Foodie Obsessed

Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival

by Tracey Thompson on October 10th, 2006

  Tickets are now on sale for the Food Network’s South Beach Wine and Food Festival, February 22-25, 2007. 

The festival began 6 years ago at Florida International Institute and has become one of the best Wine and Food Festivals in the country.   This year The Food Network has become a major sponsor.

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is a national, star-studded, four-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world’s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities. Hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida and Florida International University (FIU), the festival benefits the Teaching Restaurant and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center, both located at FIU.

Now in its sixth year, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival began as a one-day festival known as the Florida Extravaganza held at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus. For five years, the Florida Extravaganza showcased wines from national and international wineries paired with food from local restaurants and chefs working with students of FIU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

In 2002, Lee Brian Schrager, director of Special Events and Media Relations at Southern Wine & Spirits of America, reinvented the Florida Extravaganza. Relocating to South Beach, the renamed South Beach Wine & Food Festival attracted close to 7,000 guests to a series of dinners, seminars and the Grand Tasting and Live Auction in its first year. The following year, the festival grew, attracting close to 10,000 people and garnered extensive national media coverage. In 2004, with the addition of a number of events and a revamping of the program, the festival doubled in size and attracted more than 20,000 guests to the three-day event.

In 2006, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival celebrated its fifth anniversary and today is one of the largest and most well-known festivals of its kind in the country. During the planning of the 2007 festival, Food Network entered into partnership with the South Beach Wine & Food Festival to become its title sponsor. The resulting Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival combines the international appeal of top-quality libations from around the world, the national appeal of the Food Network and its celebrity chefs and hosts, and the appeal of Latin and Caribbean-inspired regional cuisine.

There will be a variety of chefs and wine experts from around the country (not just those from The Food Network). Tickets are available for single events and there are various weekend passes from $250 to $1,225. 

So, if you are looking for a great escape from the cold weather, interested in nibbling on some great food and downing some wonderful wines, or maybe you are looking for the perfect Christmas gift, just check out the website for event, ticket, and even hotel information.

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POSTED IN: Misc. Foodie Stuff, The Food Network