Wine Tasting/Festival

Dear Winemaking Friend,

We cordially invite you to grapestompers' 8th Annual Wine

Festival to be held at the Burgiss Barn in Laurel Springs,

NC on Sunday, October 2, 2005 from 2:30 - 5:00 PM.

Admission is only $5.00 per person, and includes your choice

of either an etched souvenir wine glass from Thistle Meadow

Winery or 2 wine tasting plates* (see description below),

wine tasting, heavy hors d'oeuvres, live music, and local

artisans showing off their handmade crafts.

If you would like a souvenir wine glass AND a plate, the

cost is only $7.50.

Please call 800-233-1505 or email me (my address is below)

to register for this event, to help ensure we have enough

food to go around.

The festivities will start with an optional lunch buffet

beginning at 11 AM. The buffet costs $8.00 for adults,

$7.00 for seniors and $3.00 for children under 8. Price

includes tax and tip. The buffet will be served until 2 PM

(or until gone) and features grilled country ham, grilled

chicken breast, and chopped pork BBQ along with 7 vegetables

cooked the old fashioned way (slow and low) to seal in all

the flavor. Add to that your dessert, drink and bread...

for a wonderful rib-sticking meal.

After that nice buffet, you can walk around and taste wines

from other North Carolina wineries, including Weathervane

Winery and Buck Shoals Vineyards.

*These rugged plates have a hole in one corner of the plate,

which are designed to hold your wine glass. That way, you

can hold your plate AND your glass with one hand - which is

perfect for mingling with and greeting other wine tasters!

These plates are made of heavy clear plastic and are safe

for dishwashers.

We predict that Fall will be in the air, so bring a sweater

along just in case there is a chill in the air! The fall

leaves will be turning at this point, so a bring a camera

to shoot some colorful pictures of the festival.

Also invited to the festival are some home winemakers from

our region because they always bring in a surprise or two!

One of our customers may let you in on how to make your own

champagne. Bring your friends and neighbors so they can

see and learn how to cork a bottle, and how to uncork a

bottle and avoid getting cork into your wine. We'll also be

discussing wine and food pairings, how to make a sweet wine

sour, and a sour wine sweet! You'll also learn how to make

a bitter wine taste better, and how to make a sweet wine

taste dry!

If you're a home winemaker and would like to show off your

wines at the festival, please give us a call to make the

appropriate arrangements. A free lunch for two and a $15

gift certificate to grapestompers.com is in the offing!

Explore the tasting of wine with different wine glasses and

see for yourself how wine glasses themselves play a big part

in the tasting and aroma of wine!

Prizes will be awarded for the person who has traveled the

farthest to attend the festival, and the oldest home

winemaker in the crowd. We'll even award prizes for the

oldest person attending our festival and the youngest bride-

to-be. So plan to be here in Laurel Springs, NC and join

in all the food and fun!

Nancy and I hope to see you there!

Tom Burgiss

tom at grapestompers dot com

800-233-1505