We returned a few days ago from our extended trip with mixed reviews. We had a few days before and after family joined us to do just F&W, but still managed to hit every booth (and I have the stamps to prove it!) and do some seminars and events.
3D Desert Party 10/15: We liked the size and attendance of this event. We stopped doing PFTS two years ago due to the crowds and rudeness, but this was closer in scale to the Spain feature night we did a few years back (miss that event!). I agree with one of the earlier reviews that the food items were repeated and there could have been more, but I thought there were plenty of beverage options and some things I didn't see elsewhere. I liked the tea/coffee/water stations. The doughnut was the BEST! We skipped Illuminations but saved the glasses for our nephews and nieces to use later in the week.
Wine School, Pinot Noir w/ Andrea Robinson 10/16: I have a few nitpicks about this one. We were in the very last group called up to the room so I had trouble seeing from the back table, even on the aisle (she is short and so am I, and the stage was not elevated). They also started the seminar before we were up there and seated, so we missed a little bit. That really annoyed me as we had already waited nearly 30 minutes past the scheduled start time to go upstairs to begin with. The school itself was quite informative and the pours were generous to say the least. I'm not a chardonnay fan so saved some of my favorite pinot to have with the bites at the end. The food was fine, but nothing great. I think I would do this again if it were a grape varietal I was more interested in. Pinot Noir is fine, but I'd love to do this for Malbec or Cabernet.
Coppola beverage seminar 10/19: We signed up for this in advance online and popped over from MK to do it. The information was interesting and the presenters were entertaining, but it was mostly a sell to visit their new winery in Sonoma. We're big fans of Coppola wines and were hoping to try some wines we hadn't yet, but two of the three bottles were ones we have in our cellar at home. That certainly wasn't their fault, but a bit of a disappointment for us personally.
French Regional Lunch, Bordeaux 10/22: We had a lovely table with fun people and the food and wines were fantastic. My only complaint is that the wine representative hardly said anything about most of the wines. She gave an introduction, talked a short bit about the first and third wines, but never said anything about the second or last ones. They did refill wines through the lunch, which was great. The desert was SO good! Saint Honores with chantilly cream and a fresh raspberry coulis. Mmm!
Cheese Seminar, Spain 10/23: This was TERRIFIC! The cheese portions were huge and the guy really knew his stuff. We also were poured a white and a red Rioja and were taught a lot about pairing wine with cheese. They took us through each cheese, then had us try each one with each wine and talked about why one worked and one didn't. VERY informative! We also left with a goody bag from the winery (bottle keychain, wine tool, booklets, etc) and some literature on artisanal cheeses.
Taste, Shake and Indulge 10/23: Hands-down this was the best event of the festival for us. I'm sure it'll be back next year and probably cost twice as much. It was an absolute steal and so much fun. The presenter was French and hilarious! We were given a mimosa, glass of water, a few spongecake cookies and a dark chocolate, along with three 1-ounce pours of different Grand Marniers. The presenter went through the history of the company and talked extensively about each one we tasted. We then made our own cocktail, which was a ton of fun, and they demonstrated crepes souzette. At the end we were served a desert plate with a crepes souzette, raspberry mousse and orange sections. So yummy! I would do this one again in a heartbeat.
As for the booths, we thought the salmon in Canada was much improved this year (it's been dry in the past), the Spanikopita was way too garlicky, and the beef skewer in Argentina was the best thing offered anywhere. There was a HUGE crowd difference between weekdays and weekends, so avoid F&W on Saturdays if at all possible. I haven't seen so many people in the world showcase since we went for New Year's Eve!
LOVE the new Cava de Tequila in Mexico and fell in love with their avocado margarita and the jalapeno margarita. We stopped in to have them three different times during the fest!
That's all I can recall off the top of my head, but we ate at every booth so if you are curious about something, just ask.