The Blue Ridge Mountains have a rich and colorful history when it comes to its residents creating their own homemade alcoholic beverages. While moonshiners might be a little hard to find these days, more and more High Country residents are learning how to make their own wines.
The upcoming Blue Ridge Wine Festival in Blowing Rock will hold a special competition for this year’s event, scheduled for April 10-13 in Blowing Rock. The competition is divided into two categories for professional and amateur winemakers, and is currently accepting entries. Wines will be accepted for the competition until April 1st.
The Blue Ridge Wine Festival’s 2008 Winemaking Competition is open to every kind of wine imaginable, including white varietals, red varietals, blends, sparkling wine, native varietals, dessert wines (port, sherry, etc.), fruit wines (blueberry, pear, etc.), ice wines, and others (honey wines, mead, etc.).
The entry fee for the competition is $25 per entry in the Commercial Competition. The Amateur Competition entry fee is $10 for the first wine entry and $5 for each additional entry.
The awards include Best of Show, Best of Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. The judging panel of the Blue Ridge Wine Festival Winemaking Competition will include winemakers, vintners, wine journalists, educators, wine trade professionals and wine connoisseurs.
Wines leftover from the competition will be served at a special event held in conjunction with the Blue Ridge Wine Festival.
For complete entry information, including a downloadable entry form, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.blueridgewinefestival.com/competition" www.blueridgewinefestival.com/competition.
The Blue Ridge Wine Festival is a four-day celebration in Blowing Rock featuring wine tasting events, silent auctions, book signings, merchant specials, a champagne brunch, seminars, vintners’ dinners, a gallery stroll, a book fair, the “Fire on the Rock” chef’s challenge, plus performances by the Cashmore Marionettes, the Todd Wright Jazz Quartet and much more.
The festival will also feature special appearances by artist Bob Timberlake and Chef James.
For more information, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.blueridgewinefestival.com" www.blueridgewinefestival.com, or call (828) 295-7965 or (828) 295-7851.