Our state’s best artisan cheese producers and cheesemongers are descending upon Werribee Park Mansion, and you’d brie crazy to miss it. The annual Fromage a Trois Cheese Festival returns on Sunday 22 March as part of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2020, a ten-day celebration of the foodie culture for which Victoria is renowned.

I’m told that for the festival, Werribee Park Mansion will effectively be transformed into a large-scale cheese platter, which is probably what heaven looks like. There will be free samples in spades, and you can craft your own picnic hamper from the huge variety of cheeses available.

Among the cheesy foods in store are decadent cheese toasties (a bit more gourmet than the ones you can make on the old Sunbeam press), gooey raclette, and famous fresh-baked sourdough to top it off. Vendors include iconic Carlton and St Kilda-based fromagerie Milk the Cow and Italian mainstay 48h Pizza e Gnocchi, who were voted as having the best pizza in Australia in 2019.

My personal favourite cheesemakers, Fromager D’Affinois, will have a stall on the day, and I strongly encourage you to eat your way through their inimitable double and triple cream cheeses.

There will be an unreal amount of food on offer, so come armed with an empty stomach and picnic blankets. Don’t forget your tote bag, either; after nibbling through all those cheesy samples, you’ll want to buy your favourites to take home and extend the picnic party.

There’ll be lots of liquid goodness to try, too! The festival has promised handcrafted wine, craft beer and cider, boutique spirits and even boozy kombucha to add to your wholesome, cheesy day on the lawn. Great Ocean Road Gin and Stomping Ground Brewing Co. will have stalls where you can taste their best blends in your reusable Fromage a Trois keepsake cup.

This year, the festival’s Chef & Masterclass stage will feature expert cheesemongers and makers to educate you on the way cheese works with our taste-buds. If you’ve ever wanted some insider knowledge on using your favourite cheese to its full potential in the kitchen at home, you’ll find no better time to learn that there is more to cheese than your Saturday night pre-drinks platter. But after the session on pairing cheese with alcohol, you can refine your next spread to make your friends envy just how gourmet and sophisticated you are.

A ripper entertainment line-up with live sets from Laura Jean, Jess Ribeiro, and Olympia is in order, plus a DJ set from Aussie Bec Sandridge. There’ll also be music from local indie musicians, as well as some lawn games to keep kids young and old occupied all day long. We’ve heard whispers of mini golf and mozzarella stretching…

Fromage a Trois is being hosted at the beautifully iconic Werribee Park Mansion. It’s an easy thirty-minute drive from the CBD, or there are free shuttle buses running from Werribee and Wyndham Vale train stations to get you safely to and from your cheesy indulgence session.

So don’t be blue! Get some cheese into you, because this is going to brie good.