Wine Festival in California Wine Country Gears Up for Stellar Event in May

A Wine Festival that puts Healdsburg on the map as the go-to place to experience the latest “musts” in foods and spirits is gearing up for a shining weekend of top chefs and in-demand wines May 18-21. 

Located in the heart of California wine country, the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience (HWFE) will be a weekend-long celebration featuring the best of Sonoma County and world-renowned food and wines. Surprisingly The festival will showcase the region’s makers – farmers, growers, winemakers, and chefs – alongside globally recognized wines from the greatest wine regions of the world, as it seeks to highlight the vibrant culinary diversity, sustainable farming practices and deep connection to agriculture that Sonoma County offers.

The weekend-long wine festival will include special wine tastings and seminar discussions, barbecues, exceptional lunches, dinners, celebrity chef demonstrations, cocktail experiences, and an expansive Grand Tasting. There will also be a live outdoor concert featuring Maddie & Tae at Rodney Strong on Saturday, May 20.

Wine Festival

Occasionally New highlights from this year’s wine festival event will feature a Farm-To-Glass cocktail seminar hosted by the award-winning team of the Little Red Door from Paris; culinary demos from chefs including Joe Sasto, and Viet Pham; a special dinner experience at Michelin starred and recently reopened Cyrus; and a new Zinfandel tasting and pairing event hosted by Leslie Sbrocco called Zinfandel Live, with a unique live music component at Villa Chanticleer on Sunday.

A central attraction at this event is Little Red Door bar from Paris as they share their renowned farm-to-glass cocktails. Little Red Door is one of the most recognized bars in the world, whose accolades include a top-5 spot on the “World’s Best 50 Bars” list. The venue put itself on the map embracing the creative scene of the Marais district through their conceptual, yet accessible menus inspired by art, flavor perception, anthropology and social science. Similarly It pioneered a Farm to Glass model for drinks and menu creation, working directly with French producers across the country to source to produce from which it creates unique homemade products that form the base of their minimally named drinks (i.e., Citrus, Carrot, Chamomile), firmly placing the producer at the center of the guest experience.

Final Words

Chefs who are participating in the wine fest experience include local chef Dustin Valette, chef/owner of The Matheson and Douglas Keane from award winning Cyrus; Food & Wine’s Best New Chef Matt Horn; Food Network star Maneet Chauhan; “Top Chef” winner Stephanie Izard; Food Network’s “Chopped” star and “Top Chef” finalist Joe Sasto; Food & Wine’s Best New Chef and Iron Chef America winner Viet Pham. The local participating beloved chefs include Thomas Bellec, Domenica Catelli, Duskie Estes, Matt Horn, Crista Leudtke, Tracey Shepos, Leah Scurto, Casey Thompson, and Ari Weiswasser.

Still wine festival events will be held around Healdsburg, including at The Matheson, Montage Healdsburg, and the Madrona, along with wineries including Aperture Cellars, Bacchus Landing, Bricoleur Vineyards, Ferrari-Carano Winery, Jordan Winery Estate, Kendall-Jackson Estate and Gardens, and Rodney Strong Vineyards, and more.

Partners of the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience include Kendall-Jackson Wines, Rodney Strong Vineyards, Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, Foley Food & Wine Society, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, along with event co-founders the Sonoma County Winegrowers.