Grapefest

This is a nice event to change up your weekend, do a little people watching and eat junk food.
Overall, to me, Grapefest isn’t very impressive if you’re going with the mindset to sample and experience wines. I anticipated wine tasting. I saw long lines, but wasn’t particularly interested in what I saw going on. On the upside, I did get a salsa sample!

Went on Friday — liked it so much, considering going back on Sunday. Definitely worth the time. Folks there are great — so friendly. Very helpful, very wine smart, Enjoyed the Argentina wine experience, enjoyed the Oregon experience even more. The Champagne tent was terrific. Bands were very nice, the food was good, the vendors nice at very high quality. We will be back for years to come.

So much fun! The wines were great! Definitely explore the champagne area, delicious and you get a complimentary wine glass. The food trucks were amazing, I suggest exploring the Cousins lobster truck. It had a wait time but SO worth it! The bands were fun to watch. don’t miss it!

This is not a «Grapefest», it”s a big tourist supermarket. If they are trying to promote wine, they fail miserably in that arena. Only 2 tents to serve wine on the main drag and the lines were insane. Don’t wast your time at this «fest»

«wahh wahh, I had to spend money, wahh it costs to get in, buy food, buy drinks, park, wahh wahh wahh, there’s lines for everything, wahh»
Holy crap people, popular events usually cause lines, and while not all of them may charge an entrance fee, you are going to pay for everything else, if there’s anything worth paying for.
Grapefest is a popular festival for many reasons. It may not be the end all wine festival, but in DFW it’s obviously the best one. Main street Grapevine is pretty cool, you gotta admit. A lot to do, places to eat, and then you throw in all the festival stuff to go with it.
Yea, there’s some goofy stuff, and some companies hawking stuff, but that’s how they pay the bills. Think the bands are playing for free? Nope. Think all those sound stages and equipment is free? Nope, they pay for those setups.
So hey, I understand some places, cities, get great sponsors, and shell out the money, and offer FREE entrance.
Anyway, what I see it comes down to is this. If it’s not a good value to you, then don’t come. But I’ve been to the last 8 – 10 years worth, and it keeps getting bigger and more crowded. It’s always fun, great people watching, and yes we tend to jokingly call it «drunkfest». (politically responsible disclaimer, «please drink responsibly»)
But it has a lot to offer for anyone, and don’t think I’ve ever seen any problems with the crowd. It seems to be a nice, mid sized festival that everyone I know enjoys going to.

good food, good wine, I was very happy… only thing I would like to make it five star is more areas to sit, but it’s hard to complain for being too busy for a festival…
one nice thing is you really don’t have to wait for food or wine like you used to a few years ago, there are more than enough places so even with a big crowd you can try a little bit of everything.

Always go on Thurs to the Festivals in DFW… they are not as packed, easy to park and generally do not charge admission like they do starting on Fri-​Sun. Music is awesome. People are ridiculously rude. Crafts and Crap are expensive but starving artist… toss a bone right? I just wish they did cash instead of tickets… that is so lame to me and a waste of time. The BBQ pits etc are groovy tunes. The stores you can go in… but they are open all year so why pay to go if you are just going to shop. The art galleries that have opened since my last visit are quite exquisite.

If you like LINES, this is the place for you! A LINE at the ATM to get cash so that you can get in the LINE to buy entrance tickets ($ 8 each) to get in a LINE to have your purse inspected (don’t bring in anything because they make you throw it away, just like the airport so to that you are forced to purchase drinks), a LINE to buy coupons, so that you can get in a REALLY LONG LINE to get a soda or a beer, then there is a LINE to get food, and LONG lines to sit in a restaurant to eat, and even LONGER lines to get into the wine tasting areas, and LINE to get into a store to see anything, and then another LINE to get on the shuttle to go back to your car which you parked at the mall.
If you like LINES, this is the festival for YOU!

Entrance fee??? really???
Been to NYC or LA street fairs
This was pretty lame, as street fairs usually are. Except less ghetto
Usual Street fair food crap with 1 or 2 exceptions.
There was some super lame 23 $ wine tasting waiting line that made no sense…
Oh yeah and we paid parking too. Just not worth it… Not coming back

Every years it’s get busy during the weekend, especially 2014 as we had great weather!
There are a lot of local vendors from arts&craft, food, snacks, beers, wine and many more!
Very state fair theme with where you have to buy copious. There are rides and games to enjoy while you’re there.
We didn’t get a chance to try all the food but we stopped by Game sausages area where we had some elk and buffalo– very delicious and not really gamey.
There are no public restrooms but local stores, restaurants and bars welcome people in.
I’ll be back next year to try out more food and wine/​beer

$ 5 – 10 for parking, $ 8 to get into the grounds, so you’re down at least $ 13 to start. But wait: then it’s TWENTY-​THREE DOLLARS for the privilege of tasting wines inside the special area, wristbands only.
If I go to visit a vineyard the tasting is often free. Or at my liquor store there are frequent free wine tastings. Even at Kroger. This is because inviting people to sample wines is good marketing and good business. But this event is a massive Chamber of Commerce scam. Someone in Grapevine is running away with a fortune. I’m sure the vendors pay through the nose just like us patrons.
So if, like me, you opt not shell out the $ 23, you’ve ended up paying $ 13 or more to fight the mobs to look at touristy junk and buy corn dogs just like at any other street fair. Although this may be even worse because for the privilege of standing in long lines to buy food or drink you first have to stand in a long line to buy coupons. (And if you don’t use up all your coupons you’ve just handed more of your wealth to the organizers since, of course, they’re not refundable). Oh, but wait, if you don’t have cash you’ll first have to get in line at a conveniently adjacent ATM.
Fight the power. Save up your money saved not going to these sorts of «festivals» and take a wine country tour sometime.

Some of my favorite fall festivals are just around the corner! And this one definitely tops the list. Where else can you sample wines from all over Texas, see some pretty art, and grab some handmade jewelry all in one location? Grapevine always does a stellar job at putting on these events. Plenty of parking, perfect location right in historic downtown Grapevine, and lots of shops along Main Street are open for you to go in and explore! It’s also a great time of year as the weather is a bit more tame in September. Grab yourself a ticket and check it out! If you’re a wine lover like me you will love every minute of it. Great to bring friends from out of town or a little outdoor date night with your honey.

I have been coming here for years not for the festival but for the grape stomping and the wine tastings in the tent. For $ 20 you get to taste all the wines from around Texas for 90 minutes and meet some really interesting people. If you have never been inside the tent it is a MUST if you are at the festival. Get you tickets in advance because they sell out quick.

Didn’t realize we could review this event! I LOVE LOVE grapefest! If you like wine, this is definitely something to look forward to every September. We always go to the People’s Choice tasting because its $ 20 for a souvenir wine glass and you get to sample over 100 different wines from about 40 – 50 vineyards in the area! I’ve found some really good wines from these places but they don’t let you purchase wine at the festival so you can get their card and visit them at their vineyard. They also have cheese and crackers to help clear out your palette and some water to sober up later on! Parking this year only costed us $ 5 and the Thursday of the grapefest is always free admission! SO its basically $ 20 all you can drink! :)

Grapefest is one of those things that you would have to try at least once in your life. With that being said, you have to do the grape stomp because it’s a blast. It’s $ 10 per team every 30 minutes. The winner of each time slot will go on to the daily champion round. The winner of the day will come back on Sunday for the championship round. The secret: not only do you have to stomp all the grapes, make sure you have a good technique to push the juices out of the spout since it’s so high up on the barrel. The People’s Choice ($ 20) was fun because you get to try over 100 different wines from at least 40 wineries. The only problem is that there were too many people in the tent and the line for each sample was long. You only have an hour and a half to try as many 2 ounce samples as possible. They will give you a booklet with all of the varietals segregated by category if you’d like to keep notes. Do reserve a slot for People’s Choice because it does sell out. The bad thing was that we reserved the 7 pm time for People’s Choice and had to go back for the Grape Stomp Daily Challenge at 8 pm so that cut into our wine tasting experience. At least we know now how to plan better with expectations of going back for the daily championship round.
As for the food and beverages, the turkey leg and jalapeño sausages were yummy (sorry, forgot where we purchased them), and the sodas from Wild Bill’s is always amazing. For as little as $ 12, you can get a mug and unlimited refills throughout the day.
It had a good amount of vendors — jewelry, spices, clothing, doggy bowls, cowboy hats, golf, etc. It was on a straight strip so the distance from one end to the other was a good 15 minute walk. The cool thing about festival is that they provide free parking and shuttle to four different lots. It’s a kid-​friendly environment since they have a kid zone. They also have live bands in the center of the strip that played top 40 and country so that was entertaining.

I went to Grapefest, but I didn’t have any wine.
I just moved here and was excited to go to this Grapefest I’d heard so much about, but I ended up really disappointed.
Getting there was easy, parking behind the library was free and relatively close to the festival. There’s a line to buy tickets to get in, there’s a line to get in, then there is another line to buy MORE tickets for which you wait in an ENORMOUS line to get into ANOTHER place where the wine is. Expensive rip off. Also lots of waiting is garbage. We ended up getting drink tickets and walking around drinking beer or some other form of beer and looking at all the art and junk for sale. It was like any other street fair that I see around here a lot. Art, fair foods, etc.
I thought it would be a more elegant affair, but it was just an increidble mosh of people at the wine part. I knew people who made it in to the wine section and they were disappointed. A very big wine tasting means a very big rip off and a lot of drunks bumping into each other. Wine isn’t meant to be tasted this way. Not to mention, you couldn’t even buy bottles of what was being tasted. LAME.

Maybe I just don’t get it, but I think that was my last Grapefest. I had expected a bunch of stalls run by Texas vintners showcasing their delicious wares, supplemented by boutique craftspeople offering samples of delicious cheeses, pickled you-​name-​its, etc.
Instead, it felt like a generic weekend outdoor bazaar with all the normal t-​shirt sellers, jewelry hawkers, etc.
We ended up spending most our time exploring all the shops one that strip that Grapevine was laid out on. It was fine, but as I told Gal Pal, it only made me want to come back to Grapevine any time EXCEPT Grapefest.

Doesn’t get much better than Grapefest!!! 3 live stages, kids corner, plenty of food & drinks and awesome shopping. The guest services also had a super clean restroom! Beer was only 7 Tix ($ 3.50). Shuttle buses available from Grapevine Mills Mall. Had an awesome time, looking forward to next years grapefest!!!

Fun festival in Grapevine with lots of good wine for decent prices as well as some good food and rides for the kids. They also have cooking presentations and free music along with some shaded seating.
Aside from that, our favorite stand this year was Wild Bill’s Soda stand.
You could buy a nice metal cup for $ 12 and get free refills all day of this amazing soda (root beer, birch beer, sarsaparilla beer, orange soda — our favorite, vanilla cream soda and grape soda).
It’s fun for the whole family and definitely worth it.

The year 2011 marked the 25^th anniversary of Grapevine’s famous Grapefest!
What is Grapefest you ask? It’s only the largest wine festival in the Southwest. If you are a wine connoisseur, lover of the culinary arts or just a person who enjoys drinking and festivals you will need to save a spot on your calender for this annual event.
Here is a list of some of the things that went down at Grapefest this year: professional demonstrations on various food topics and wine pairings at the Culinary Pavilion; Grape Stomp where two person teams stop 18 pounds of grapes to vie for the coveted Purple Foot award; a traditional midway with lots of rides like a Ferris Wheel and carousel; various outdoor tents with art, jewelry, clothing and more for purchase; six stages that house various live entertainment from jazz, folk, country, rock, blues, disco and just plain olé’ pop cover songs; trips on the vintage Grapevine rail road that takes travelers to the Fort Worth stockyards; and most famously the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic which is the largest consumer judged wine competition in the United States.
I would say hands down the best part about Grapefest is the Wine Tasting Classic. You have to pay $ 20 (as of 2011) to be able to participate in addition to the fee to get into the festival (which as of 2011 was $ 8 entry – parts of the day are free like Fridays and Saturday during the day) but it is worth every single dime. For that price you get to keep a commemorative wine glass that you will use during the tasting. You have a lengthy 90 minutes to do the tasting which are all Texas wineries spanning 33 wineries with over 119 wines to sample. You will find a large mix of wine from various reds (cabs, merlots, ect) to whites and blushes. There is a bubble sheet ballot to use to mark your favorites that you turn in at the end. They offer crackers and free cheese which go wonderfully with the wines and help to prevent you from getting completely drunk – because yes if you sample all 119 wines you will feel it! Most of the wine tastings sell out so buy your ticket early. They normally do at least a couple of tastings a day (with the most held on Saturday).
Grapefest also has beer, including a tent that sells yummy beers like Sierra Nevada brewery selections, Real Ale selections, the delicious Shock Top beer and best of all is the beer tent featuring beers from various countries all over the world like Belgium, Australia, England, Germany and more.
It is a great event for both adults and even kids as Grapefest has a KidZone area with a petting zoo, Legoland discovery center, games and more.
See you next year!