28th Annual GrapeFest had record attendance
Purple feet, gold wine awards and mostly blue skies contributed to the family-friendly fun during the 28th Annual GrapeFest — A Wine Experience, the largest wine festival in the Southwest.
From Sept.11-14, GrapeFest welcomed thousands of guests to Main Street in Historic Downtown Grapevine.
Leigh Lyons, city spokeswoman, said the festival had an attendance of 266,170, which was a slight increase over 2013.
“New wine experiences, family-friendly fun, live entertainment and cooler temperatures combined to make the annual festival a must-do event for guests from around the world,” Lyons said.
Mayor Pro Tem C. Shane Wilbanks, who served as festival co-chair with his wife Paula, said they were thrilled with the participation and crowds.
“The community comes together in full force to host GrapeFest with hundreds of volunteers dedicated to creating memories that will last a lifetime for all of our guests,” he said. “Grapevine truly delivered.”
New experiences
GrapeFest was the perfect venue for the Sept. 12 grand opening of Sloan & Williams Winery, located a block off Main Street. The winery was the culmination of the longtime dream of co-owners Ralph Mattison Jr. and Alan Kunst Jr.
“We’ve been open 45 days and won our category against 13 other Texas wineries,” Kunst said, referring to their official opening Aug. 1 and their GrapeFest gold award for red/blends. “We are still excited about this victory and beating out two major Texas wineries. The new corks on the block did it!”
Guests were treated to new wine experiences including the Washington Wine Experience, featuring wineries and winemakers from the state of Washington.
Gordon Taylor, winemaker and co-owner of Daven Lore Winery in Prosser, Wash., enjoyed showcasing his wines.
Wearing a kilt as a nod to his Scottish heritage, Taylor said his wine is special due to the “great growers” in Washington, explaining, “I can’t make a great wine without spectacular grapes.”
Guests also enjoyed wines from five of Italy’s wine regions in the all-new Italian Wine Experience.
Paula Wilbanks said GrapeFest featured activities for all ages, including KidsWorld, the carnival, the midway and live music.
“Whether guests were enjoying shopping at the vendor booths or in the shops on Main Street, sampling fantastic wines from around the world or judging the best wines that Texas has to offer in the People’s Choice, we truly had something special for every age and interest, ” the co-chair said.
People’s Choice Winners
Guests participating in the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic the chance to sample 154 wines from 43 Texas wineries.
After sampling the wines, guests voted on their favorites in 10 categories. The winners of the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic were:
White: Dry
White: Semi-Sweet
White: Sweet
White: Blends
Blush/Rosé
Red: Light
Red: Medium
Red: Bold
Red: Sweet
Red: Blends
Tall in Texas and GrapeStomp awards
On Sept. 6, the Texas Wine Tribute was held at the Cotton Belt Tower Grand Hall, where Becker Vineyards of Stonewall and Dr. Richard and Bunny Becker were named the recipient of the annual “Tall in Texas” Award.
Each year, the recipient is selected by a panel of industry professionals and is presented to a Texas winery in recognition of the winery’s leadership role in the dedication to, support of and promotion of the Texas Wine industry.
One of the most popular events, GrapeStomp, returned with feet flying fast as teams of two stomped 18 pounds of grapes for two minutes throughout the weekend. Festival-growers cheered on the competitors.
Winners of the GrapeStomp daily sessions competed in the Grand Champion Stomp-Off on Sept. 14.
The winning team, Lam Nguyen and Jorge Bermeo of Dallas, received the coveted Purple Foot Award, along with a glass foot sculpture of their own feet from Grapevine’s Vetro Glassblowing Studio & Gallery. The team stomped under the name of Awesome & Awesomer and stomped 39 ounces in the Grand Championship Stomp Off.
The 2014 Mayoral GrapeStomp, held on Sept. 13, featured from across North Texas including Carrollton, Colleyville, Combine, Coppell, Grapevine, Haslet, Hurst, Pantego and Westlake, as well as from Grapevine’s International Sister Cities of Parras de la Fuente, Mexico; Krems, Austria; and West Lothian, Scotland.
The winners of the Most Juice Stomped Award, with 26 ounces, was the team from Colleyville featuring Mayor Pro Tem Mike Taylor and Councilman Chuck Mogged.
Winners included Best Costume Depicting Your Community to the team from West Lothian and Dirtiest Foot Award to Haslet Mayor Bob Golden and Councilwoman Kathy Hopper.
This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 12:16 PM with the headline "28th Annual GrapeFest had record attendance."