Tickets for Mount Vernon's Popular Spring Wine Festival & Sunset Tour Go On Sale April 9

For Immediate Release
February 24, 2012
Digital images available

Media Contact:
Melissa Wood (703) 799-5203
mwood@mountvernon.org

Tickets for Mount Vernon’s Popular Spring Wine Festival & Sunset Tour Go on Sale April 9

MOUNT VERNON, Va. – Mount Vernon’s Wine Festival & Sunset Tour celebrates the history of wine in Virginia with exclusive evening tours of the Mansion and cellar, appearances by “George and Martha Washington”, and live jazz on the east lawn overlooking the scenic Potomac River.  Visitors can bring a blanket and relax on the lawn as they sample wines from 16 Virginia wineries on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 18, 19, and 20, from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.  Individual tickets are $35 per person. Private reserved tables featuring a fruit and cheese platter, three bottles of house wine and VIP table service are available for $1000.  Tickets and tables are available at MountVernon.org or the ticket window at Mount Vernon’s Ford Orientation Center beginning April 9 at 10 a.m.

Historic interpreters will conduct special candlelit tours of the Mansion throughout the evening.  The interpreters will discuss Washington’s attempts at creating a vineyard and highlight various wine-related items inside the Mansion, including the basement’s brick vaults where Washington stored his wine.

To accompany the wine tasting, Fruit & Cheese Boxes are available by advance purchase for $26.  A variety of hot and cold food and desserts including baguettes, gourmet sandwiches, and specialty sweets will be available on site from the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant.  Outside food and beverages are not allowed.  Pets are also not allowed.  Guests can take home a remembrance of Mount Vernon’s Wine Festival and Sunset Tour from the Shops at Mount Vernon, open until 9:30 p.m. each evening.  Cases of wine purchased at the Wine Festival can be transported by wine valets to the Shops for easy pick up at the end of the evening.

Mount Vernon’s Wine Festival & Sunset Tour takes place rain or shine, tickets are limited and all sales are final.  This is a popular event; early ticket purchase is suggested.

Guests must be prepared to show identification for wine service.  Designated drivers will receive free Coca-Cola soft drinks.

All proceeds benefit the ongoing preservation and restoration of Mount Vernon and its educational programs.

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Events, programs, and activities are subject to change.

Public Information: 703-780-2000; 703-799-8697 (TDD); www.MountVernon.org

Since 1860, over 80 million visitors have made George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens the most popular historic home in America.  Through thought-provoking tours, entertaining events, and stimulating educational programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation, Mount Vernon strives to preserve George Washington’s place in history as “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen.”  Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, America’s oldest national preservation organization, founded in 1853.  A picturesque drive to the southern end of the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Mount Vernon is located just 16 miles from the nation’s capital. 

Hours of operation: April-August, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; March, September, October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November – February, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Regular admission rates: adults, $15.00; senior citizens, $14.00; children age 6-11, when accompanied by an adult, $7.00; and children under age 5, FREE.  Admission fees, restaurant and retail proceeds, along with private donations, support the operation and restoration of Mount Vernon.