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Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Farmville Wine Festival Buzzes to Life for Meals on Wheels

Riverside Park had its most exciting day of the year thus far on Saturday, April 20, populated by droves of wine drinkers, music lovers and those with a penchant for homespun curios. Meals on Wheels hosted the Farmville Wine Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The event hosted 28 vendors, nine of which were wineries, and required a $25 entrance fee for tasting and a$20 entrance fee for non-tasters. For children, the event was free.

 Among the numerous vendors at the wine festival, and emblems of the event’s variety, were Amazin’ Grazin’, a hot food vendor, and Hot Dot Jelly Pot, a sweets vendor. Representing Amazin’ Grazin’, Lois Smith depicted the business as cooking and selling products from “all grass fed, pastured animals all their lives.

The most important thing is that we take pride in what we’re doing; we don’t serve anything that we wouldn’t eat ourselves. We want people, after they eat our food to actually have the benefits of their health. Not getting sick from it.”

Susan Miller, representing the Cartersville based Hot Dot Jelly Pot, said she does “a lot of exotic combinations, combinations you don’t see out in the market place,” such as pepper jellies and pepper cheesecakes.

 Among the wineries present, from the Farmville area and around the state, was the humorously named Well Hung Vineyard. Representing the Well Hung, based west of Charlottesville, was Amy Steers. Talking about the wine business in general and in Virginia specifically, Steers said, “There’s a lot of trial and error; it’s so weather-related. With the heat and the moisture, mildew is a huge problem so you have to spray a lot to keep the disease off the grapes.“

 Since many tasters notice a difference between different wineries’ renditions of the same varietals, Steers explained that “a lot of it is how they’re grown. How many grapes you get per acre. I tend to thin my crops, so you don’t get a lot of grapes, but you get a pretty good quality. And then a lot of it depends on the wine maker, what kind of oak you put in it, how long you make it.

Whether you leave on the skin.” When expressing feelings on the Farmville Wine Festival as an effective showcase, Steers said, “It’s great. It’s really special because we don’t have a tasting so they can’t come to us; we’ve got to come to the people. A huge part of our business is going to festivals and getting our wine out there. We do sell to a lot of retails in the state, but this is a really good venue to get out there.”

 The chief purpose of the Farmville Wine Festival was to produce funds for the charity, Meals on Wheels. According to Cindy Cave, executive director of the Prince Edward County branch and director for two years, this year was the fourth annual festival.

Cave commented that the “wineries are top notch. They’re from all over the state of Virginia.” Paying Longwood music majors to provide a cool jazz and hard bop background, the event was also made a success with the help of volunteers. Help was drawn largely from the Hampden-Sydney College Baseball Team, Longwood University Theta Chi and Longwood University’s Delta Zeta for the physical labor of putting up and taking down wineries and vendors.

Due to their support, volunteers over 21 were provided with a free wine glass and wristband for wine tasting.  Coming out of an event designed to be especially fun, the community was enlightened on both wineries and other small vendors in the state and the local charities that help us all. Completing a verdant Saturday with the grace of good conversation and a splash of carefully wrought alcohol, the Farmville Wine Festival proved that something entertaining and important does happen in Prince Edward.

 

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