Gastronomes, epicureans, bon viveurs and discerning foodies will follow their noses to Miami Beach on this the signature South Beach Wine & Food Festival Weekend.
Presented by Food Network & Cooking Channel the festival is a national, star-studded, five-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world's most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities.
Hosts are Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits and Florida International University (FIU), the Festival benefits FIU's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center.
To date, the Festival has raised more than $24 million for the School.
Entering its 16th year the festival began as a one-day event known as the Florida Extravaganza and held at FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus.
For the first five years of its existence the Florida Extravaganza was a fairly sedate in-house affair showcasing wines from national and international wineries paired with food from local restaurants and chefs working with students of FIU's School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
Then in 2002, Lee Brian Schrager, then director of special events & media relations at Southern Wine & Spirits of America, took the reins of the one-day festival and brought his vision for the Festival to life by relocating it to South Beach.
The renamed South Beach Wine & Food Festival® was held in March 2002 and attracted close to 7,000 guests to a series of dinners, seminars and the first Grand Tasting Village.
Three years later the world famous Fontainebleau Hotel staged the first Wine Spectator's.
Largest festival of its kind
Within a year Sobe WFF became one of the largest and most well-known festivals of its kind in the country, gaining international acclaim and welcoming King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain to Miami for a special tribute to the wines and food of Spain.
Eat, drink, educate
The festival has an avowed aim – Eat – Drink – Educate.
A perfect combination of these necessary ingredients is achieved with the help of over 50 restaurants from all over South Florida, all delivering highest class food from all over the world.
So popular has the festival become that events this year have expanded beyond the original South Beach base into Fort Lauderdale. Hollywood South Miami and Bal Harbour.
Celebrity chefs, television stars
The partnership with Food Network offers access to celebrity chefs, television stars and authors.Dinner parties hosted by high profile food experts like Anthony Bourdain are sold outmonths in advance despite the $500 ticket price.
For the past ten years television celebrity Rachael Ray has hosted the Heineken Light Burger Bash and this year attendees at the festival are encouraged to share their best hamburger recipe – the winner wins a prize of $10,000 for their favorite school.
The highest group of visitors to the festival are women in the 25-50 age range and
it make sense that the Festival include families byoffering Fun and Fit as a Family, a program that takes place each year for two days at Jungle Island.
And there's a book
Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook: Recipes and Behind-the-Scenes Stories from America's Hottest Chefs (Clarkson Potter, November 2010), written by Lee Brian Schrager with Julie Mautner, featuring a foreword by Anthony Bourdain.
The Festival now attracts more than 65,000 guests annually to its 85+ events throughout the five-day weekend, the last weekend in February.Call it, Spring Break for Sophisticates.
This year the focus is again on internationally renowned talent and leaders of the hospitality industry at uniquely crafted events showcasing world-class wine, spirits, food, and fun.
Signature events
Signature event is a huge tented village at 13th and Ocean Drive. (Entrance $225) The Goya Grand Tasting Tents & Kitchen Aid Culinary Demonstrations showcases food and wines from every region of the world.
Plus you can watch your favorite Food Network & Cooking Channel Chefs demonstrate their culinary skills.Cocktails are served under swaying palm trees or you can sway your hips to live music on the beach.
Yappie Hour
Four legged friends have their own party at the dog lovers favourite, Yappie Hour.
Signature events in other venues include a Lucky Chopstick Asian Banquet and Italian Bites on the Beach.
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri hosts a live game show, Food Fight, that's part Jeopardy! and part Family Feud. Sip cocktails while your favorite celebrity chefs battle for glory.
Tanqueray brand ambassador Snoop Dogg and celebrity chef Guy Fieri showcase a special presentation and Snoop Dogg takes to the turntables immediately following the demonstration.
There is also good hometown cooking on offer at Trisha Yearwood's Southern Kitchen where she will host a Sunday Brunch
It is no exaggeration to say that there really is something for everyone at Sobe WFF.