Indianapolis Wine Festival

First time going and it was planned very well. Staff and guests were all friendly and in a good mood. Held at the Pan Am pavilion this year, saying they could set up for rain or shine. Weather was great Friday evening. Lucky us because if this was held earlier, it would've been uncomfortably sweltering. Event was offered two days, Friday from 5p to 10p and Saturday 3p to 8p. Alcohol serving ended 30 minutes to closing time.You could have bought tickets for one night or both. There's an upcharge if you wanted food or the VIP wines. A few weeks before the event, the FB page listed a $5 off coupon code and a $15 discount if you bought the ticket at Big Red liquor store. I wish I waited to buy my ticket to get the discounts but I wasn't sure if it was going to sell out.We walked in, was wristbanded, received our cute wine glasses, 20 tasting tickets, and a free beer sample ticket. There were food trucks on-site that you could pay out of pocket. We had a dinner reso later so i didn't get to try the food but it certainly smelled good. There was seating near the stage. Plenty of porter potties with hand washing station.Informal lines and walking around to sample wines. You could clean your glass at most tables with a water bottle and then dump into the bucket. Total of 1 oz pours and they're not allowed to put more than that at one time but you can resample with another ticket. At first i was disappointed with the pour size but by golly! 20 samples plus some freebies really was enough. If it weren't for our reso we could've easily spent 3-4 hours here.I started with whites but quickly switched to the reds because i prefer dry, oak, and whiskey. My favourites included Suite Michelle riesling and reds; Cooper Hawks almond, moscato, and cab; St. James peach; Constellation 7 moons and Cooper & Thief bourbon wine; and 520 bourbon and chocolate wine (tastes like a tootsie roll!). Thank you for such a great time!!

The inaugural Indianapolis Wine Festival exceeded expectations. Even though the event was new to Indy, the organizers have planned similar events in other cities. The IWF appeared well-run and it made for a good experience.The IWF was a two day event, with separate tickets for each night. Because of inclement weather, Friday night was cancelled and tickets were honored for Saturday. I wasn't sure what to expect since it's a new event, and they ended up having a big turnout on Saturday afternoon. The wine tasting went for a full five hours, and people arrived on a staggered basis. Lines for check-ins lasted no longer than a few minutes. Kudos for hosting the event for a long duration and allowing people to come back.As far as the wine tasting, there were 30+ booths to choose from. Most featured several reds and whites with a few dessert wines thrown in. I concentrated on the reds and they were fairly solid. Most of the selections were middle tier so don't expect a lot of high-priced vino. The lines weren't bad at all, at least toward the second part of the event. I just asked for a couple of samples (moving out of the way in between), then hit the next booth.There were some nice features of IWF I did not expect. There was a mini beer garden and admission included a pint of beer. That's a nice change of pace especially on a hot day. Free water was also included, and one of the sponsors offered free flavored water which really come in handy.There were a few food trucks on-site, and Maple Leaf Farms offered free samples of duck. There was also free popcorn and I certainly took advantage of it. Since the food options were fairly limited, I recommend eating somewhere else beforehand.Indianapolis Wine Festival was pretty good especially since it was new. The price point was on par with other events, though technically you don't get unlimited tasting (you get 20 sampling tickets but it didn't matter anymore toward the end). There were some nice perks, decent wines, and you didn't spend most of your time waiting in line.