Mud, glorious mud: Gerringong's Winter Wine Festival a hit with crowds

For most people gumboots were the footwear of choice - only the truly brave wore white sneakers and clothing to the Winter Wine Festival.

The two-day annual music festival at Crooked River Wines was back on June 8 and 9, with long weekend music lovers flocking to the tiny town to celebrate.

Following days of rain first footsteps on the soggy festival grounds were tentative for many of the 4000 people who attended, but that soon changed when the music started.

Sydney's Rolling Holy was the first band to kick-off the music on Saturday, with many festivalgoers watching from their camping chairs in the beautiful valley that is the Crooked River Estate.

The geography is a natural amphitheatre and no matter where you chose to sit or sway to the music you've still got a perfect view of the stage, surrounding vineyards and green paddocks as far as the eye can see.

As the afternoon heated up, and the grass in front of the stage turned to mud, the acts kept coming - Olivia Coggan, Pallas Haze, Marvel, Ash Grunwald, Alex Lloyd and Icehouse with frontman Iva Davies already familiar with performing in the region.

First-time festival band Darling Street were among Sunday's acts, with drummer Sophie Lawrence left bleeding during the gig.

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"By the third song I was drumming a little harder than usual because it's our first festival and my hand started bleeding," he said.

"I'm not quite sure why they gave out on me, but two blisters and blood everywhere."

Singer Seamus Field said there was a lot of excitement, and a couple of nerves, ahead of the gig.

He writes most of the songs, but they do play a few covers including, on Sunday, Don't Change by INXS which had people running through the mud to dance.

Jack River, Daisy Pring and James Burton also took to the stage on Sunday, followed by much-loved local band Pacific Avenue, named after the street that runs alongside Werri Beach where they grew up.

Just before Pacific Avenue took to the stage the emcee calls out to the crowd - "which postcode bought the most tickets to the Winter Wine Festival?".

The crowds yells back at the top of their voice "2534!" (the postcode of Werri Beach and Gerringong).

If you can tear your eyes away from watching singer Harry O'Brien - who oozes all the appeal of Michael Hutchence, Jim Morrison and Led Zeppelin wrapped up in one - then Jack Kay on base is the man to watch.

Not only does he play a mean base, he dances and springs and each time he does it the crowd goes wild.

The quartet belted out their hits - Spin Me Like Your Records, Strawberry Daydream and Lay Me Down were among them - as well as doing a hugely popular version of ABBA's Dancing Queen.

Another local band, The Rubens, was Sunday's headline act and the Winter Wine Festival was the final gig of their national Black Balloon tour.

This was the fourth time they've played Crooked River and singer Sam Margin called out to the crowd for anyone who'd seen them before.

A very excited festivalgoer pressed against the metal fence at the front of the stage yells out "this is my 17th time seeing you".

A little further back was drummer Scott Baldwin's aunt, "I always yell out, but he never sees me", she laughs telling the Mercury.

Crooked River Wines director Roger Lloyd purchased the vineyard in 2021 and amid COVID and floods, he said running events has been a "baptism of fire" but the annual festival will definitely be back in 2025.

"The really great thin about it is you get a lot of locals, about 50 per cent were Illawarra locals," he said.

The mud might have been thick and slippery, but this is a must-do festival for any music lover, especially when Australia's festival circuit has been doing it so tough.

If you could bottle the joy in Gerringong on the weekend it'd be enough to get you through life. I'll be back.