There is a lot of competition out there in the world of wine. When you are a small, independent winemaker, without the budget, staff and resources of a big company, you have to do everything you can to stand out from the crowd.

Making good wine is a good start but it is simply not enough – so how to get noticed? A group of four winemakers and a foodie I know, have just finished three and a half weeks of running their own pop-up bar in Fitzroy in Melbourne and what a great way to show your wine to “the people”.

It helps these guys have hospitality training, so they know how to put a cool venue together. They have good contacts, so the food on offer was amazing – from the pulled pork rolls that were to die for, to what must have been an incredible Thai feast, cooked by Karen Martini that I didn’t make it too.

And the wines. They all had a selection of their wines open to try and to buy. I hope it was a successful sales and promotion exercise for them, because it was a brilliantly fun place to hang out and enjoy a glass ….

2012 Vinterloper Watervale Riesling

2011 Garagiste Merricks Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay

Two then get a mention this month. The 2012 Vinterloper Watervale Riesling ($29.00 – only on-line) that was youthful and fresh with lemon and lime tang and a clean, light touch on the finish – the perfect afternoon summer refresher. The 2011 Garagiste Merricks Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay ($45) was also fresh and linear in style with just the right level of fruit intensity and some lovely flinty struck match complexity.

The name of the group is the Vinsurgents – check out their website – the pop-up bar is gone, but the wines remain – track them down and drink with gusto!