Sumner Food & Wine Festival

Inaugural guests choose from 80 wines, spirits and mocktails

Sumner Food & Wine Festival: Popping the cork on a new tradition

HENDERSONVILLE – Any way you measure it, this year’s inaugural Sumner Food & Wine Festival in Hendersonville (20 minutes north of Nashville) was a big success. The two-day event was organized by Jon and Lindsay Yeager, who run the annual Nashville Cocktail Festival and own the Edit cocktail bar in Hendersonville. Nearly 700 people turned out, which is a strong show of support for a first-year event.

“We are so happy,” Lindsay said. “Hendersonville really showed up!”

Held in Sanders Ferry Park, with its picturesque view of Old Hickory Lake, the festival kicked off Friday, Sept. 22 with a 100-seat Chef’s Dinner. It featured a five-course meal with wine pairings and specialty dishes prepared by local chefs, along with a cocktail hour and live entertainment.

Then on Saturday, the 4 p.m. Grand Tasting offered unlimited samplings of more than 80 different wines, several different whiskeys, brandy, and some non-alcoholic beverages as well. There was a variety of wines from California, Oregon, and elsewhere, with familiar names like Francis Coppola, Oak Ridge, Bread and Butter, and many others. And one California bottle had an interesting Tennessee connection.

“This is 'MyStory Wine' which is out of Paso Robles,” Alexei Khimenko explained. “I live in Nashville, but I make wine in California. We’re a very small producer, and all of the fruit for the wine comes from one estate. We make it where we grow it.”

Khimenko had five types of wines available for tasting.

Riboli Family Wines, which launched its Stella Rosa Brandy in the summer of 2022, offered brandy-based cocktails to festival-goers.

“We have about 20 states now carrying the brandy and just brought it to Tennessee this year,” said Tracy Schorp, district manager for Tennessee and Kentucky. “So, it’s very new to this market. This is the perfect time of year to start drinking brandy, with the temperature cooling down, and we wanted to showcase how mixable it is with different cocktails.”

With each tasting there was an opportunity to ask questions about things like flavor profiles.

“This is from the Jim Beam Distillery,” noted Mark Eber, who was offering samples of Maker’s Mark and Legent. Referring to Legent, he said, “This is 100-percent American whiskey. It’s blended by our master distiller from Japan, Suntory, and aged in red wine casks and sherry casks.”

There were different non-alcoholic options, as well. Hayley Harris owns Like A Virgin Sober Bar, a local Hendersonville company that launched earlier this year.

“We offer mainly mocktails,” she said. “So, I do zero proof non-alcoholic tequila, whiskey, and gin. I can make a Cosmo or different kind of whiskey drink you like without any alcohol in it. I also have beer, wine, and seltzers, all that fun stuff.”

There were some food tastings, as well. The Nashville-based Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Company offered samples of some of its candies.

“We do everything in-house from roasting the beans all the way up to packing every single product by hand,” said Sammy Walsh, as he explained the different types of caramels and chocolate on display, including one type of caramel made with duck fat. “Using duck fat instead of butter gives it a richer, more savory flavor.”

While the tastings under the big tent were the main event, there was also a cigar bar and lounge, food trucks, art and jewelry vendors, and much more. There were also play areas for the kids. From the beginning, the Yeagers wanted the festival geared toward families.

“Hendersonville is extremely family-friendly,” Jon said. “I don’t think anything here would succeed in this environment if it wasn’t family-friendly. I mean, we have two little girls and we want everyone to be here.”

The couple said they are pleased with the crowd, the many vendors who took part, and the way everything turned out, but admit the first year is always a learning curve.

“I think it went great, but we’re already taking notes on how things were set up and different ways we can improve next year,” Jon said.

He and Lindsay say one thing they’ve learned after nine years of running the Nashville Cocktail Festival is every year is an opportunity to get even better.

“It’s always a mixture,” Lindsay added. “So, every year looks a little bit different and that’s what makes it fun.”