25th Anniversary Festival Concludes with People's Choice Award Winning Wines, Australian Vacation Giveaway and GrapeStomp Grand Champions
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25th Anniversary GrapeFest - A Wine Experience
Media Contacts:
Leigh Lyons:
817-410-3195 Office
Christine Volkmer:
214-794-5498 cell
For Immediate Release
GRAPEFEST - A WINE EXPERIENCE
25th Anniversary Festival Concludes with People's Choice Award Winning Wines, Australian Vacation Giveaway and GrapeStomp Grand Champions
GRAPEVINE, TX - September 18, 2011 - GrapeFest - A Wine Experience - concluded its 25th Anniversary in Historic Downtown Grapevine. This four-day, family-friendly festival was a celebration of Texas wines and also featured wines and beers from around the world with a special focus on Australian wine, sparkling wine and beer.
"We are thrilled with the success of all the special events and activities that helped commemorate this milestone anniversary," said Nikki Stinson, Festival Chair. "Attendees enjoyed four fabulous days of wine tastings, festival food, live entertainment, children's activities, carnival rides, GrapeStomp and more. We are already looking forward to next year's festival."
GrapeFest has long been the largest wine festival in the Southwest and this year truly lived up to its billing of being "A Wine Experience." Wine connoisseurs and novices alike were treated to a variety of wines from Grapevine and from throughout Texas plus, wines from across the country and around the globe. Festival patrons could taste more than 200 wines, Champagnes and sparkling wines from the United States and six international destinations. Featured wine venues included the People's Choice Wine Tasting Classic, the Texas Wine Tribute Dinner, the Grapevine Wine Pavilion, the Texas Wine Pavilion, the Champagne Terrace and the Wine and Beers of the World Pavilion.
The People's Choice Wine Tasting Classic, the largest, consumer-judged wine competition in the nation, featured 119 wines from 33 Texas wineries. Over the four-day festival, nearly 7,500 attendees sampled these wines and visited with winery representatives.
The winners of this year's competition are:
Chardonnay
1st: Fall Creek Vineyards (Tow) - Texas Chardonnay, 2010
2nd: Llano Estacado Winery (Lubbock) - Chardonnay, 2009
3rd: Lenoir-Sage Vineyards (Bells) - Texas Chardonnay, 2010
White Varietals, All others (<1.5%)
1st: Messina Hof Winery (Bryan) - Father & Son Riesling, 2010
2nd: Brennan Vineyards (Comanche) - Viognier, 2010
3rd: Delaney Vineyards (Grapevine) - Muscat Cannelli, 2010
White Proprietary Blends
1st: St Rose Vineyard (Pittsburgh) - Foxy Peach, 2010
2nd: Llano Estacado Winery (Lubbock) - Viviana, 2009
3rd: Homestead Winery (Ivanhoe) - Prairie Rose, 2010
White Varietals, Sweet (>1.5%)
1st: Messina Hof Winery (Bryan) - Angel Late Harvest Riesling, 2010
2nd: Landon Winery (McKinney) - Yellow Rose, NV
3rd: Texas Hills Vineyard (Johnson City) - Orange Moscato, 2010
Blush/Rose
1st: CrossRoads Winery (Frisco) - My Cheeky Bastard, NV
2nd: LightCatcher Winery (Fort Worth) - Texas Kiss Merlot Rose, 2010
3rd: Tara Vineyard (Athens) - Deck Wine 2010
Cabernet Sauvignon
1st: Texas Hills Vineyard (Johnson City) - Kick Butt Cab, 2007
2nd: LightCatcher Winery (Fort Worth) - Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005
3rd: Sunset Winery (Burleson) - "Sun Ray" Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005
Merlot
1st: Red Caboose Winery (Meridian) - Merlot, 2009
2nd: Haak Vineyard & Winery (Santa Fe) - Purple Porpoise, NV
3rd: Lenoir-Sage Vineyards (Bells) - Texas Merlot, 2008
Red Varietals, All others (<1.5%)
1st: Red Caboose Winery (Meridian) - La Reina, 2009
2nd: Landon Winery (McKinney) - Tempranillo, 2009
3rd: Texas Hills Vineyard (Johnson City) - Toro de Tejas, 2009
Red Proprietary Blends
1st: Bluff Dale Vineyards (Bluff Dale) - Nexus, 2009
2nd: Red Caboose Winery (Meridian) - Tempranillo/ Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008
3rd: Messina Hof Winery (Bryan) - Reflections of Love, 2009
Red Varietals, Sweet (>1.5%)
1st: La Buena Vida Vineyards (Grapevine) - Red Headed Stepchild, NV
2nd: Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards (Pittsburgh) - All My X's, NV
3rd: Landon Winery (McKinney) - Red Rose, NV
As part of this year's special focus on Australia, GrapeFest teamed up with QANTAS Airways and Tourism New South Wales for a special trip giveaway to Australia. QANTAS Airways began nonstop service from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Australia in May of this year. The winner of the trip giveaway is Cindy Jamison of Northlake, Texas.
And one of the most popular events, GrapeStomp presented by the Chrysler Group, continued in true festival fashion. Teams of two participated in GrapeStomp during the course of the festival. The winners of the coveted Purple Foot Award, a glass foot sculpture of the winners' own feet by Vetro Glassblowing Studio of Grapevine, are Brent Stone and Conner Wilkinson, both of Grapevine, Texas, with 39.76 ounces of stomped juice.
The 2011 Mayoral GrapeStomp's featured mayors and/or city representatives from Carrollton, Colleyville, Combine, Flower Mound, Haslet, Irving, Keller, Rowlett, Southlake and Trophy Club. Special guests in the Mayoral GrapeStomp included teams from two of Grapevine's sister cities Parras de la Fuente, Mexico and West Lothian, Scotland. The winner of the Most Juice Award was the team from Carrollton and featured Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Sutter and John Sutter.
GrapeFest attendees also participated in the Champagne Cork Shoot-Off on Saturday. The winner was Richard Smith of Fort Worth, Texas with a distance of 89 feet 4 inches.
Not to be outdone by the grownups, youngsters also had the chance to participate in GrapeFest at the LEGOLAND® Discovery Center's Junior Builder Contest. Over the course of two days during GrapeFest, children in two age groups built Texas-themed creations out of LEGO® bricks at the expanded KidZone presented by Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.
Proceeds from GrapeFest - A Wine Experience - will benefit the Grapevine Heritage Foundation's ongoing restoration and program development at Nash Farm, a heritage family attraction. The Grapevine Heritage Foundation has deep roots in preservation advocacy, education and outreach to the citizens of the community as well as the thousands of visitors who explore Grapevine each year.
In 2012, GrapeFest will occur September 13, 14, 15 and 16.
Photos of the above winners available upon request.
GrapeFest - A Wine Experience - had an attendance of 243,180 visitors, which was a decline of nearly 9 percent from last year. However, considering severe rain storms on Friday night along with road construction and highway closures throughout the weekend, this data exceeded festival management's expectations. For 2011, more than 404,000 patrons attended Grapevine's two annual festivals, an increase of more than 7 percent and this marked the first time combined festival attendance broke the 400,000 mark. For more information, visit www.GrapevineTexasUSA.com/GrapeFest.