BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival, February 28 Thru March 3-Charleston's Only Winery And Distillery Rocks

Charleston, the toast of the coast, beautiful, hospitable, and drenched in romantic, southern history, is a sort of living museum. A plethora of 18th century homes, plantations, churches, galleries, and shops line its vintage roadways and waterfronts. A considerable number of historic hotels, inns, and bed and breakfasts cordially beckon travelers to partake of their opulence. Award-winning restaurants featuring the famous Lowcountry cuisine entice hungry visitors at every turn of the corner and for the surf and sand lovers, four beautiful beaches wrap its coastline. But despite this abundance of old city amenities, Charleston is home to only one varietal repository, the Irvin House Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island.

The Irvin House Vineyards is a 48-acre winery about 30 minutes south of Charleston. The vineyard offers walking trails, a petting zoo, a garden, large pond, winery, and gift shop. You can take advantage of the winery's affordable and informative wine tastings. For $4, you can taste all 5 of their varietals and will receive a complimentary wine glass for a keepsake to remember your time at the vineyard. Afterwards, you can enjoy a self-guided tour through the muscadine vines. Muscadine grapes are a fruit native to the Southeastern United States, perfectly matched to the climate needing fewer chilling hours than better known varieties and they thrive on summer heat.

One event to hone in on is the annual Grape Stomping Festival. In 2012, the event was in August. Check the event news on Irvin House Vineyards website for updates on this years stomping. Interesting fact: After naming their wines, they chose fine Charleston artists to create the labels.

The winery is also home to the Firefly Distillery, South Carolina's only distillery. Firefly became the world's first hand-crafted sweet tea flavored vodka. It is distilled four times, infused with tea grown on the Charleston Tea Plantation just five miles from the distillery. The distillery has a tasting room, where people may taste Firefly products and purchase bottles right on the property. Tastings are $6. It is one of the very few in the country to be both a vineyard and a distillery. Visitors can also take a quick drive down the road to the Charleston Tea Plantation for tours any day of the week. The tasting room is located at 6775 Bears Bluff Road.

Now that I have you all wined-up, it is time to attend the annual BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival, February 28 - March 3, 2013. There will be 80 events over the course of the Festival weekend, affording you the opportunity to interact with and learn from the country's best chefs, authors and beverage professionals. The heart of it all is the Culinary Village in Marion Square Park where the JetBlue + Piggly Wiggly Grand Tasting Tents with over 80 food and beverage vendors from across the country will be set up. Firefly will be part of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival March 1 - 3. You can see them in the Piggly Wiggly Tent. For a complete list of venues and locations click on map. Events and tickets are posted here.

Here are some interesting wine facts:
1) The smell of young wine is called an "aroma" while a more mature wine offers a more subtle "bouquet".
2) Wine tasting is essentially wine smelling, women tend to be better wine testers because women, particularly of reproductive ages, have a better sense of smell than men.
3) Red wines are red because fermentation extracts color from the grape skins. White wines are not fermented with the skins present.
4) The world's oldest bottle of wine dates back to 325 A.D. and was found near the town of Speyer, Germany, inside one of two Roman sarcophaguses. It is on display at the town's Historisches Museum der Pfalz.
5) There is increasing scientific evidence that moderate, regular wine drinking can reduce the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and gum disease.
6) Wine grapes rank number one among the world's fruit crops in terms of acres planted.
7) There is a right and wrong way to hold a wine glass. Wine glasses should always be held by the stem and not the bowl because the heat of the hand will raise the temperature of the wine.
8) One ton of grapes makes about 60 cases of wine, or 720 bottles. One bottle of wine contains about 2.8 pounds of grapes.
9) Most wine is served in a glass that has a gently curved rim at the top to help contain the aromas in the glass. The thinner the glass and the finer the rim, the better. A flaring, trumpet-shaped class dissipates the aromas.
10) Red wine represents 55% of restaurant wine sales.

A Salute To Winemaking-Charleston Wine and Food Festival

What list contains names like Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Methuselah, Salmanazar, Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar, and Sovereign? No, it doesn't have anything to do with the Bible. These are designated names for wine bottle sizes. The most well known wine bottle size is the Magnum, which is the equivalent of two standard size bottles of 1.5 liters. There are hundreds of wine types in the world, each with its own flavors and styles. Most people know about the popular varieties, such as chardonnay, cabernet, zinfandel, muscadel, pinot blanc, and merlot. Even more daunting is the glossary of wine terminology. When I take a glass of wine, I don't ask to sniff the cork, role it around in the glass, smell it, or swish it throughout my mouth. I just drink it. One could very well say I seriously lack the cultural sophistication and elegance required in wine selection and recognition.

Wines were first introduced to the United States as early as the 17th century. On the East Coast, early settlers were disappointed by the native wine varieties, which made strong and earthy wine, so they imported wine cuttings from their European homelands. Unfortunately, disease and severe weather took their toll on the fledgling vines, and they didn't survive. In the 19th century, due to the work of horticulturist Thomas Munson, growers discovered that by grafting European varieties to American rootstock, they could produce flavorful wine. This process also saved the European wine industry from extinction when American rootstock was taken over to England infected with phylloxera.

On the west coast, 18th century Spanish missionaries planted vines at each mission to produce sacramental wine. The 1849 Gold Rush brought a growing number of immigrants, mostly of the Italian descent, who planted in the Napa and Sonoma valleys and the Sierra foothills to satisfy the increased demands of the thirsty miners. Prohibition in 1919 nearly decimated the American winemaking industry. It was illegal to produce wine except for medicinal, sacramental, or home winemaking purposes. A handful of California winemakers survived by making sacramental wine. It wasn't repealed until 1933. In the following years quality wines were produced, but had difficulty marketing them.

Then, in 1976, two California wines beat their French counterparts in a blind taste test in Paris. The ancient European wineland's rigid grip on the hiearchy of quality wine was broken. Now, California is the largest producer in the country, producing 90 per cent of the nation's wine. Other top wine-producing states include New York, Oregon, and Washington. The United States is the third largest wine-consuming country in the world, following only France and Italy.

The hot and humid summers of South Carolina make it a challenge to grow grapes for wine production. It requires viticulturalists to adapt their canopy(the parts of the vine visible aboveground) to minimize direct sunlight on the grapes, which are often harvested early in the summer. South Carolina is not a designated American Viticultural Area. An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the United States Department of the Treasury.

Still, there are numerous wineries in SC, one of which is in Charleston, the Market Street Winery. Charleston is also host to a four day event called "one of the top five food and wine festivals in the U.S." by Forbes Traveler, the annual BB&T Charleston Wine and Food Festival. This year it will take place March 3-6. March 4, at Marion Square, the 6 Top Chefs Challenge will take place. The Festival for the first time will celebrate the Bravo hit TV show, Top Chef, with a bash and “Lowcountry Ingredient” challenge. A fan favorite from each season will be on-hand to serve a small plate of their signature recipe. Tickets are still available. This is just one of the numerous events scheduled throughout the four days. Click for the complete list. In conclusion, "If your heart is warm with happiness, you'll need a glass of wine-if sorrow chills your heart, have two!"

Other wine and food festivals:
Coastal Uncorked Food and Wine Festival
Beaufort Wine and Food Weekend
High Museum Wine Auction
Atlanta Food & Wine Festival
New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
Cincinnati Wine Festival
South Beach Wine & Food Festival
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