The Easy Thing to Do Would Be to Sneer
The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival runs from September 25 to November 8.
I know: Epcot?
Full disclosure: I had a bunch of jokes ready (sample: anyone know a good recipe for mouse?) but have decided, after reading the program, not to be such a snot. Seriously: it looks like a lot of good, albeit fairly expensive, fun.
For example: on September 26, Raimond Prüm of S.A. Prüm will lead a seminar on Mosel Rieslings. Hearing a member of the Prüm family talk Riesling is like hearing a member of the Edison family talk light bulbs.
For another example: Sure, there’s a fair amount of musical cheese served up to go with the wine (e.g., Taylor Hicks), but the music isn’t generally going to suck. Big, Bad Voodoo Daddy (9/25-27), Better Than Ezra (10/7-8) and Los Lobos (11/6-8) will play three shows a day. The only stay-away-at-all-costs booking is Starship, which will close their summer tour of mall openings and county fairs by reprising the worst rock’n'roll song ever thrice daily from September 30 to October 3.
The local interest highlight is a culinary demonstration/wine presentation conducted by Peng Looi, executive chef of Asiatique and owner of August Moon. Looi is one of this area’s certified geniuses, and if for no other reason than his presence, the crowd at Epcot is in for a treat.
August 5th, 2009 at 12:09 AM
Don’t sneer. The Epcot Food & Wine Festival is one of the highlights of my year. A couple of years ago we took an amazing session from MS, MW Doug Frost on Spanish Wines. Best class (4-hours) I’ve ever had on wine – at Epcot. The year before that we took several free (barring admission) sessions from Doug Frost and various winemakers who came to offer – yes – free classes.
This year we’re going, but the free sessions are now $8. That should cut back on the lines to get into them though. Additionally, they have an entire “extra” area of the park set up for New York Wines. They always do this with Australia, but I’m thrilled to see NY Wines getting a shout-out, as we just visited a bunch of Long Island wineries in the spring.
The F&W Festival is aimed squarely at adults. We like to wander the park multiple times, in big circles, and try all of the fantastic food and drink samples from each country. Every Epcot-represented country – plus extras that aren’t usually there – have special booths with tapas-sized bites and wine samples. I’m also a big fan of the food and drink in France. I could stay at the Champagne booth all night.
Anyway, it’s an incredibly fun and educational experience that is, surprisingly, largely devoid of kids. We’re going with a couple of beer lovers (from hoperatives.com) this October for a long weekend. Music be damned – I’m there for the food & wine!