Nassau Valley Vineyards to host wine, food and music fest Sept. 16
Nassau Valley Vineyards will host the 8th Annual Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival from 12 to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 16.
“We are thrilled and honored to be able to enjoy this beautiful, historic venue for our event this year,” said Stacy LaMotta, event executive director, who created the festival in 2014. “Our festival is the very best of coastal Delaware — our restaurants, chefs, breweries, wine and liquor merchants, and musicians. We expect a sold-out crowd again this year, so get your tickets soon!”
Nassau Valley Vineyards, founded in 1987 and opened in 1993, was the first commercial vineyard to exist in the First State. Peggy Raley-Ward and her father, Bob Raley, founded NVV on a family farm site just outside Lewes.
Raley-Ward said, “As Delaware's and the peninsula's first winery, and as Delaware's craft beverage pioneer, hosting the Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival is a perfect addition to our 30th anniversary celebrations. Stacy LaMotta and her team have worked really hard over the last several years to build this event into one of the premier events not just for Southern Delaware but for Delaware as a whole. We are delighted to welcome the attendees and to share with them all that Nassau Valley Vineyards has to offer.”
The winery has been awarded more than 800 medals in international competitions and received positive reviews in several high-profile publications including Time, Southern Living, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Raley-Ward recently received an award from the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association and the Congressional Wine Caucus recognizing NVV’s rosé as best in class.
“We were thrilled to be honored with this prestigious award in Washington, D.C., in the U.S. Capitol building,” said Raley-Ward. “The award recognizes our rosé as the best in the East, in a category with more than 1,000 other wineries.”
Winemaker Mike Reese produces NVV wines from estate-grown, vinifera grapes and other high-quality hybrid fruit sourced from local and regional growers. NVV also offers a unique winery tour that chronicles the 8,000-year history of wine. It’s a self-guided, museum diorama exhibit that allows visitors to go at their own pace, learning about wine in the ancient world and modern-day grape growing. The vineyard also houses art gallery space where shows change monthly.
“We are very excited to host our festival in this venue and support an amazing nonprofit, Head Start Delaware,” said LaMotta. Head Start and Early Head Start Delaware provide high-quality, early childhood education programs for children from birth to 5 years old. This service is offered at no cost to qualifying families.
“We are proud to have raised over $220,000 for various local charities over the past seven years,” said LaMotta.
The southern Delaware festival is widely known for providing an array of culinary experiences with award-winning chefs. Guests will feast on delights from more than 20 local restaurants and beverages that include over 100 varieties of wines, craft beers and cocktails. Ticket holders will be entertained by musicians in three different areas at the vineyards. For the signature event, the Chef Throwdown, two teams of creative chefs will battle in a “Chopped”-style competition. There will also be a silent auction with special packages up for bid, a wine wall and other surprises.
For more information, go to sodelfest.com.
