Tip it, sip it and savor the flavors of different regions

Organizers say the 18th CORK Wine Festival is just around the corner, and if you are looking for good food, good music, good wine and a chance to help support the Red River Revel Arts Festival, time is a-wasting, according to RRR Executive Director Logan Lewis.

“It’s April 6,” said Lewis. “We’re in the home stretch. If people want to buy tickets, they can go to redriverrevel.com and click on CORK.”

CORK is a fundraiser for the Red River Revel, and this year it’s scheduled for April 6 from 2 to 5 p.m. in Shreveport’s Festival Plaza on the downtown riverfront. While the event will be familiar, Lewis said there will be some noticeable improvements for the experience this time around.

Lewis explained that the organizing committee has put a lot of emphasis on the raffle portion of the event this year. He suggested staying tuned for the updates to the raffle prize packages as they come together in the days ahead.

“We’ve had a raffle for a while,” noted Lewis. “But we’re working to put together some really spectacular packages that include multiple items. We’ve found that people really enjoy (raffles) in our region. If the packages are really good, it just draws so much more interest.”

The site layout itself has been adjusted this year as well to make the event more user friendly. “We continue to refine the event,” Lewis said, “so the attendee experience is really great.

So last year we beefed up a lot of the tables that we provide in the Pavilion to have as much shade as possible in case it was hot. This year, one of the things that we’re doing to adjust is instead of having just one large loud music stage, we’re going to have multiple smaller stages.”

The idea, as Lewis explained it, is to create smaller areas where music is localized. There will be more to experience as you move around the site, and there will be a variety, as well.

Lewis noted that when there is only one large performance, it needs to be louder to cover the area. That makes sitting near the performer less convenient for socializing because it’s hard to talk over the amplification.

At press time, sponsorships were still available for the event, and Lewis said they, too, have been improved for this year’s CORK.

“We’re reworked the sponsorship packages to be more value-based,” he added. “It is an event that sells out, and it has a very desirable audience. We’re working on trying to forge more partnerships in quantity. Each one of those packages come with tickets. We are working with vendors to come and set up their wares to sell, jewelry vendors and the like.”

For those interested in attending, there are two types of tickets available.

One is a single CORK ticket, and the other is a VIP table that comes in a group of 10. Each ticketed attendee will receive a commemorative glass etched with the event logo. A single ticket comes with unlimited tastings of all the wines available. The VIP ticket is somewhat different. Besides accommodating 10 attendees, a table is reserved for the group with a collectible specialty item — a piece of art with the table purchaser’s name on it. The group also gets to enter the event a half hour before the general admission time.

But CORK is about the wine, and Lewis said there will be dozens of varietals for sampling at the event. They’re going to be categorized by region, both regionally and internationally.

In addition to the vino, there will be 10 food vendors offering tastings. Lewis said it’s intended to be more of a sampling than a buffet or a meal.

“We’ve rebranded a little bit to highlight that it is a fundraiser event,” Lewis remarked. “It used to be just called a wine event. But, ultimately, like all things we do, we have a mission to accomplish and outcome to (reach), so we want people to know that when they’re buying tickets to CORK, they’re also supporting the arts in Shreveport. They’re supporting the music that we bring for the Revel every year. This is what I call a hallmark event.”