FAYETTEVILLE -- The Walton Arts Center's three-day Art of Wine festival, held at the center June 9-11, was one for the ages, or at least the aged barrels.
At least 100 winemakers, their representatives and distributors from around the world situated themselves behind cloth-draped, numbered tables and poured samples for wine lovers of all levels of interest and expertise.
The 16th annual Art of Wine festival -- 17th if you count the year it took place as a spinoff from the center's former Garden Party fundraiser -- raised between $175,000 and $200,000 for arts education, said Kim Crawford, general manager at Liquor World and the festival's founder and longtime organizer. Some 50,000 schoolchildren and teachers in Arkansas participate in the center's arts education and outreach programs each year.
Art of Wine is the Walton Arts Center's largest annual fundraiser, consistently drawing a crowd from across the state and beyond its borders. It convenes with a Thursday night Winemaker's Dinner and continues with Uncorked!, an $80-per-head casual-dress wine tasting geared toward young professionals, and concludes with a more intimate, $150-per-ticket wine tasting with the connoisseur in mind.
Billed as the top 10 highlights from Saturday night's premiere tasting were the Fulcrum Anderson Valley pinot noir, Pierre Peters Brut NV, Frank Family Winston Hill red, Quintessa Illumination sauvignon blanc, K Vintners Motor City Kitty, Jamieson Ranch cabernet sauvignon, Seghesio Home Ranch zinfandel, Zeitgeist Trousseau Gris, Keenan Napa Valley mernet and Archimedes cabernet sauvignon. At retail, all would sell for $30 and up.
"Technically, we call Saturday night the premiere night, but it's really the reserve night," Crawford said. "Few people get a chance to drink wines of that quality all night long.
"Every bottle in that building was stellar," she added.
Thursday night's Winemaker's Dinner sold out at 225 people who paid $200 each to attend.
Silent auctions Thursday and Saturday pulled down well over $50,000. Guests also paid for the chance to spin a roulette wheel for bottles of wine Friday and Saturday nights. A few domestic and foreign beers, including those from Little Rock-based Lost Forty Brewery, were also served. And Phil Brandon of Rock Town Distillery in Little Rock set up a tasting of his distilled spirits plus frozen blackberry lemonade and frozen moonshine margaritas in the Joy Pratt-Markham Gallery.
The festival is modeled after the Aspen (Colo.) Food and Wine Classic, being held this weekend.
-- Story and photos by Cyd King
High Profile on 06/19/2016