NC Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Festival

Located at the Lafayette Village shops, the second annual iteration of this event promised tastes of locally made wines, cheeses, and chocolates as well as live entertainment.

Though a fine idea on paper, this proved to be one of the worst run events I ever attended. Event organizers clearly oversold tickets, which resulted in problems from the start: namely, a lack of onsight parking. Thankfully, the weather of the event date (Saturday, October 14) wasn’t unpleasantly hot, so walking a quarter mile from parking to event wasn’t the ordeal that it could have been.

The next mistake was that the event site was not big enough to accommodate an event of this size and scope. Picture, if you will, a series of small, upscale shops surrounding a central courtyard. The admissions line snaked outside the shops and was routed into the shopping center’s business offices before spilling out into a chokepoint and then, finally, the courtyard. The courtyard itself contained a handful of vendor tents (two to three wineries, one chocolatier, one cheese person, one milkshake person), which resulted in massive, snaking, criss-crossed lines and many disgruntled attendees.

Lastly, the cost of admission ($26.50 per ticket at an early-bird rate) provided a poor value. Attendees received twelve sample tickets, which wouldn’t have been a problem had not the wineries offered such small pours.

Despite the chaos and disappointment, not everything at the Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Festival was a bust. The chocolate-covered bacon was delicious as was the smoked gouda, Chatham Hill winery offered a nice peach wine, and a number of the vendors seemed quite genial.

All told, however, this “festival” had little to recommend it. It seemed less a chance to celebrate local food and drink and more a cash grab and cynical ploy to drive up business in Lafayette Village. A bonus penalty goes to the organizers initially scrubbing negative reviews from the event’s Facebook page (several are currently visible on the organization’s Facebook though).

3.75/10