wine festival – Wine Down With Alicia

Festival season has officially kicked off and the wine is overflowing.

Atlanta Wine Walk gives you all the things the city has to offer: good wine, delicious food, great music, and more importantly a fun time.

This year’s festival was presented by Chateau Ste. Michelle, a Washington winery that started its roots in 1912 and had the #1 selling Riesling last year.

Quick Festival Facts:

Location – The Battery Atlanta, which is a mixed entertainment/living/retail district that is also home to the Atlanta Braves. You can catch a baseball game, a movie, and watch your favorite performer live.
Details – A 4hr wine festival featuring wines, performances, and food.
When – Mid-August
Cost – $60 – $80, VIP available for 1hr early access, souvenir glass, and food tickets included.
Parking – Free parking available at the Red Deck (up to 4 hrs)
Stay – Omni Hotel

This was the first festival I’ve attended since the pandemic and the setup for this one was different from others I’ve attended.

Once you checked in at the gate you get a Wine Walk badge that has a map of the tasting tents with 10 markers. The markers were numbered 1- 10 (the amount of tasting tents) with R (red wine) and W (white wine). Unlike other festivals where the wines are unlimited, you only had 1 option to try at each tent.

To choose wisely they had wine cards at each table giving the description of wine.

Although the wine wasn’t unlimited, your ticket came with full pour drink vouchers.

General admission got 1 voucher and VIP got 2.

My favorite sips of the day were:

Chateau Ste. Michelle Element Papaya Jasmine White Blend, Light body, semi-sweet white blend with elements of Papaya and Jasmine.
Chateau Ste. Michelle Rosé, Light body, semi-sweet Rosé with notes of watermelon, strawberry, raspberry, and lemon/lime.
Fruit & Flower Chardonnay, Medium body, with notes of red apple, tangerine, and pear.
Réserve Exclusive Brut – “Blue Label” by Nicolas Feuillatte, notes of pear and apricot with a blend of Pinot noir, Meunier, Chardonnay grapes.