CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Saturday, Nov. 23, the Corpus Christi Wine Festival returns to Heritage Park for the sixth edition of the event.
“Building a wine culture in Corpus Christi has been something that has been important to us. We’ve seen the growth of the event and we’re just excited for people to come and see how we’re trying to continue to improve it,” co-organizer Frank Arriaga said.
The festival will have many of the mainstays like vendors, food trucks and over 100 varieties of wine. A majority of the selection is wine that isn't found in Corpus Christi.
However, some changes are being made.
“The taste of Texas has expanded out to the rose garden. We’ve also expanded the VIP area, so there’s more room for everyone to have more of a lounge area in that gated area that used to be the Taste of Texas," co-organizer Dave Berlanga said.
"We upgraded our tents to be safer. Our older tents had some straps that came off the side, just in the interest of keeping things safe and fun we upgraded our tents," Arriaga said. “This year we are building out a new space its the Dope Barbecue Lounge. It’s going to be located here in the middle of the park, also. It’s a different opportunity for people to enjoy food and just hangout enjoy the weather, watch some football. "
Attendees can expect live music with over a dozen acts, headlined by Donavan Frankenreiter and Bart Crow.
The wine festival is an experience that will keep wine lovers there all day with activities like paint and sip, face painting...and alpacas. Texas Party Animals will return for the second year with three alpacas for the family to take photos and hang out with.
Those people who are wine drinkers can visit the craft beer area. There's also a chef showdown beginning at 4 p.m.
Corpus Christi isn’t known as a wine city, but the group of friends of Arriaga, Berlanga and Virginia Perez organizes the event to bring something that’s missing to the city.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to educate those that might not necessarily be wine drinkers because, like Frank said, we have over 100 varieties of wine you might not necessarily see,” Perez said.
“Wine is something that we associate with friends and family in our case. We’ve always enjoyed that time together it’s nice to be able to facilitate it," Arriaga said.
It’s $30 to enter the festival and tickets are on sale which can be used for tastings. Tastings are between two and six tickets. Half glasses are between four and eight tickets. Full glasses are between eight and 17 tickets.
Tickets can be purchased on the wine festival website. Organizers suggest buying tickets early. There is a capacity limit and they sold out last year.
The festival runs Saturday, Nov. 23 from 3 p.m. to midnight.
Organizers ask attendees to plan ahead to find a designated driver or order a ride share to avoid drinking and driving.
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