12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Sample and swirl to your heart's desire at Florida's best food and wine festivals
Whether you're a serious foodie, wine connoisseur, or simply love to wine and dine, Florida is now on the global map for epicurean festivals. These annual food and wine festivals offer the chance to mix and mingle with star chefs and local talent, taste exclusive and new-to-you wine and craft beer, and get an authentic taste of what each destination has to offer. A bonus: Festival backdrops range from tents on the beach to historic landmarks and fancy hotels — and often take place in fall and winter when Florida's perfect weather truly outshines the rest of the country.
South Beach Wine & Food Festival
February 20 – 23, 2025
Mark your culinary calendars for the annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), when foodies from all over the world flock to Miami for four days of decadence. It's the chance to mingle with your favorite celebrity chefs, such as Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri, Alex Guarnaschelli, Andrew Zimmern and Michael Symon, along with top toques from South Florida and beyond.
SOBEWFF is beloved for its open-air tents on the beach with popular walk-around tastings like the Grand Tasting — the beach and balmy breezes create the perfect backdrop for sipping wine and sampling bites. Save room for intimate sit-down dinners with featured chefs, brunches, late-night events, and fan-favorite events like Burger Bash, Wine Spectator's Best of The Best, Tacos & Tequila and the fancy Tribute Dinner.
Marathon Seafood Festival
March 8 – 9, 2025
If you're looking for an excuse to escape to the Florida Keys during winter, the Marathon Seafood Festival is a delicious reason to make the scenic drive. The two-day festival is the second-largest festival in the Keys behind Fantasy Fest in Key West, and it draws a big crowd thanks to its family-friendly vibes. While the star of the show is fresh, local seafood — think stone crabs, shrimp, lobster tails, fish and Key lime pie — live music is another big draw with live bands playing everything from reggae to rock. There's also the chance to peruse Keys vendors selling local honey, salt scrubs, soaps and more, along with activities for kids and even a boat showcase.
St. Augustine Food + Wine Festival
May 7 – 11, 2025
Another palate pleaser is the St. Augustine Food + Wine Festival, a culinary extravaganza held annually in May that showcases celebrity guest chefs, local chefs, farmers, artisans and wine, spirits and beer brands. When you're not stuffing your face at one of the many events spanning five days, this festival extends the chance to dig into the history of the nation's oldest city and its beautiful beaches.
Many of the festival events are held at host locations like the World Golf Village, which fronts a beautiful lake, and the area's beloved winery, San Sebastian Winery, which is uniquely nestled in Henry Flagler's East Coast Railway building. There's everything from progressive tastings using a trolley and those offering a sampling of Northeast Florida's best restaurants, intimate learning experiences, family-friendly events like a Sunday Jazz Mother's Day Brunch, and the fan-favorite barbecue event, Smoke On The Walk. You can purchase individual event tickets, all-in passes and a weekend VIP package.
EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival
March 5 – June 2, 2025
Plant the seed to visit Orlando during springtime for one of Florida's most visually stunning foodie fests, the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025, you'll wander gardens to see beautiful blooms of roses, orchids and Disney characters shaped into living topiary forms, while eating garden-fresh fare at restaurants and outdoor kitchens around the park. Another popular food-forward event is the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, which traditionally takes place in the fall and allows you to dine around the world on everything from Belgian waffles to German-inspired apple strudel.
Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival
December 11 – 14, 2025
If you're looking for the perfect holiday present for a wine and food lover, consider gifting tickets to the four-day Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival, which takes place every December. This highbrow affair flaunts more than 25 gastronomic experiences and premier wine tastings at some of Palm Beach's glitziest locales, including the Four Seasons Palm Beach, The Breakers, The Brazilian Court and Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa (and since it's December, these hotels are decked out in holiday regalia). You'll likely rub elbows with celebrity chefs like Daniel Boulud, Robert Irvine, Stephanie Izard and more, who take time to chat and snap pictures at tastings, private dinners and educational workshops. Plus, the wine is top-tier, with much of it ranking 90 points or higher on Wine Spectator's 100-point list.
Artisans of Wine & Food, Boca Raton
January 15 – 18, 2026
The Artisans of Wine & Food is a longtime festival favorite in Napa Valley, California, where it's been held since the 1980s — and in January, the lavish fete made its East Coast debut at The Boca Raton. Set on the sprawling grounds of the resort and private club, the inaugural three-day affair featured more than 75 winemakers from Napa Valley, along with a bundle of lauded chefs like Fabio Trabocchi and Mario Carbone. What sets Artisans apart from other festivals? Events are not oversold (and therefore not crowded), so there's plenty of time and space to chat with winemakers and taste exclusive wines.
Guests can freely float through the Discover Napa Valley Tasting Pavilion, dotted with prominent wineries and small producers and restaurants, attend dinners and a brunch with top chefs, sip and learn at educational tastings (and rare tastings of Napa wines often paired with decadent truffles, foie gras and caviar), play in a golf tournament with vintners and chefs, and get dolled up for an elegant gala where vintners are pouring their favorite wines at the table. You can also buy all-access tickets, giving you the chance to attend all of the weekend's events.
Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival
January 19 – 25, 2026
Sometimes, you need an entire week of feasting, and the premier culinary event Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival (VLFWF) delivers with seven days of food-focused events. (2025 marked the festival's biggest crowd with more than 19,000 attendees.)
Like other popular festivals, expect a star-studded lineup of top-notch chefs like Fabio Viviani and Nancy Fuller, paired with Greater Fort Lauderdale's most celebrated and up-and-coming chefs, restaurateurs and beverage experts. There are mixologist and chef showdowns, chef collab dinners, smoke shows (barbecue) on the beach, a grand tasting, culinary classes and more.
This is just a taste of the wine and food events in Florida, with other events around the state like the 30A Wine Festival, which takes place in Alys Beach in February, and January's Naples Wine Festival. If you're looking for dining destinations, check out these top Florida hotels for culinary enthusiasts.
