Great Scott! This may very well be the best knees-up in the North East (2024)

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great Chieftain o' the Puddin-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy of a grace

As lang 's my arm.

The Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns packs a poetic punch after a theatrical parade of the haggis at Campbells Wines near Rutherglen late on Saturday, May 18.

It is all part of the annual Bobbie Burns Dinner.

A celebration of Scottish heritage, the event also launches the latest vintage of Bobbie Burns Shiraz; in this case the 2022. (The variety was first launched in 1970.)

This year the dinner sold out in about two minutes!

Campbells Cellar Club members and wine aficionados seemingly jostled online for a place at the four long tables.

On Saturday night, walking deep into the winery you may forgiven for thinking you'd just stumbled on historical television drama series Outlander.

A couple of dozen men sport kilts and sporrans, knee-high socks and tartan pocket squares.

Australian television and radio broadcaster Steve Price is tasked with the job of judging the best knees and whatnot!

The opinion columnist and regular on The Project has his work cut out for him.

He says he is, however, open to being swayed by offerings of whisky.

"I also need to mention my friend who advised me on what to do with my sporran in the bathroom!" he says.

"Just push it to the side!!"

Rutherglen restaurant Grace offers a sublime seven-course meal, served with matching wines and whisky to boot.

Canapes comprise beef tartare on crostini, savoury tartlets of horseradish cream cheese and caviar and Indigo Valley Lamb and rosemary croquettes.

Menu highlights include a tasty entree of ricotta gnocchi with hot smoked salmon, creme fraiche and salmon roe; the haggis itself comes with "neeps and tatties" (parsnips and potatoes, my fellow diner Julie explains) and mustard cream sauce; black Angus eye fillet, potato puree and creamed spinach, onion ring and Bobbie Burns jus; and a sticky toffee pudding.

Bobbie Burns Shiraz 2022 and 2018 vintages were teamed with the Angus dish.

Fifth-generation Campbells Wines winemaker Jules Campbell proposed a toast to the latest release.

"It's a wine to savour, and not to underestimate this particular vintage has taken a lot of consideration to bring to you," she says.

"We've spent many tastings in the lab just trying to work out how the blend will work best.

"I see our 2022 as sort of a long-time friend, not the most in your face friend but the one that's always there, that keeper."

Albury Wodonga Pipes and Drums masterfully entertains between courses, never missing a beat.

Portraits of earlier generations of Campbells winemakers overlook the entire proceedings.

The Bobbie Burns Dinner really is quite unlike any other event in the North East.