Great Grapes!

Not worth the money. Very cramped, only a small number of wineries, too many «junk» vendors. Lines for tastings were wayyyyyyyy too long. Save your money

I like the different events at the Reston Town Center, but did not enjoy Great Grapes at all. The lines were WAY too long — I’m not a fan of waiting 30+mins for a tasting. I hate to act like an old curmudgeon, but I also strongly disliked the hoards of newly turned 21 year olds pushing their way around. I wish I had known about the Unilocal booth…
The wine festival that they have at Bull Run is much better.

The event was fun. Even in the rain. The Virginia vintners are now pricing lower ($ 12-​$ 15 per bottle is now a regular option), and quality is increasing. The music was good (Kelly Bell played, woohoo!!).
The only negative was the crowd control. The tables were situated not, «in the round,» really limiting the each winery’s capacity to host more than 10 at a time for a tasting. For a high-​people-​volume event, the planners really should have situated the tasting stations «in the round» with more capacity to allow more folks at a time to taste.
Because of this problem, I probably won’t go in the future. The bigger venues out near Leesburg work better.

Catch 22 situation. If I pay $ 32 fee to enter the Wine Garden and make most use of it then I won”t be able to drive home. If I drink a little bit so I can drive home okay, then I will waste most of my precious $ 32. That is why I could not get to Unilocal booth because it was inside the Wine Garden, very unfortunately.