Wines of New Zealand are the star of this year’s Wine Festival of Colorado Springs
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Wine Festival of Colorado Springs returns this week, Feb. 28 through March 2, and this year seven winemakers from New Zealand are attending to share their experiences and philosophy on what makes New Zealand wines unique.
Board Members Michelle Telarico and Barry Cooper joined FOX21 Morning News to discuss the multi-day event and what people can expect.
“We have a total of nine events and probably about 1,000 people or more who go through each one of them,” said Cooper. “Our focus is to provide an educational opportunity for the public to learn about wine, and specifically wines from different areas of the world.”
The initial founders, Picnic Basket Catering and Coaltrain Wine & Spirits started the event in 1990. Telarico said while the core mission has stayed the same since its creation, the event has grown every year.
“Every year there are more people, there are more events, there are more suggestions on how we can improve the events and we try to involve different community members and we try to elevate different restaurants,” said Telarico.
The annual wine festival is also a fundraiser for the local Arts community and for the last several years it has benefitted the Colorado Springs Conservatory.
“This little wine festival has raised about $2.5 million over 30 years for various nonprofits,” said Telarico. Limited tickets remain for certain events and more details can be found on the wine festival’s website linked above.
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