From Epcot to Downtown Orlando, The City Beautiful is bursting with fall food events. One that’s not to be missed and a feast for the eyes and palate is the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic. Featuring an astonishing number of wine stations (40 to be precise), 10 food and wine seminars and chef meet and greats, this two day event rivals the grand event at Epcot.
As our first year attending, the vast amount of wine was astonishing. With so many regions and varietals it was literally impossible to consume every wine on hand. Plus, for beer lovers, the event featured an expansive Beer Garden complete with local beers and salty pretzels to wash down all those brews.
Prior to an evening of dining and imbibing, we sipped our way through Italy with Certified Sommelier, Kristian LaPlante. A particular fun course after passing the Introductory Sommelier class earlier in the week. This hour long seminar was filled with Italian wines from all regions and paired with authentic fare. Taught by a true Italian, Kristian’s expertise made for an exceptional and educational start to our evening at the Food and Wine Classic. Next year be sure to add the food and beverage seminars to your schedule, there’s a topic for every palate and interest.
After tasting seven different Italian wines we headed to the main event and embarked on an evening of flavor. Like most tasting events we try to sample dessert first. The lines are always the shortest and well, why not start with sweets? The hotel’s World Champion Pastry Chef, Laurent Branlard, provided a sweeter side to the evening with decadent desserts like chocolate almond crunch cake and an éclair with caramelized banana cream and coconut streusel. And after sampling a few pastries alongside champagne and French wine, we visited the S’more Sundae Action Station, which combined the s’more and the sundae.
Beyond dessert and Italian wine, here’s what we tasted and so enjoyed during the event:
- Southern Fried Chicken with creamy polenta pickled turnips and BBQ “gravy”.
- A taco station complete with toppings and hot sauce selections. Basically a mini Chipotle meets Tijuana Flats….but way better tacos and no line.
- Shrimp Cocktail Steamroller by Bluezoo, an interesting culinary experience, and one that was mildly entertaining watching people figure out how to eat a shrimp cocktail in a tube.
- Funnel Cakes topped with Nutella, a nod to carnivals with an added layer of indulgence.
Bravo Swan and Dolphin, we can’t wait to see what you have cooking for next year’s event.
