The festival started last weekend and will see 12 wineries hosting more than 40 events during January.

Among them are Parkside Winery and Farm who were recently awarded best sparkling wine at the Australia and New Zealand Boutique Wine Festival.

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Jenny and Darryl Ward have owned the Lancefield property for 14 years after abandoning their corporate careers and escaping to the country.

It is the first time the couple have won a major award for their wine. Mrs Ward said it was the most success they have had at a wine show.

"We are a very small boutique vineyard, so it is exciting to be holding our weight in the sparkling game," Mrs Ward said.

"We're typical of the wineries in Macedon Ranges in that we are family-owned.

"We've participated previously and consistently come out with silver medals. This year we had another sparkling pink rose win silver but this was our first trophy. We also had success at the Daylesford show a couple of times time but is our first Australian or even international win.

"(The show) is only open to producers who have tonnages less than 600 tonnes - it is for boutique wine players and has been going for 27 years. Even through COVID it was getting entries from West Australia, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania. It gets good representation."

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The trophy-winning sparkling chardonnay-pinot noir blend is one of five varieties Parkside produces. The property also produces beef, cattle, hay and horses.

Off the back of their wine show success, Parkside is one of 12 wineries offering events through January as part of the Summertime Fling Cellar Door Festival.

It is the second time the cellar door festival has been held with the inaugural event happening in 2020.

"The Macedon Ranges Winery Association is a fairly collegiate bunch, which meant we could work together, in large part, because we are family-owned or smaller owners," Mrs Ward said. "By collaborating we could could collectively have a bigger spend on advertisements and promotion.

"We saw that as an opportunity to start telling our stories again, giving people really good experiences across January and trying to draw people to the region.

"Every event last weekend was sold out. People have time and space to go out (after Christmas). The other thing we are picking up is that with the current COVID numbers, people are preferring to get into non-crowded areas. They are looking for fresh air events."

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Mr and Mars Ward have been at Parkside for 14 years.

"Parkside is working farm, the grapes are just part of it. It is one of the original properties in Romsey and Lancefield and the original homestead is still here," Mrs Ward said.

"Like many around the district we had careers in the corporate world but were looking for an escape and release. Both Darryl and I had a farming background but what attracted us was the chance to renovate the homestead.

"I could also have the horses but the wine skill-set was going to be the new learning curve. We had drunk a bit of wine in our time and the grapes were already, so the opportunity to learn, that the was great interest."

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Learning the ways of winemaking led the Wards so producing sparkling wines, something they had always enjoyed drinking.

"We worked with a consultant winemaker in the early days but like everything, the longer you're in it, the more you learn," Mrs Ward said. "In this case we understand what the vineyard is good at, what its challenges are, what to look for and we know what we like to drink."

For more details on the Summertime Fling Cellar Door Festival visit macedonrangeswine.com.au/summertime-fling

Visit parksideestate.com.au for more on Parkside Winery and Farm.

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