Wine lovers take note, wine festival Rootstock has just announced that it will be returning in 2018. The not-for-profit that promotes sustainable farming in food and wine production will be returning on November 24 and 25 to be exact. But this year, the festival that was started in 2013 by Giorgio De Maria, Mike Bennie, James Hird, Linda Wiss, and Matt Young, will be offering something a little different.

For 2018, Rootstock won’t just be sharing the love with the people of Sydney, but the people of Japan, with Rootstock Japan confirmed for December 1 and 2. The news was announced on Instagram, with the caption;“YES! IT IS TRUE. An extraordinaire group of artisans will travel to Sydney & Tokyo to party and celebrate people, community & good wines! Stay tuned for more info.”

Why Japan? Co-founder Giorgio De Maria says the demand for wine there continues to flourish. “Japan is the biggest market for natural wine and can be a stop over for people coming from overseas. It is a great opportunity for the producers to visit two countries in one trip; and for Rootstock the opportunity to increase the presence of iconic producers from France, Italy, Spain and create that sense of community, internationality and ideas exchange we are always after.”

But the festivals will of course differ between the Sydney event (to return again to Carriageworks) and the Tokyo edition. “It is very difficult to find a big venue like Carriageworks in Tokyo,” De Maria explains. “The Japanese location is very cute but smaller, as a consequence we will bring the festival also into wine bars all around Tokyo the two days previous the festival, as part of the program . We are aiming to create excitement and a network also between restaurateurs in Tokyo.”

The producers involved in both 2018 events will be announced at the end of May, but rest assured that there will be both local and further flung players present. “In the wine festival side, adding to the Australians, there will be more European producers in comparison to last year; hopefully also some Japanese wine producers!,” says De Maria about this year’s event.

“For food, we are working again on a sustainable kitchen but also on more chef performances like Attica’s one in the past edition. We would like Australian chefs to tell us about themselves not just about their cooking.”