Uncorked Wine Festival is coming to Wisconsin for the first time
California-based Uncorked Wine Festivals is bringing one of its popular wine-tasting extravaganzas to Wisconsin for the first time.
“Uncorked: Milwaukee Wine Festival” is scheduled for Oct. 22 at the Mitchell Park Domes, 524 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee.
“This is sort of the wine-lover’s equivalent to the craft beer festival,” said Michelle Silberstein, who founded Uncorked Wine Festivals in 2015. “There’s really nothing else like it that tours around and brings together such a wide range of wineries.”
When attendees arrive, they’ll be given a logo wine tumbler for their tastings.
There will be 40 tables with two or three wine options at each from “across the globe,” Silberstein said. Attendees can expect “a little bit” of “every varietal and style.”
Guests can go to “any or all” of the tables, chat with representatives from the wineries or supplier companies about the wines they’re offering, and try “a bunch of fun, different wines,” Silberstein said.
“It was designed to be an event I would want to go to, first and foremost,” she said.
Silberstein said her friends range from, “Maybe I’ll order a glass of house wine on happy hour,” to having wine club memberships at Napa and Sonoma wineries.
“I wanted to create something that was an experience for all levels of wine aficionados or appreciators,” she said. “But also that has something for people to do in addition to just walking around and drinking.”
The event will span all three of the Mitchell Park Domes (floral show, desert and tropical) and its annex. And there will be food trucks on-site with eats available for purchase.
Dress attire is requested, but not required, Silberstein said. She also recommended wearing comfortable shoes.
General admission is $55, which includes
access to the event, all wine tastings from 8 to 11 p.m., and the tumblr. VIP is $70, which includes access to the event, all wine tastings from 7 to 11 p.m. with special pours during that extra hour, and the tumblr. Tickets are available online at bit.ly/ uncorkedmketickets.
Uncorked Wine Festivals’ events have made it to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami and Tampa, among others.
Silberstein grew up in a Florida household where wine was a part of the “dinner table culture.” She really got into it herself after college when she moved to California since there’s “so much great wine country” there.
During her company’s inaugural year, she put on 10 fests — and has been upping that number since. Next year, she plans to do 18.
“We’re growing and growing, which I’m very thankful for,” Silberstein said.
For more information, visit the company’s Facebook page at facebook
.com/uncorkedwinefestivals or the Uncorked: Milwaukee Wine Festival’s event page at bit.ly/uncorkedmke.