Wine, cider and mead produced in North Carolina are getting their own spotlight at this year’s State Fair with the introduction of a new wine, cider and mead garden located in the Heritage Circle. The garden comes as a joint effort by the North Carolina Wine Growers Association, the NC Cider Alliance and the NC Mead Alliance to promote N.C. producers and products.
“It’s really exciting to have wine, cider and mead back at the state fair,” said Nicole Chesney, Executive Director of the N.C. Wine and Grape Council.
The garden will feature 29 different producers, showcasing a wide variety of wines, ciders and mead from across N.C. Each day will feature multiple different vendors, letting fairgoers try different options throughout the week.
“It’s going to be a solid mix of dry wines and sweet wines, as well as red wines and white wines,” she said. “Then, in terms of ciders and mead, that’s going to be a really good mix as well.”
Chesney said they came up with the idea to have an area dedicated to wine, cider and mead products after seeing success with other alcoholic beverages being sold at the fair, saying it felt like it made perfect sense.
“After seeing the success of other beverages being sold by the glass at the State Fair, we thought it would be the perfect place for NC wine, cider and mead to share their offerings as well.”
In years past, fairgoers were able to purchase wine and cider at the N.C. State Fair Public House, but now the dedicated space will allow for more options across the board. Chesney said the new space will also give more exposure to wineries across the state, since it allows for more vendors to showcase different wines.
“I don’t know that we’ve had this dedicated space before, and I think that’s what we’re really excited about,” she said. “And I’m excited that people get to try cider and mead as well.”
The creation of the garden comes as North Carolina’s wineries continue to grow and help bolster the state’s economy. Chesney said new wineries are opening every year in the state, and wine cider and mead produced in N.C. contributed to a $7.7 billion economic impact for the state and helped to support up to 45, 000 jobs.
The total list of producers who will be present includes, Adagio Vineyards, Biltmore Estate Winery, Carolina Heritage Winery, Cauble Creek Vineyard, Childress Vineyards, Curran Alexander Vineyards, Cypress Bend Vineyards, Duplin Winery, Haze Gray Vineyards, Locklear Vineyards & Winery, Mountain Brook Vineyards, Parker-Binns Vineyard, Shadow Springs Vineyards, Sotrio Vineyards, Tempest Cellars, Tunnel Creek Vineyards, Uwharrie Vineyards, Barn Door Ciderworks, Botanist and Barrel, Bull City Ciderworks, Flat Rock Cider Company, Honeygirl Meadery, James Creek Cider House, Molley Chomper Hard Cider, Noble Cider, RedClay Ciderworks, Stardust Cellars, Starrlight Mead and Urban Orchard Cider Co.
In addition to the garden, wine, cider and mead producers will be inside Dorton Arena at the Got to Be N.C. Pavilion holding tasting sessions and selling by the bottle. The Got to Be N.C. Pavilion is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m., except on Thursday, Oct. 16 when the building will open at 12 p.m.
The wine cider and mead garden will be open noon to 10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. On Friday’s and Saturday’s, the garden will be open noon to 10:30 p.m.
Drinks can be purchased during the fair for $15 per glass including tax. Wine and mead will be served in 6 oz pours and cider will be served in 10 oz glasses, with a limit of two drinks per person.