Land Services. Specialising in strategic, farm, and communications planning, Mark pairs his professional expertise in landscape dynamics with 20 years of hands-on regenerative hobby farming and 15 proud years as an active wine grower. This unique background gives him an insider’s mastery of viticulture, soil health, and the precise environmental factors that shape a wine's character.
An avid wine travel enthusiast, Mark has explored and tasted his way across South Eastern Australia, France, Italy, and New Zealand. He is a dedicated follower of the Halliday Wine Companion and, alongside his co-tutor, a proud member of the local Bellingen GODS (Getting Old Drinking Society). Approaching wine with a blend of geographic insight and a grower’s practical knowledge, Mark loves sharing the fascinating stories of how climate, care, and country come together in the glass.
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