Director of Communications
amanda.murphy@tn.gov
615-741-9010
Senior Communications Manager
jill.kilgore@tn.gov
615-927-1320
Communications Manager
Alli.Lapps@tn.gov
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Nine Lakes Wine Festival, which features more than 100 Tennessee wines and hard ciders, takes place 1-6 p.m. Saturday, May 20 on the waterfront Melton Lake Park in Oak Ridge.
Chef demonstrations are performed by Chef John Alunni of The Cutting Edge Classroom. He is cooking spicy red wine pasta, shrimp with white wine and tarragon, and chocolate red wine cupcakes with Marionberry filling and red wine-infused blackberry buttercream frosting, using all Tennessee wines in his dishes.
Sommelier Tanya Habeck, a wine consultant and former wine director of the Capitol Grille in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, gives the tasting notes for each wine during the chef demonstrations.
Food is included in the ticket price. Vendors include Mediterranean Delight, Calhoun's, Aubrey's, Buttermilk Sky Pie, Catering by Top Flight and Coal Creek Smokehouse.
Wine seminars include:
• Pairing Wine with Food, by Terri Geiser, assistant director of the U.T. Culinary Institute Community Cooking Classes.
• Good Wine / Bad Wine: A Wine Judge Explains, by Rick Jelovsek, wine educator and judge from Jonesborough, TN, introduced by Dr. Mark Morgan, director of Wines of the South Regional Wine Competition at U.T.
• Make Wine at Home, by members of TVOS, the Tennessee Viticultural and Oenological Society (home winemakers' club of TN).
• Secrets of the Sommelier, by Tanya Habeck, in the VIP Tent only.
Live music from The Knox Vegas Ramblers, Stock Creek Band, The Jeanette Weeks Band, Barefoot Sanctuary and The Foxtones provides the perfect backdrop for a tasting experience, offering jazz, light rock, bluegrass and country.
A “Barrels of Fun Charity Race,” typically seen in Italian wine festivals, gives 12 East Tennessee a portion of the gate and prizes 3-5 p.m.
Festival tickets are available at the gate. General admission to the Grand Tasting is $50 and a Non-Tasting ticket is offered for $20 which includes food, non-alcoholic drinks, and entertainment.
The festival's major sponsors include The Cutting Edge Classroom, Slamdot, Campbell Party Rentals, Freight Management Systems, Centrus Energy and Love Mountain Travel Dream Vacations.
The term ‘Nine Lakes’ refers to the nine TVA-made lakes within an hour’s drive of Knoxville, Tennessee.
For more information, visit www.NineLakesWineCountry.com.
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Director of Communications
amanda.murphy@tn.gov
615-741-9010
Senior Communications Manager
jill.kilgore@tn.gov
615-927-1320
Communications Manager
Alli.Lapps@tn.gov