Beware the wines of May.
I made it through the month of May with a wine festival almost every weekend. I began to question the outcome. It was an exciting month for the North Carolina winescape, but I don't ever want to go to all of them again!
Now that I have, I think that I can make an intelligent choice about next year's May festival circuit without feeling like I might have missed something.
Characters in question are Salute, Yadkin Valley, and Tanglewood with a couple of free weekends in between. Each festival had a couple of different wineries and vendors to sample from. Each festival had its own unique setting to grow from. And each festival had an entirely different audience to mingle with.
Let me start by saying that all were accessible with similar price ranges, great weather, and -- I'm happy to report -- all had reasonably good parking options. There is nothing worse than spending the day outside drinking wine and then walking a mile to find where you didn't park your car in the first place.
Starting at the beginning, Salute took place along Fourth Street, downtown Winston-Salem. I enjoyed the urban setting for its alternative options of stopping into galleries and restaurants when needed. The pavement was nice to walk on, and the atmosphere was bellied by the crowd's constant flow in and out of town.
The detractor was not being able to see much of what was in front of you. The map became key to finding a specific winery or rest area if you wanted one. The natural confines of a city block kept people closer together and denied what my husband calls "diagonal walkers" the freedom to roam unhindered. Falling in that category myself, things got a little claustrophobic at times.
I enjoyed listening in on the NC Wine University sessions that dared to slow visitors down for 45 minute increments of wine knowledge. It was an ambitious idea, and one that seemed well received as the "classroom" tent was always full.
The following weekend called tourists to Elkin's more pastoral setting. The park grounds were immaculate and well planned. Wineries were placed on one side of the park, craft members the other. There was no map. Even though I could find the wineries, I would have loved to have that keepsake piece of information where I circled, starred, and happy faced my way around the listings.
For activities, Yadkin Valley really hit the mark with its grape stomping contest. I like activities with large crowds. Even if I don't participate, they are usually great fun to watch. The crowd seemed to be a little more family oriented, a little more artsy and a lot more laid back. Bottles were uncorked and brought to friends on picnic blankets. You could see more tasting and enjoying of quality time at Yadkin Valley.
My only gripe with the Elkin festival was this year's entertainment. For whatever reason, none of the festivals had much to offer in the way of tunes, but Elkin was by far the worst. In volume alone, it was ear shattering. The talk radio was obnoxious with corny wine jokes and non-stop commentary on festival goings. And what can I say about the Part-time Party Time band?
We missed most of the live music at Tanglewood this year, arriving a little later than usual Saturday. It was hard to motivate going to that one last festival of the month. It was difficult to get there due to the sheer amount of traffic trying to maneuver through one-way streets and off-roading sedans.
Safely parked and ready to go, we were greeted by the youngest wine crowd of all the festivals so far.
Tanglewood, being a larger park setting, had more space for people to place pop-up tents and set out lawn furniture. There were shady areas I appreciated having burned my face badly at the other two festivals. Gotta pack that sun block with your glasses.
People brought there own games to play and things to do while enjoying the weeping willows around them. I saw some family reunions taking place in some of these congregations, and a lot of group friends sharing food and wine.
There was a greater diversity at Tanglewood, more new faces and some definite out-of-towners. With 31 wineries present, there was a diverse array of tastings as well. One of the wine tents had signs funneling people into two lines under "Dry white and red wines" and "Sweet red and white wines".
So which was my favorite festival? At the risk of angering the many local readers who made Yadkin Valley Wine Festival a success, I'm going to have to give it to Salute this year. I just can't get over that Wine University tent.
It was a good idea and very appropriate. Didn't mean the other two festivals weren't great. I had a good time at all, but I'd like to see more education opportunities at the festival circuit. Some broader wine knowledge to go along side of our North Carolina wine knowledge would round the scene out nicely and create a little more depth to our state's wine scene.
I hope that the older wine festivals don't get so comfortable that they won't consider adding on a good idea like that. We might be arriving at the right size and capacity for all three events, but it doesn't mean visitors don't want to see new things. Especially when you are going to all the events of May!
Bank is a reporter and lives in Ronda.
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