2011 Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival

Back when I was managing wine shops in the Roanoke Valley, invariably there would be the occasional customer who expressed envy for my lifestyle. “You have it made,” the customer would say, “just sitting around and drinking wine all day.”
    While it makes for an engaging picture, running a wine shop is anything but a picnic — and the same can be said for operating a winery. Just ask any owner of the 26 Virginia wineries participating at the 23rd Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival Sept. 24-25 at LakeWatch Plantation.
    While you are purveying an enjoyable product, owning a winery is difficult and expensive. In addition to purchasing and cultivating land, most wineries construct a tasting room alongside the winemaking operation. Then there is equipment to be purchased – barrels, bottles, corks, capsules, labels – and employees to be paid.
    With more than 100 wineries in Virginia alone, how does a small, local operation make its name known and the public aware of its label?  One way is through events such as the SML Wine Festival, which provide winemakers a venue to put their wine right into their customers’ glasses. If the patrons like the wine, they can purchase it on the spot, often at a case discount.
    “Festivals are still an important way small wineries like Hickory Hill make the public aware that some really good wines are available locally,” said Roger Furrow, who co-owns Hickory Hill Vineyards in Moneta with his wife, Judy, and attends eight to10 festivals each year.
    “By tasting these wines in an entertaining setting, like the Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival, [tasters] learn that some of the local wineries are producing award-winning wines unique to the area. This is a surprise to many, and their comments to friends are the word-of-mouth advertising that successful small wineries depend upon for increasing winery visitation as well as for sales at retail outlets.”
    Rhonda Page of Brooks Mill Winery in Wirtz said she and her husband, H.T., rely on wine festivals to get their name before the public. H.T. Page had been making wine as a hobby for a few years before purchasing property in Franklin County in 2008 for a full-fledged business. The couple planted blackberries, apples, pears, peaches and cherries, making fruit wines that are quite popular with customers.
    While not all of Brooks Mill’s wines are sweet, Rhonda Page said younger drinkers new to wine are more inclined to prefer the sweet styles. And while setting up and selling at a wine festival is a lot of work, Page said customers often will visit the winery at a later date to check out the operation.
    “If we do well [at a wine festival], we return,” she said.
    Brooks Mill wines are available in a few local stores, so the exposure at a festival is vitally important. But sales at a festival can be difficult to predict. If the weather is good and the affair is well attended, sales usually will be brisk. If the winery has good sales, it is often an opportunity to recoup money spent on growing grapes and producing wine.
    Nancy Medaglia of Tomahawk Mill Winery in Chatham said she was not sure which varieties of wine she would be bringing to the SML Wine Festival.  
    “Our apple wine is our most popular,” she said, “but it may be sold out by the time of the festival.”  
    Medaglia said her Cabernet Franc is a nice red, but the red-wine tasting experience is compromised if the weather is so hot that even red wines have to be iced down to be tasted at the proper temperature. She often invites festival patrons to visit the winery - an historic property popular with Civil War buffs - and taste the wine in the comfortable setting of the tasting room.
    Danny Johnson of Peaks of Otter Winery in Bedford said he likes to have fun with his customers at wine festivals. He plays a culinary trick by having them taste the Chili Dawg wine, which is made with hot peppers, alongside a cracker topped with cheese spread from a can. It tastes like nachos, a crowd favorite.  
    “I don’t know how many acres of spray cheese we have spread out on crackers, but the people love it,” said Johnson, adding that customers often think the more wineries present, the better the festival.  However, if there are too many wineries, “the slices of the pie get sliced too thin. The number of wineries at the Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival is just right.”

Want to Go?

23rd Annual Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival

What: Fundraiser for the Smith Mountain Lake  Regional Chamber of Commerce featuring 26 Virginia wineries, 85 craft and food vendors and live music

When: Saturday, Sept. 24 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 25 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Rain or shine

Where: LakeWatch Plantation, Moneta (Virginia 122 south of Hales Ford Bridge)

What You’ll Hear: Superhold will play Saturday. Sunday’s scheduled bands are Barefoot West with Corey Hunley and The Worx.

Tickets: Tasters are $18 in advance and $22 at the gate. Non-tasters are $12 in advance and $15 at the gate. Purchase tickets online or find local sales outlets at visitsmithmountainlake.com.

More info: 540.721.1203, visitsmithmountainlake.com