Virginia Wine Expo

Super thanks to Unilocal Richmond for running a FB contest to win tickets to this event beacuse I won!!! That’s right two free tickets to the Virginia Wine Expo!!! I found out I won 24 hours before the event. Babe! !! Road trip! !! I didn’t mind driving up from Chesapeake to attend this event in Richmond.
This event is world renowned so heck yeah we’re game to attend. Parking was a beast! We arrived about 2pm and the event I believe started about 10am. So yeah we were super late and knew we would have to deal with ridiculous lines for the wine sampling. But no worries…
We were blessed to run into a man that was coming out of one of the pay to park lots and he offered to give us his paid for parking voucher. A free voucher for 3 hours… yaWhoooooooo!!! So let’s do the math… free tickets valued at $ 55 each and now free parking… Oh we are in store for an awesome Saturday! !
I didn’t do my research on this event, but if we ever return again I’ll be ready. They offered private samplings throughout the day and I believe I saw evening tastings too. These tastings included food sampling as well. Bummer… most we sold out too. I believe about 20 openings were available for each private sampling. I’m sure this made an awesome time for a day date or date night.
I saw something about a burger blast not sure what that is, but mad we missed that too. I tell yeah it was a lot going on and I’m sorta disappointed we didn’t get the full wine expo experience. So definitely do your research before you attend.
But we’re checked in and wristband ready! I was able to get a free wine bag that holds up to 6 bottles of wine… ahmazing! !!
We picked up our crystal wine glasses… they were beautiful!!!
We didn’t know where to start.
Let’s start where the lines are the shortest. As time went on no lines were short so be ready to wait. Patience indeed.
All the wine and malt liquor you can stand… this is the event for you!
Every 10 minutes it seemed you’d hear a loud roar or cheer even. I thought some kind of contest was going on but nope! Wine glasses were being dropped left and right, therefore, cheers if you will! ! :)
Amongst the wineries different vendors were present and my fav there was Unilocal!!!
Heyyyy Bevin! !! She was the Unilocal ambassador present on Saturday afternoon. She was awesome at greeting guests and telling them more about Unilocal.She also had some cool swag to pass out to those that expressed interest. But the highlight at the table, Unilocal provided beads and stems to make wine jewelry! Fun fun fun!
I’d definitely recommend this event. And wear comfy shoes and eat lite before arriving.
Have fun :)

This expo has a great selection of wineries. I arrived early and was very impressed by the size of the wine glass they were giving out. It’s much larger than you get at a normal winery or festival. The lines were not to bad at each table so I was able to taste a lot without much of a wait. I would still recommend arriving early as the crowd definitely gets a little rowdy towards the end.
It’s definitely more enjoyable with friends. They also have some concessions if you need a snack. I would definitely go back again next year. It’s not too crowded and has a great selection of wines.

I went on Sunday and arrived around noon although it opened at 11. My ticket was $ 45 purchased online the morning before. I can’t believe I’ve lived in Richmond my whole life and never been.
There was plenty of wine flowing. The vendors had some amazing samples. I tried delicious sausage, olives, pickles, and pound cake. When trying the wines, most of them are up for sale. You just pay and then you can pick the bottles up at the front just before you leave.
No one left there sober. This is definitely an «adults only» event and worth every penny.

The Burger Blast was… a blast! Great variety of burgers from the India K’raja awesome veggie burger to the massive Mosaic masterpiece, there was something for every palate.
The beer selection was terrific. My personal favorite Sidamo coffee stout by Hardywood. Never made it to the wine tables because of super long lines. Next year the organizer should consider doubling up on the wine offerings.
Music was provided by Griff’s band and they were really fun. They took standard favorites like Elvis’s hound dog and gave it a folk/​bluegrass twist. Music was a nice addition to this year’s event.