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Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2007 > May > 02 > Entry
Large southwest Ohio wine festival canceled
My CoxOhio colleagues are reporting that Valley Vineyards has canceled its wine festival this year. The event was to be held in late September.
A member of the Schuchter family that operates Valley Vineyards said he wants to help “clean up” the festival before coming back in 2008 with a revamped event. The festival is in its 37th year, and last year drew an astonishing 80,000 people to the winery, located in Warren County near Morrow.
I’ve never been to the festival, but have heard a lot about it. Have you attended, or do you know someone who has?
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Comments
By gram37
May 12, 2007 6:08 PM | Link to this
my husband has been going to the wine festival sence the late 70’s.I started going with him in the early 90’S.The vast majority of the people there are not on a drunk fest.They like us and our friends are there to enjoy the booths of items all the venders are selling, and maybe sample some wine.The grape stomping contest was fun,the music saturday night by the bentwood rockers was allways rocken.I never took my kids to this event, to me it was not for kids.So as the norm goes we allways see only the bad, and not the good of things.
By Cathy
May 3, 2007 9:57 PM | Link to this
What an awesome response from Joe Schuchter of Valley Vineyards. I am quite impressed by his attitude, and optimistic about their future. All my best to them!
By Joe Schuchter
May 2, 2007 7:08 PM | Link to this
These comments are the reason the festival is being reworked. The Valley Vineyards of today is not the VV of 10 yrs ago, or even 2 years ago. Great emphasis has been put into fine wine production, as well as our house line of wines. Our first ever “double gold” from the american wine society was awarded this year. One of three in the country. Though i agree with what most have said about our festival, as the new owners of the General Denver in Wilmington put it, “this is not your fathers’ Valley Vineyards, its been taken over by a modern, forward looking generation” Thank you for the comments, i do appriciate blogs such as this to give us true unbiased insight into our business. Joe Schuchter
By Bud
May 2, 2007 3:26 PM | Link to this
I’ve been before, but as others have said, it doesn’t seem to be a place I wanted to be after dark. The afternoons and early evenings were fun though. Grilling your own steak was fun but the wines were … Well the wines were wine, I guess, but nothing more. Still it is a shame to see the rowdies cause this event to shut down.
By Cathy
May 1, 2007 11:29 PM | Link to this
Sounds like a good decision on the part of Valley Vineyards. They produce some — ok, maybe just a few — impressive value wines. But their festival has in the past been a drunken brawl. If they want to be taken more seriously, they should “clean up” the way that the festival is managed.
By chiefwino
May 1, 2007 10:32 PM | Link to this
The biggest problem in the past few years has been the drunk fest occurring in the camping area. Definitely not a family friendly environment. A few years ago there was an incident of someone driving under the influence through the camp area and ran over some people sleeping in a tent. I don’t believe anyone was seriously injured. The other campers pulled the driver out of the vehicle and beat him until police arrived. The incident was reported in DDN. Overall most of the serious winos in the area long ago stopped attending the festival because of the unsavory atmosphere.
By George
May 1, 2007 9:46 PM | Link to this
I went to a couple years ago, and it was interesting to say the leaset. With all the bikers there I did not feel that it was a good place to be after dark. It seems everyone was walking around with a bottle in their hand and one in their pocket. You knew after dark things would get a little weird, so I never stayed. I thought the wines were OK but mostly a sweeter style. Not my style. I haven’t been since the mid 90’s.
By Mark D
May 1, 2007 8:47 PM | Link to this
Patty and I have been going down to the Wine Festival at Valley Vineyards for years. Usually on Friday night. It has always been a wonderful drive with the top down through the lovely Warren County Fall. We dont go for the wine so much but for a piece of Americana and our favorite BBQ. There has been a gentleman from somewhere around Columbus by the name of Bill Hill, I refer to him as Mr. Hill, who does extraordinary things with pork. Its always been a good old fashioned fun time and we have met many wonderful people at the event. I know they have a bad reputation for some stupid things that have happened in the past but the wine is fun to try and the BBQ is “off the chart” My guess is it will come back better than ever unless the land has been sold for development, which would be a shame.
By CJ
May 1, 2007 7:21 PM | Link to this
I love Valley Vinyards wine,love their winery, not very excited about the festival. I can’t believe that 80,000 people showed up last year. I was at the event and there was no way that many people could attend.
By Michelle
May 1, 2007 6:50 PM | Link to this
You know, we went last year and were unimpressed. There was a camping section, where I imagine the folks in the campers had quite the fun time in the evening. There were craft booths and carnival-type food booths. I wasn’t blown away by the festival by any means. I was also surprised to read that it drew 80,000+ people. The Saturday afternoon we were there it seemed pretty low-key. I suspect the parties really get going in the evening with music and wine. I can understand wanting to retool it. It seemed small but chaotic. We were disappointed in the festival, but we did enjoy their winery tour, which was nice. Who knows? Maybe we just went on a bad day and everyone was sleepy.