America’s Grape Country Wine Festival Expands
America’s Grape Country Wine Festival Expands
Craft Beverage Festival Will Now Include More Options
Photos / America’s Grape Country Wine Festival
For 15 years, America’s Grape Country Wine Festival has been celebrating local wineries and educating the public about Lake Erie’s grape industry at the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds. Now in its 16th year, the festival is not only bigger than ever, but it’s also undergone a rebranding that makes it even more inclusive of the region’s beverage producers. America’s Grape Country Craft Beverage Festival will showcase the best of New York and Pennsylvania wineries, breweries, cideries, distilleries, meaderies, and agricultural producers from August 4-6th. With live entertainment and delicious food, this weekend is not to be missed!
The festival was founded in 2008 by William Merritt, owner of Merritt Estate Winery, in order to bring great local winemakers together and provide the community with the opportunity to learn more about the Lake Erie grape growing region. During the ice age, when glacial movement and melting ice created trenches throughout the region, this created areas of fertile soil along what would become the shoreline of Lake Erie. This kind of soil is ideal for growing grapes; in fact, the Lake Erie wine region is the largest grape-growing region east of the Rocky Mountains!
The Lake Erie wine region covers approximately 50 miles from Silver Creek, New York in northern Chautauqua County to Harborcreek, Pennsylvania and includes more than 20 commercial and estate wineries. In the words of Errika Gonzalez, event coordinator alongside Jade Wells, “We can make good wine just as much as California!” Taste for yourself during the first weekend in August, when local wineries such as Merritt Estate, Woodbury Vineyards, Thousand Islands Winery, Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Montezuma Winery, and a dozen more will be offering samples of their wines and full-size bottles to bring home.
While the region’s local wineries have always been the inspiration behind the event, Gonzalez explained that recent feedback indicated that the moniker “wine festival” turned some people away. “Some people thought that the festival is only about wine, but over the years, we’ve had a whole variety of other vendors, like breweries, distilleries, cideries, and meaderies,” she said. “We decided to undergo a rebrand for 2023 to emphasize that we have many other alcohol vendors who are part of the event!”
Festival goers will have plenty of craft beverages to choose from, including 16 non-wine vendors. Local favorites like Alder Creek Distillery, Ellicottville Distillery, Black Button Distilling, Queen City Meadery, and Saint Lawrence Spirits will be there, along with several more. “Our vendors are coming from all over,” Gonzalez said. “We have one from Pennsylvania, and most are from New York, including the Albany region, the Finger Lakes, and of course, Chautauqua County. There will be a good variety, which is the point of the event - to showcase these vendors and give them a chance to network with one another and meet a new audience.”
While beverages will be abundant, the festival also includes plenty of good food! Gonzalez said, “We have specialty food vendors, Spanish food, Caribbean food, and Buffalo favorites like beef on weck and chicken wings - something for everyone’s palate.” Six food trucks will be set up throughout the weekend, which is twice as many as last year’s event. “We’ll also have our local craft and artisan vendors with candles, homegood items, wine glasses, tumblers, and more.”
So how does the festival work? Taster tickets are available for one or two days (available onsite and online at www.agcfestival.com) and include a “swag bag” with lots of goodies and the ever-essential wine glass, which can be used at each booth for sampling. Buying for a group? Buy a four-pack of tickets and get the fourth for free! Included with festival admission are free food and wine demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday.
While entrance to the booth areas and samplings require a ticket, the Friday night kick-off party from 6:00-10:00pm is free to ticket holders and $5 for the public. The evening includes live music by Pirate Dreams, food trucks, and a wine/beer tent. On Saturday, the festival runs from 11:00am-6:00pm and features live music by Barnstorm as well as a classic car show. Drivers will get free admission and a $10 admission fee for their guests. Saturday’s after-hours party, which is formatted like the kick-off party, features live music by That 80’s Hair Band. On Sunday, the festival concludes from noon-5:00pm featuring the music of Black Widow. For those who plan to stay for the weekend, camping is available on the fairgrounds. Call 1-800-965-4834 to book your reservation.
“It’s a really fun weekend and a great time to try a good variety of local alcohol vendors, do some shopping, and get together with friends,” said Gonzalez. Learn more at www.agcfestival.com and follow the festival on social media.