Harris Presents the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival
inPLAY EVENTS announces the return of the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival presented by Harris to be held Aug. 20-21 on the grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum The two-day, outdoor event, will provide festival-goers an opportunity to sample more than 200 fine wines from around the globe in a relaxed setting along the shore of Lake Michigan with a beautiful view of the Santiago Calatrava.
Wine seminars and cooking demonstrations are conducted by event sponsors, exhibiting wineries, area chefs and restaurateurs. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy live music that will be performed on the festival stage as well as enjoy some of the area’s most exquisite food from local restaurants.
Adult Wine Tasting Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the gate. Advance tickets can be purchased through Thursday,
August 19th. This ticket price includes a souvenir wine glass, 10 tastings, a Festival Program and food and wine demonstrations and musical entertainment. Additional tasting coupons may be purchased at the festival.
Designated Driver tickets are $10 in advance or at the gate. This ticket includes two non-alcoholic drinks, a Festival Program, food and wine seminars, access to cooking demonstrations, musical entertainment and a souvenir wine glass upon departure. Attendees under 21 are admitted for free when accompanied by a paid adult.
For groups of 15 or more, tasting tickets are discounted to $22.50. To purchase group tickets, order 15 or more tickets online or call 877-722-5425.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.milwaukeewinefestival.com or by phone at 877-772-5425. Please note an additional fee applies for phone orders. Phone center hours are 8:00am to 9:00pm Central time – 7 days a week. Advanced tickets can also be purchased at the Milwaukee Art Museum Store. Tickets will also be available for purchase on the festival grounds at the Milwaukee Art Museum on the day of the festival. The festival takes place rain or shine.
This year’s festival features the following wine exhibitors: Cass Winery, Evaton, Inc., The Hess Collection Winery, Michael-David Family of Wines, PKNT, Antares Wine Company, BR Cohn Winery, Hentley Farm and St. James Winery.
Participating restaurants include Café Calatrava, The Capital Grille, Eddie Martini’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Palermo’s Pizza, Mason Street Grill, Milwaukee Chop House and Kil@wat.
The following are additional exhibitors you will see at the festival: Bath Fitter, Cutco Cutlery, Kangaroo Pita Chips, Chicago Chocolate Caravan, Punch Cigars, Kerrygold Irish Cheeses, Renewal by Andersen, Venture Sculpture, Sandals, Beaches and Royal Plantation Resorts.
The Milwaukee Wine Festival is presented by Harris. Sponsors include Sendik’s Food Markets Balistreri, AirTran, FIJI Water, Anheuser-Busch (Stella, Leffe, Hoegaarden), Marcus Group, Milwaukee Magazine, Audi, 99.1 WMYX, 103.7 KISS FM and Audi North Shore & International Audi.
For more information about the 2010 Milwaukee Wine Festival, please visit www.milwaukeewinefestival.com
Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the gave. Designated Driver tickets are $10.
WHERE:
The grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum
700 Art Museum Drive
Milwaukee, WI
I always enjoy this event provided the weather cooperates. The location is great and the entertainment is good, if only for nice background music. The wine selections range widely and there will probably be something for everyone, with the vast majority being on the lower end of the price/quality spectrum. That’s to be expected.
However, what I don’t like about the event is that the ‘souvenir glass’ is basically a plastic throwaway wine glass with the event logo on it. That’s fine, since I don’t need a wine glass that doesn’t match any I have at home and I don’t feel like I need to carry it around after the event. But the glass has a ‘shot glass’ indicator line that shows the vendors how much to fill. And I do literally mean ‘shot glass’ indicator. You get exactly that much wine per ticket. Each ticket costs either $2.50 or $3.50, depending on when you purchase it. Now I don’t expect to get a full glass from every vendor, and I understand the need to limit the alcohol each person receives (we don’t want another First Fridays Martini Night fiasco), but it’s quite annoying having to ration tickets and consciously decide if any particular wine looks good enough to ‘spend $2.50’ on a mouthful. Yes, literally a mouthful. In my experience, the vast majority of wines at the event are $10-14. Which, for the amount you get, you are essentially paying the equivalent of about $80 a bottle for that $10 wine.
I go every year, and every year I leave thinking I won’t go again. I would enjoy it much more if a new system is enacted where you get unlimited samples (within reason, determined by the vendors) and have the option to buy a full glass at normal wine bar prices since it’s nearly impossible to enjoy a glass of wine with the current system.