TEMECULA -- In five days, Southwest Riverside County's highest-profile event is due to launch, when the colorful lighter-than-air craft of the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival soar into the sky.

Since its inception in 1983, when the region was a sparsely populated area called Rancho California, the festival has brought in tens of thousands of guests to the area, highlighting its recreational amenities and, of course, its tourist-friendly wineries.

The festival runs Friday through Sunday at Lake Skinner. Tickets cost $15-22 for adults, and can be bought at participating Vons or wineries, by calling 877-733-3136 or visiting www.tvbwf.com.

This year, the festival is stepping up its partnership with the wineries. For the first time, wines were judged for the festival in partnership with the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association and the Temecula Valley Wine Society.

The partnership made for more professional wine judging, said Peggy Evans, executive director for the winegrowers association.

"We did it in a controlled environment, made sure the wines were the right temperature, that the reds had a chance to breathe, and all of those kinds of things that you know from a winery perspective," she said.

Festival attendees will be able to taste the fruits of the judging themselves.

"They had to be wines that will be poured at the festival," Evans said. "They couldn't just say, 'I'll send in my reserve cabernet for judging.' I think that lends itself to a better experience for everyone."

And as Wine Country cultivates its tourist appeal, it's moving to carve out its own professional identity.

The winegrowers association is submitting more than 60 wines from members to Appellation America, an online publication that characterizes each region's wine-growing area, or appellation.

Wines submitted include viognier, syrah, grenache, tempranillo and sauvignon blanc.

Big attraction

On average, the festival draws about 40,000 people, said festival organizer Melody Brunsting. And last year, despite the recession, attendance rose to 50,000.

The high price of gasoline may have contributed to that surge, Brunsting said. Instead of going to more distant destinations, Southern Californians decided to vacation in their own area.

The festival is the region's best-known event, said Brunsting, a member of the Temecula Valley Convention and Visitors' Bureau.

"When (bureau representatives) are at travel shows, people say, oh, you're the ones with the balloon and wine festival," Brunsting said. "Anywhere in the L.A., Orange County, San Diego area, they all know about the festival."

The festival took five first-place "Celebration Awards" at the California/Nevada Festivals and Events Association Awards and Convention on Feb. 12. The association represents event associations, city-run events, convention and visitors bureaus, fairs and festivals in California and Nevada.

The festival won first place for its marketing campaign, media kit, Web site, souvenir poster and souvenir T-shirt. Competitors included such well-known events as the Miramar Air Show and the Rose Parade.

Thriving wineries

As the festival has grown in prominence, so has Temecula's Wine Country. Out of 30 wineries in the area, 22 took part in the competition. A decade ago, the entire region had 15 wineries.

Over that decade, the wineries fought off a serious threat from a fatal vine infection called Pierce's disease, spread by an insect called the glassy-winged sharpshooter. While hundreds of acres of vineyards were destroyed, wineries continued with remaining acreage and by importing grapes.

Today, the economy appears to be the greatest challenge. But while the recession has put a cork in some discretionary spending, the populous Southern California region remains a steady source of visitors to the wineries, said Evans of the winegrowers' association.

"We have not been affected regionally, as other California wine regions have," Evans said. "We have a large population within an hour's drive time of the Temecula Valley. We can draw from so many different areas. Some of our friends in Napa say people fly in; they don't have a huge audience locally."

Visitation is up about 10 percent over last year, Evans said.

"I can't say our revenue per customer is up," she said. "But just to have people in our doors is really important to all the wineries."

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at 760-739-6641. Read his blogs at bizblogs.nctimes.com.