By: Larissa Dubose, Resident Wine Educator
Don’t you just love a good wine festival? This past weekend, The Lotus & The Vines Team had a great time at the 5th annual Savannah Food & Wine Festival! Wine fests are great ways to uncover new wines, tap into our Wine knowledge, hang out with friends, and make new ones amongst the fellow wine lovers around us. In this Lotus Lesson I’m sharing expert festival tips I’ve learned in my years of experience. Trust me – these tips will make sure your next Wine festival is a memorable one for all the right reasons.
- Come with an OPEN mind: Your style of wine may not be at every station – it may not be at most stations, and that’s ok. Most Wine professionals will try to guide you to a wine that while different, should meet some of your taste profile criteria. If you like sweet wines, think fruit forward. Listen to the fruits they’re describing, and genuinely try to find them in the wine. You may be pleasantly surprised. But, if you aren’t, you can always use the dump bucket provided. Just be gracious about it. haha.
- Make it a Point to Try Something New: You love Reds! Great! Try some Whites, and vice versa. The only way you can expand your palate is to try wines you haven’t had before. This is the perfect opportunity! You can read about a wine all day, but until you’ve tasted that wine, you don’t truly get the full experience.
- Come Early: This isn’t the time to be fashionably late. You paid your hard-earned money for your ticket. Wine CAN and DOES run out. Especially at the popular tables. So, don’t get left out!
- Don’t Come Hungry: Eat first. Lines can be long, and many times you’re just getting a “taste” of an item at different food stations…if there are food stations at all. Do yourself a favor and come with something on your stomach so you can keep it classy, if you get a little “too happy.”
- Be Strategic: Look at the map of the festival and target who you want to go to first. Move according to your plan, but know that it’s ok to call audibles, if the plan isn’t working out.
- Drink Intelligently: If there are spirits, save them for last. Believe me, that milky cocktail in your wine glass isn’t going to pair well with wine no matter how much you try to rinse your glass.
- Keep it Moving: Be mindful of the other attendees who may be waiting in line. If there’s no one behind you, ask all the questions you want. Remember, you can always get back in line.
- Take Pics: When you find a Wine you LOVE, take a picture of the bottle with your phone. This will keep all the loose papers and brochures to a minimum.
- Safety First! Designated drivers are key! Take a Lyft, Uber, Taxi, or even gather your friends together and rent a fancy chauffeured van with a driver. It’s safer, and the money you will spend is way more cost effective than a DUI.
- And if you don’t remember anything else, pleases remember to Have Fun…That’s the whole point!
