Win a VIP Weekend Trip for Two to the Virginia Wine Expo in Richmond, VA

State Named One of 10 Best Wine Travel Destinations of 2012 by Wine Enthusiast

Richmond, VA (January 17) – Sharpen your palate and brush up your glass-swirling skills. The 5^th Annual Virginia Wine Expo (VWE) takes place February 24-26 in Richmond, VA. This year, visitors can enter for a chance to win a trip for two to the Expo and enjoy wines produced in the state that Wine Enthusiast magazine recently named one of 10 Best Wine Travel Destinations. To enter, visitors must “Like” VisitRichmondVAon Facebook. The contest runs officially through January 31. The winner will be given two weekend passes to VWE, two tickets to the Late Winter Harvest Luncheon at the Jefferson Hotel’s Lemaire restaurant, two tickets to the Virginia Wine + Brunch at Selba, and one standard guest room at the Richmond Marriott Hotel on Saturday night, February 25. VWE and Facebook contest details, as well as info about VWE hotel packages can be found at www.visitrichmondva.com/VWE.

Voted “Best Wine Fest Overall” in Virginia by Virginia Wine Lover magazine, VWE offers attendees a unique opportunity to sample and purchase more than 400 Virginia wines. New additions to the weekend include:

• Walk-Around Grand Tasting: 5:30-10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24.
• Two luncheons featuring Richmond’s culinary stars:
  • Virginia Wine Lovers’ Luncheon at Acacia Mid-Town with meals prepared by Chef Dale Reitzer, who was selected as one of Food and Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs in America in 1999.
  • Late Winter Harvest Luncheon at Lemaire Restaurant led by Chef Walter Bundy, named Chef of the Year by Richmond magazine. Lemaire Restaurant was named by Esquire magazine one of America’s Best New Restaurants in 2009.

The weekend will also feature four new wine and food pairing seminars, including one about pairing modern charcuterie with Virginia wine and a 90-minute seminar called, “Your ‘Pleasure’ Senses and Professional Wine Tasting Techniques.”

While visitors are in Richmond, they can visit a nearby winery such as New Kent Winery or James River Cellars. Richmond is also home to a variety of wine bars such as Secco and Amour Wine Bistro in Carytown, the C’est Le Vin wine bar and art gallery in Shockoe Bottom and The Wine Loft in the West End.

There are more than 200 farm wineries in Virginia. The state is now the nation's fifth largest wine producer and seventh largest wine grape producer.

VWE is sponsored by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond magazine, the Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mercedes-Benz, the Virginia Wine Board, the Virginia Wine Marketing Office, the Virginia Wineries Association, nTelos wireless, Riedel, Virginia Wine Lover e-Newsletter, Virginia Living magazine, Old Richmond Exteriors, and The Wine Loft.

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The Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau (RMCVB), the official destination marketing and tourism organization for the Richmond Region, is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the Region to meeting planners, tour operators and leisure travelers. RMCVB operates three Visitor Centers located at the Greater Richmond Convention Center downtown, the Richmond International Airport and Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Hanover County.

More than 5.7 million people visit the Richmond Region annually, contributing more than $1.7 billion to the local economy. Tourism generates nearly 20,000 jobs in the Richmond Region. For more information, visitwww.VisitRichmondVA.com.