Urban Wine Walk returns to Newcastle on May 6 with eight venues and 10 wineries

Besides Newcastle, Urban Wine Walk will hold events in Cairns, Brisbane, Cronulla, Collingwood, St Kilda, and Fremantle.

Urban Wine Walk's format features eight participating venues, each being paired with a hero wine producer.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, it's like a traditional wine tour of cellar doors - except it's in an urban setting. All of the Newcastle venues are within walking distance of each other.

Newcastle's cracking "wine-up" puts the focus onto regional NSW producers.

Those heading along will get to experience Italian varietals from Mudgee's First Ridge, that will be on show at The Great Northern Hotel, while Margan and Mercer will takeover Customs House Hotel.

Tropical tiki rum bar Blue Kahunas welcome cult Cairns winemakers Konpira Maru, former Young Gun Winemakers of the Year, experts at making naturally fermented wine.

The high-quality pairings continue with small batch winery Agitate Wines from the Hunter Valley, famous for their natural sparkling made from high altitude vineyards, will be pouring at Bartholomew's.

Two winemakers, Thomas Wines and De Iuliis, will be at The Lucky Hotel, while Vinden will be at Humbug.

Dirt Candy, a small-batch, boundary-pushing husband-and-wife winemaker team from the Hunter, will be pouring at the Clarendon Hotel.

Pokolbin winery John Wallace Wines are pouring at MEET.

"We started Urban Wine Walk because we wanted to take next-gen wine producers out of the shadows, out of the hills, and put them on a bigger stage smack-bang in the middle of the city, in front of a receptive crowd," says Urban Wine Walks' founder Josh Starick.

"In terms of the venues, our aim has always been to use our events as a platform to showcase and support local venues who put their blood, sweat and tears into providing the local community with a vibrant and enjoyable place to socialise with friends, all year-round.

"Not only do we work hard to help our featured winemakers reach new customers, but in a larger sense, our aim is to help nurture and grow NSW's reputation for producing innovative, world-class wine, and we believe the Urban Wine Walk is the perfect platform to do just that."

Since 2016, Neighbourhood Events Co, the company behind Urban Wine Walks, has organised events for lovers of independent, home-grown wine, beer and spirits across Australia and New Zealand. The company brings together locally-owned venues, emerging and intriguing beverage producers and the public together, in one neighbourhood, for a day of taste exploration and community-building.

The company encourages people to embrace the businesses right on their doorstep in a fun and engaging experience, and, at the same time, provide valuable exposure for our country's hidden secret wineries, breweries and distilleries.

Daniel Payne's Dirt Candy is about as un-Hunter as it gets, with a suite of wines that stand in stark contrast to the traditional styles that characterise the region. But the Hunter is arguably the cradle of Australian wine, and it is the historic home to some of the great Australian wine innovators. Payne is continuing that tradition, using alternative varieties and experimental methods to make wines that are built for food and fun times.

"My wines are designed to be drunk with great food and great friends," he says. "I have no rules or boundaries in terms of the wine I make. As long as I think it'll taste good, I'll give it a go. My wines tend to stand out in the Hunter Valley as I am different to most producers in the area, but here is an emerging group of winemakers in the area though who are pushing the boundaries, too, and I'm excited to be a part of that."

Alistair Reed and Sam Cook, two mates who decided to get into winemaking, have been evolving their Konpira Maru vintages since 2014. They are easy to drink wines made with absolute care.

The wine comes from the South Burnett and Granite Belt regions in Queensland and Kilmore in Victoria. In 2016, they occupied their own Whitlands vineyard, above the King Valley, farming pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot meunier and pinot gris organically on red soil.

Each ticket includes three complimentary tastings per producer, a $10 voucher to put towards lunch at your starting venue, plus a $25 voucher to use when ordering a six-pack of wine from one of the winemakers. This will be delivered to your door post event.