Pour Trail

Festival format

Food and wine festivals.

A food and wine festival is a ticketed tasting where wineries pour alongside chefs and restaurants, so every wine comes with something to eat. Pour Trail lists 75 of them across 40 states — 6 still ahead — and April, May and October carry the most dates.

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6

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Showing 1–6 of 6 upcoming food and wine festivals

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California40Florida32Texas17New York13Colorado10Maryland10Georgia7New Jersey6Pennsylvania6Massachusetts4North Carolina4Ohio4All 40 states

How to choose a food and wine festival

The label covers three quite different days out. The first is the resort or charity grand tasting: a lawn or ballroom with 50 to 100 wineries, chef stations from the region's restaurants, a band, a silent auction and a $100 to $200 ticket that includes everything you eat and drink. These are the festivals that sell out months ahead and pay for a hospital wing or a scholarship fund, and they are where the best wine lists in this category live, because the organizers court the wineries as hard as the chefs.

The second is the downtown street festival. Restaurants set up along a main street or in a park, the wine comes from a distributor's portfolio or the wineries of the nearest AVA, admission is often free or under $50, and the tasting glass is what you actually pay for. These are the community events that run for 20, 30 or 50 years in the same town on the same weekend. The wine is rarely rare, the food is often excellent, and children are usually welcome. The third is the sub-format we hear about most: a shopping district or hotel pouring wine through its own restaurants. We list those when several producers are on the floor and mark them as food-led so you know what to expect.

Read the ticket description before the wine list. The single most common complaint about food and wine festivals is a $75 admission that turned out to be entry only, with food and tastings sold by token inside. Where an organizer publishes it, every Pour Trail listing states what the ticket covers, whether there is a designated-driver tier, and the price at each stage of sales. Then look at who is pouring: a festival that names its wineries is a festival that is proud of them. If the wine list is "fine wines from around the world" and the restaurants are all named, plan the day around lunch.

Seasonally, this format has two calendars. In 2026 the big spring and early-summer weekends run April through June, and the harvest-timed editions run September through November. Florida and Texas invert that, holding their largest food and wine festivals between November and March when it is comfortable to stand outside for four hours. Use the month grid to see where the dates fall, the state chips to plan around a trip, and the grand tasting and harvest pages if the wine matters more than the menu. Smaller pairing dinners and tasting-room food events are on the food & wine events page.

Food and wine festival questions

What is a food and wine festival?
A food and wine festival is a ticketed tasting where wineries pour alongside chefs, restaurants and food producers, so every wine comes with something to eat. The formats range from a resort lawn with 90 wines and chef stations to a downtown street festival where restaurants serve small plates between the tasting tents. Pour Trail lists 75 of them across 40 states; single-restaurant wine dinners are not festivals and are listed separately as events.
Is the food included in a food and wine festival ticket?
Usually, and it is the first thing to check. Most festivals include the chef and restaurant tastings in general admission, which is why tickets run higher than at wine-only festivals. A minority sell food by token or ticket on site, and some street festivals let you in free and charge only for the tasting glass. Every Pour Trail listing spells out what the ticket covers when the organizer publishes it.
How much do food and wine festivals cost?
General admission for a food and wine festival typically runs $60 to $200, roughly double a wine-only tasting, because the food is in the price. Resort and charity editions sit at the top, with VIP tiers from $150 to $400 that add early entry, a lounge and reserve pours. Community food and wine festivals in smaller towns can be $30 to $50. Designated-driver tickets, where offered, are usually $15 to $35 and include the food.
When is the best time of year for food and wine festivals?
Two seasons. Spring and early summer (April through June) bring the resort weekends and the big charity tastings; fall (September through November) brings harvest-timed festivals and the Florida and Texas season, which runs through the winter when the rest of the country is quiet. Across the festivals on this page, April, May and October carry the most dates.
How is a food and wine festival different from a wine festival?
At a wine festival the wine is the whole point and food, if any, is a food truck. At a food and wine festival the chefs get equal billing: dishes are plated for pairing, restaurants compete for a fan-favorite award, and the wine list is often chosen to match the menu rather than to show off a region. If you are going for the wine alone, a grand tasting or harvest festival gives you more wineries for less money; if you are going with someone who cares more about dinner than Cabernet, food and wine is the format.
Which states have the most food and wine festivals?
California, Florida, Texas and New York lead the list on Pour Trail. Florida and Texas run their seasons in the cooler months, California spreads across the year, and the Northeast concentrates in late summer and fall. Use the state chips on this page to see the count for each state.
Can I bring children or a non-drinker to a food and wine festival?
More often than to wine-only festivals, because there is a meal to enjoy without a glass. Many food and wine festivals sell a non-drinker ticket with full access to the food, and street-festival editions are usually open to all ages with a wristband for tasting. Evening grand tastings and resort editions are typically 21 and over. Each listing shows the age policy when the organizer states one.

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