CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Wine taste testers walked around Ballantyne Village for Blackfinn Ameripub’s 8th annual wine festival Saturday afternoon.
“People like to get a taste of something they wouldn’t normally try and pay for, so for this, they can try different types of wine, and then they have an opportunity to buy it at a discounted price for Mother’s Day,” said Ashley Costello.
The restaurant’s operations manager, Chris Gilligan, says wine import costs have increased, making it slightly harder to bring in European wines.
Vino Vino fine wine provider Mike Plowman says that, coupled with the rising cost of gas, has put a damper on profits.
“The problem with our industry is just because our freight — maybe it goes up 20-30 percent, – I can’t make a glass of pinot grigio 20 or 30 percent more. So we have to eat that one way or the other,” he explained.
Plowman says festivals like this help wine providers make a little extra money, while customers get a small discount as well.
A recent wine industry report says even the average price of a bottle of American wine rose 11 percent in 2025—the largest jump since 2021.
“It’s friggin’ outrageous.. Oh, what hasn’t gone down? So one of my favorite wines is usually like $29.95 Or something. No, it’s like $39.95,” said Nancy Torrence. “Welcome to tariffs. Welcome to inflation.”
But she says the price won’t stop her from buying her favorite Italian white wines; she’ll just drink a little less.
Dasia Chance agreed.
“Usually with prosecco, it’s always a higher price anyway, but I kind of steered away from getting anything that super crazy expensive. But I think this festival helps though, because it helps you to bring you back to your roots of the quality of wine, why you should buy it in the first place, then you think, “Oh, wait a minute, hold on. I might buy that. Even though it’s a little overpriced,” Chance said.
The wine festival will be back next May.
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