Cover Story:

Fifth annual wine, food, music and art festival boasts a revamped
chef’s demonstation stage and a patio full of classic cars


If the past is any indication, love will be in the air at Wine South 2004. It certainly
was a few years ago for Jeanine Chambers, 34, executive director of Angel Flight of Georgia,
a charity supported by Wine South. Angel Flight provides free air transportation to and from
medical treatment facilities for those who can’t afford it. Jeanine met her fiancé, Roland Brion, 38,
at the 2001 festival.

“ I was at our [Wine South] booth and it was just after Sept. 11, so Angel Flight was very busy,”
Chambers remembers. “There was this guy who was trying to get a date, and I was trying to get
a donor.” Brion was persistent, and the two eventually became engaged.

Luckily, though, you don’t have to be looking for love to enjoy this year’s festival;
just be ready to have a good time. The event takes place Sept. 18 and 19 at Gwinnett Center, just
north of Atlanta. Festival officials expect more than 5,000 to attend the fifth annual celebration of wine,
food, art and music. Guests will be able to choose from more than 500 national and international wines
and sample food from several dozen Atlanta-area restaurants.

To enliven your other senses, there will be nearly continuous music on several stages in styles ranging from classical to jazz, and visual artists will be displaying their work. There will also be three separate silent auctions at the festival where guests can bid on a wide variety of wine- and food-related items, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Wine South’s four designated charities: The American Institute of Wine and Food, Angel Flight, The Hudgens Center for the Arts and TEAM Georgia.

Get A Daily Dose Of Zraly
Kevin Zraly, the wine world’s super-celebrity author and educator will be conducting his One Hour Wine Expert course at 11 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

In 2001, Zraly celebrated 25 years as the founder and teacher of the immensely popular Windows on the World Wine School, which has graduated more than 15,000 students. He has been teaching wine appreciation for more than 30 years and has studied winemaking techniques in California and all the great wine regions of Europe.

He is the author of the original wine list at Windows on the World restaurant, formerly on the 107th floor of New York City’s World Trade Center. The restaurant was lost on Sept. 11, 2001, but at one point, it was selling more wine than any restaurant in the United States. Zraly is also the author of Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, which has sold more than 2 million copies.

Zraly’s seminar will begin each morning before Wine South 2004 opens its gates. After the seminar, attendees of the One Hour Wine Expert course will be the first to enter the festival when the gates open at 12:30 p.m. Seminar attendees are not required to buy Wine South tickets and may simply take Zraly’s whirlwind tour of wine knowledge. Tickets to the One Hour Wine Expert must be purchased in advance, however; no exceptions.

Jeanine Chambers and Roland Brion also do not make exceptions when it comes to Wine South. They will be getting married in early September and then going on their honeymoon, but they’ll be back the day before the festival kicks off so they can make it to the event that brought them together. As Jeanine says, “How could we miss it?”

— Steve Stevens

Learn more at: www.winesouth.com

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