Who’s ready for a wine festival smack dab in the middle of the city? The Urban Wine Festival is happening June 28 – 29, 2019 at Lanspeary Park and runs from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. each night.
Here’s a rundown of what you can expect for the Urban Wine Festival and how to make the most of your experience.
FIRST THE BASICS: KNOW WHERE TO ENTER
Lanspeary Park is big. Yes, we’re in the rink, but the rink is also big so don’t get caught walking around the entire thing because you thought you knew where to enter.
Entry into the Urban Wine Festival will be at the east side of the rink. Just look for the gazebo and you’re heading in the right direction. You can easily access it from Giles Boulevard, Pierre Avenue and Ottawa Street.
DIGITAL TICKETS SAVE TREES
We like to be as environmentally friendly as possible and do our part in helping Mother Earth out. Tickets for the Urban Wine Festival are $20 in advance online and completely paperless. You’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email that contains important details about the festival as well as a bar code to be scanned for entry.
BOOTHS PRESENTED HOW YOU ACTUALLY DRINK WINE
Instead of the traditional booth by each brand, the Urban Wine Festival booths will be sorted out by varietals. What this means if you’re in the mood for a Pinot Grigio, you walk over to the Pinot Grigio booth. Want some Cabernet Franc? Waltz your way to the Cab Franc booth.
Other varietals offered will include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rosé & Bubbly, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. Each booth will offer a selection of each varietal to choose from.
As a special treat to really showcase how Windsor and region is the best region for Cab Franc wine, the booth for that particular varietal will be serving only local wines. We’ll also only be serving local Riesling to showcase the white varietal best suited for our region.
WINE FROM AROUND THE WORLD
We’re taking our inspiration from Daft Punk: we’re going around the world!
The Urban Wine Festival is going beyond the local borders for this event. While there will be local wines featured, you can also expect to find wines from regions in New Zealand, Argentina, Italy and France and more. This gives you an amazing opportunity to try our regions award winning wines alongside wine regions from around the world.
WindsorEats has partnered with Wineology to tap into their extensive knowledge of wine. Owner, Jean-Claude Boulos, has curated a selection of five different varietals representing well known wine regions around the world: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Rosé & Bubbly, and Sauvignon Blanc. He’s even been able to secure some special cases of Cabernet Sauvignon from Caymus, a Napa winery, which have been difficult to get all across the province.
We’re also working with sommelier Shelley Sharpe, currently plying her trade at the House of Vin in Detroit, will be showcasing a variety of Malbec wines from different regions.
SPEAKING OF THE WINES JUST WAITING TO BE DRANK…
Have you checked out the official wine list of the 2019 Urban Wine Festival? It keeps growing so be sure to check back often.
BEER AT A WINE FESTIVAL…WITH A TWIST
Here’s a great fusion for you. We’ll have two beers on tap at the festival for those looking for something a wee bit different. The two taps in the cutest bar ever will be serving two different and delicious wine-beer hybrids from Motor Craft Ales and Craft Heads Brewing Company.
From Motor, the Merlot #1 – Hefeweizen is brewed with a traditional German double decoction mash and fermented open top with a Bavarian yeast strain and blended with a Merlot. It gives flavours and aromas of bready wheat and banana esters with the juicy, fresh, dark fruit flavours of the Merlot.
Believe it or not, Craft Heads is currently putting the finishing touches on their beer, being brewed specifically for the festival. We’re excited to see the creation!
INTERACTIVE ART
The Art Lab will be onsite all weekend with interactive art displays. That means we want you to participate in creating a colourful space with us throughout the weekend.
Sam, owner of The Art Lab, and Eugene (also known as Dreamz) will be setting up paint stations around the space where you can add your mark by adding a splash of colour to the glass boards that surround the space.
You’ll also notice some amazing artwork by Amy Mailloux. Amy creates amazing and beautiful banners that will be hung around the event adding colour and movement. If you’ve been to the Whiskytown Festival you may recognize these stunning banners.
There will also be more interactive art components as we work on confirming other artists.
CULINARY DELIGHTS
Road Chef is on hand to serve up not only their well known items like mozza bombs, but, they are stepping it up a notch. They’ve got some tasty treats planned like Lobster Arancini and oysters that would go perfectly with some white wine.
Wineology will also be on site serving up their incredible wood-fire over pizzas. They’ll be serving two of the restaurants popular wood-fired oven pizzas including the JC which is topped with tomato sauce, goat and mozzarella cheese, figs, prosciutto and fresh arugula and pairs beautifully with Sauvignon Blanc. They’ll also be serving a dessert Nutella pizza.
DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY
On Friday, June 28, Omar Aragones will be playing throughout the evening. If you attended the Windsor Craft Beer Festival, you may recognize Omar from his band, Onefreq, who graced the stage in front of a throng of dancing festival goers.
Just one act you ask? Not quite. While Omar is headlining, throughout the night he’ll be switching it up and inviting various musical artists and styles up on the stage from beatbox to percussion to keys.
Then, on Saturday, June 29, we’re excited to have one of Detroit’s up-and-coming performers, Apropos, grace the stage. He’s amazing, very soulful and provides a hint of Motown inspiration. Definitely a fresh singer in Detroit.
NO TOKEN BOOTH! BUY TOKENS IN ADVANCE
Yes. You read that right. We will not have a token booth on site. We’ve partnered with Token Mobile to use their system and eliminate having to stand in line to purchase tokens.
How does it work?
Visit tokenmobile.ca or go to tokenmobile.ca/download from your mobile device.
You can even buy tokens in advance. If you’re at the event and need more tokens, simply purchase them on your phone. You’ll save time and money by avoiding lineups and ATM fees. You’ll even be able to view the wine lineup all from your phone.
Token Mobile allows you to view vendors and purchase and redeem tokens right from your phone. This means make sure you arrive with a full charge on your phone.
Each token has a value of $1 and is redeemable for both food and drink.
Just to reiterate: there are no physical tokens.
MAKE SURE YOUR PHONE IS CHARGED
So important we’re saying it again. You can only purchase tokens, wine and food through your phone. Make sure it is fully charged before you step on site.
IT’S A BOUTIQUE FESTIVAL
What does that mean? We wanted to keep this first year festival quaint and intimate and that means there will be a limited number of tickets available. The event takes place Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm each day.
RAIN OR SHINE, WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED…LITERALLY!
The Urban Wine Festival is taking place in Lanspeary Park. More specifically, inside the covered outdoor rink at the park. Yup, we said covered. That means we’ve got the best of both worlds: enjoying the beautiful summer breeze while knowing you’re safe from any potential rainfall.
PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
Share your social media pictures with us using both the #WindsorEats and #UrbanWineFest hashtags. Since we’ll be too busy making sure you’re having a good time, we love being able to live vicariously through our festival goers. Share and share often on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and more.
PLAN AHEAD
We ask that you plan ahead for so many reasons: saving yourself money (purchase tickets in advance at $20 compared to at the gate for $40), ticket availability (capacity is limited) and more. The most important reason to plan ahead is to be responsible. The festival is located in within an urban centre in the city, so walk, ride your bike, take an Uber. Whatever you do, don’t drink and then drive.
SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE TEACHERS
The Urban Wine Festival starts on the last day of school. Just sayin’. Is there a better way to celebrate the start of summer? I think not!
