Art in The Park: Artist Profile

Neil and Rachel Vasilakes wanted to move to a less frigid climate than Minnesota. Neil had developed a hobby of growing fruit and wanted more land to plant an orchard and vineyard. In 1997, they moved to Kentucky and bought a farm in Woodford County that only had cattle paths and tobacco stubs. Being inclined to planting organically, with as few chemicals as possible, they named it Wildside. Neil began planting fruit trees and grapes even before they began building their house. He started researching wine-making, began a wine club, bought equipment and started selling their wine by 2004, changing their name to Wildside Winery. In addition to the wine production and shop, they rent out an event hall and pavilion which is often used for weddings because of the beautiful setting. Their goal is to make great quality Kentucky wines because they love variety and everyone's tastes are different. They currently make dry wines, semi-sweet wines, and a range of 100 percent fruit wines. They also like to make unusual and experimental wines like bourbon barrel-aged, and black walnut, paw paw and chipotle infused. Visit Wildside Winery's booth at Art in The Park on May 26 and 27.