Great Grapes Wine & Food Festival

This is my 3rd year attending Great Grapes and this event continues to grow. I love the location right in front of symphony park so bring your lawn chairs and snacks for picnic on the lawn. There are so many varieties of wines to try and the vendors are so great at sharing the background of the wine. I'm not a huge wine drinker but I usually leave with 2-3 bottles to share with friends later My only complaint is the long lines. They do offer VIP and early entry however I think each wine vendor should have a separate line for VIP guests to help keep the lines smaller and moving faster Overall this is a great time to spend with friends and the wine samples are a plus!!!

Great Grapes was a good time. Nice venue with lots of parking and right next to South Park so if you needed to sober up, you could walk around the mall and go drunk shopping! I love that it was all local wineries however I found many to be sweet wines and seeing that I am a dry wine kind of girl, didn't find many that impressed me. They had a great line up of musical acts and other vendors among food, jewelry, dog adoption and more. And they had fair food--who doesn't love fair food?? You could bring your own chairs (and coolers), find a spot to relax in, buy a bottle of wine and take in the atmosphere. I visited most of the wineries and they were very friendly, informative about the taste of their wines, how its made and what the taste was like. You go could to each tent and get a sample but most places had $5 for a full glass and pretty sweet bottle specials. One of the tents had $5 wine slushies so I had to try it out and it didn't disappoint. I think the idea of Great Grapes is rockin and if I was into the sweet wines, would definitely go again but don't think I will be going next year.

Incredible waste of money this year purchasing VIP tickets:-There was no chef samplings as was advertised-"Gourmet" cheeses: Cabot Colby jack cheese cubes, and only two cubes per plate. There were some swiss cheese shingles served.-Special wine tasting: Negative. Long lines providing same wines as others. Only two servers, one of which had no interest in making the process go faster.-Ran out of Cabinet Sav at 100pm, 2 hours into event with 5 more hours to go.Overall, event was disappointing. Limited wineries and very long lines.The Journey cover band was excellent though. The second band was okay, but used a lot of recorded tracks. Will not likely go again and don't recommend.

We bought discounted tickets through LivingSocial for this year's Great Grapes Wine and Food festival. It was about $28 for 2 regular tickets. They offered VIP tickets, but after research, decided to just purchase regular tickets for a deal. I am glad I did, the VIP area wasn't very VIPy. I have to say, for a food and wine festival, there was a lack of food with the exception of 1 food truck and a cuban food vendor. I was not too impressed food wise. What I did like was the fact that they had numerous local vendors out. I love to do winery tours when I have time so this was a nice way to try out the locals. We ended up buying a three wine bottles to take home and try out. We had a fun time tasting but I wish there were more vendors and food. I most likely will not be purchasing tickets again.

Great Grapes was a cool little festival, especially because I had free tickets (Thanks Yelp)! I thought the price of $25 to get in was a little steep, but probably worth it if you love wine. There were several local wineries offering wine tastings and sometimes little snacks. It got a little hot standing in the sun with the huge crowds of people trying to make it to the front of the line for tasting. Besides wineries there were a few other booths set up selling knick knacks. Plus there were some food vendors selling fair type food (curly fries, funnel cakes, etc). To top everything off they had several different bands playing some decent music throughout the day.This festival is a fun time. If you plan on going next year make sure to take a blanket and/or chairs to sit out in the lawn in front of the stage. It might also be a good idea to pack a little lunch especially if you plan on staying all day. Not only will you get hungry but the food will help soak up the alcohol. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time in line waiting for your free wine tastings.I almost forgot to mention that you get a commemorative wine glass (included with admission) to take home. Bonus.

I usually try to go this event every year. I love it. We have so much fun and just getting see all the vineyard that NC has to offer. It's always a great time. The weather was great. The wines were awesome. We purchased nine bottles. Can't wait to next year and adding more bottle to the collections.

What happened this year? I always go Year after year. It seemed to have half the vendors as before and the attendance was way down!! I enjoyed it because I did what I normally do with my friends so it was a great day for a festival. The band was mediocre this year. The whole vibe was kinda blah. My friends and I can have a blast under a bridge so I wasn't worried about us we will have a good time no matter what - and did!!!

The concept is good: an outdoor wine festival with a dozen or so vineyards pouring samples of well over 100 wines, while other vendors either sell food or you score a seat under a tent to watch a gourmet food demo with plenty of samples. Live music under the band shell and plenty of people watching under Carolina blue skies.And now for the twist: all of the wine is from NC vineyards and apparently a memo went out to all 20-something guidos and guidettes that this event was mandatory attendance. Bottom line: hard to see how the $25 ticket price results in anything close to a break-even investment.Look, NC wine is not presently on the wine world map. Mainly sweet wines derived from muscadine, strawberry, and blueberry, this is not an event designed for the serious wine connoisseur. While the winery reps will still flash the smile and a micro pour in your glass, this is not the kind of stuff you could stand more than a glass or two of in any one sitting. Yeah, there are some folks trying to work with Bordeaux grapes, but the NC climate is not ideal in most parts of this state and these wines are generally lacking in the structure and finish that is prized in more established wine regions. *Save for the highlight I'll mention below... Add to that the fact the the crowd mentality possessed by other attendees is utterly lacking in the areas of "waiting your turn" or "listening to the professional," and you have a less than ideal tasting experience. For example, some wine tents were impossible to get to because there was a small mob at the front that kept thrusting their glasses forward for the next pour. Other people from behind the mob were not afraid to reach over shoulders to get a pour for themselves. I can understand why some reps were grumpy. I can also understand why some folks were grumpy since they could never reach the front of the line. Folks had no concept of running thru a pour of the portfolio and then moving away for the next group to come in. My favorite was a small group of ladies who would thrust their glass in from the side and boldly interject, "Can you pour some sweet wine?" A serious percentage of people here were just looking to drink, rather than learn about a winery or its portfolio. That makes for a serious downgrade.So the one highlight? There is one region of NC doing some exciting things with Bordeaux grapes- the Yadkin River Valley. Just west and north of Winston-Salem, these guys apparently have the climate and technique down to get some pretty good juice. I tasted a couple of Merlots that would do well in a blind taste test against more well-known competition. I also tasted an oaked Chardonnay that need not bow down to any of the big Cali chards that rule the current market. There is hope here, but sadly there was a lot of swill to get thru to find it.

Is it too late to review? I don't think so...because the memories of the event are still so fresh!I received two free passes to join in the festivities. It was my first year and I had a blast! I was overwhelmed by the number of attendees and participating vineyards and other booths. My husband and I had such a fun time learning about the various wineries and tasting the various wines. We sipped all afternoon long and had a blast! Just be prepared for waiting in lines or crowds to get a sample. Some people become tipsy and spill on you, but it's all in good fun, right? Also, bring your cash so you can take some bottles home with you or to grab snacks along the way. The Yelp booth was awesome and gave away palate cleansing oyster crackers (besides other awesome giveaways)...always prepared!My most favorite part was the closing cover band, Liquid A. I could have listened to them all night! It was so fun to watch people dancing and singing. A lot of people brought coolers with their own snacks and created a picnic area. What a great idea for next year!Great way to spend the day!

Came out to this festival after winning free tickets from Yelp....thanks Yelp!!! My husband and I had such a great time.We took Uber here as I had heard that you can easily drink waaaaay to much. That might have been an understatement and I am so glad we cabbed it! There were about 20 wineries present all allowing you unlimited samples. Not only did we take advantage of that but we also bought a bottle and drank it on our blanket while listening to the live music.-Parking is kind of limited cause it's at the mall, but you should find something if you choose to drive.-Bring a blanket and some snacks! I saw people out there with coolers too just making a day out of it.-Patience is key. Since most people are pretty drunk after way to many wine samples, lines are kind of non-existent. It seemed like everyone just thrusted their glass in to get a pour. My husband and I waited in the lines like normal adults and actually met a bunch of cool people that way and got a chance to actually learn about the wineriesAfterward, we walked on over to one of the restaurants in the SouthPark area. Awesome Saturday!