In our experience, and for the purposes of this article at least, there are two distinct camps in the cutthroat world of wine and food festivals. One is the small town America variety, where box wine comes to the country fair and people revel in their recent discovery of Shiraz and pesto. The other incarnation of culinary celebration is for better or worse, more exclusive and international in scope. This is where people get the good stuff, but pay mightily to sample cuisine from celebrity chefs and vintages from star producers.
If that turns you on, these wine and food festivals deserve a special trip.
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Well out of the shadow of Sydney, Melbourne has done a wonderful job to carve out a niche as a world class cultural capital. The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is the annual climax of that spirit and represents one of several keystone celebrations of the culinary arts around the world.
Held in the month of March since 1992, the not-for-profit festival’s mission is to promote the best purveyors, chefs, farmers and winemakers that Melbourne, the state of Victoria and indeed, Australia, have to offer. The most recent festival saw 220 events over a 16 day period, with food writers, chefs and critics from all over the world in attendance.
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The South Beach Wine & Food Festival
The decidedly corporate South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami is the big event on the calender for Food Network zealots. Since the celebrity-driven cable outfit took over the reins of this decadent festival from Food & Wine Magazine, the bash has become more of a “who’s who” of the food world than ever before.
While the festival is a defacto fundraiser for the hospitality school of Florida International University, the over-the-top four-day event is one big wet dream for Food Network fanatics. In veritable SoBe style, every detail is ultra-chichi. If you want to sip bubbly with the likes of Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Emeril Lagasse and Giada De Laurentiis, this is the festival for you.
Held in October in Piemonte, Italy, the Fiera del Tartufo celebrates one of the most lavish gourmet treasures in the world. Every fall the town of Alba explodes with a bounty of near-priceless white truffles and welcomes awestruck international observers.
How expensive are the fabulous fungi? Back in 2006 a single white truffle sold for $52,000 USD to a wealthy posse led by Roman Abramovich and Mick Jagger. Some command a price as high as ?53 a gram. With a plethora of truffle-related events that draw the celebrity and jetset crowd, the Alba Truffle Festival is as posh as they come.
The Montreal High Lights Festival
The city of Montreal is adept at winter celebration. The long cold season in Canada may depress some but Montreal, more than most, knows how to warm up and throw one hell of a party. Every February and March the city exults over winter with the High Lights Festval. With myriad cultural and performance art attractions, most within the downtown core and tony underground city, the most popular component of the two-week event by far is the Wine and Dine Experience.
A major food city, with more restaurants per square block than any in North America, some of the best chefs in Montreal welcome counterparts from another part of the world – for the 2008 edition it was Chile – and collaborate on theme meals with prix fixe menus. Sommeliers from around the world take part in the gourmet partnership as well, with special wine events and information sessions. With involvement from some of the top restaurants in Montreal, reservations can be almost impossible to obtain. All in all, the High Lights Festival provides yet another reason to visit Montreal when snow blankets the city.
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Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Oh, the Montreal high lights festival is really cool, I was there last year.