Sip & Savor: Exploring the Flavors of Nashville's 2024 Wine and Food Festival

Story by Pam Windsor

It’s become an annual favorite for those who love wine and want to learn more about it. More than 200 wines from around the world were available for sampling at this year’s Nashville Wine & Food Festival held at the downtown Omni Hotel. Festival attendees walked from table to table tasting wines from California, Washington, Spain, France, New Zealand and elsewhere, while listening to live music and dining on small bites from local restaurants and businesses.

“This is so well-done with a wide variety of different winemakers,” noted Alice Hendry. “And they have it set up by region, so you can go to the French area or Sonoma area or wherever which makes it a lot of fun. And you get to learn about what you’re tasting and how each one was made.”

Attendees enjoyed pours from over 200 wines from around the world.

It’s the opportunity to learn about the wine as you go, that sets this festival apart. While sampling such a large number of wines in one location is always a big draw, the key component here is education.

“We don’t want vendors just coming here and pouring wine,” said Paul Patel, owner of CorkDorks the Nashville-based wine and spirits store behind the event. “We have somebody at every table who knows about the wine and can talk about how it’s made. These are winemakers and industry experts, and this is vital to what we do.”

Those behind the tables, like Ryan Martin with Hedges Family Estate Winery in Washington, get to share their knowledge and delve into what goes into making each bottle of wine.

“We’re giving people a taste of what Washington state wine is all about,” he said. “Most people know California wines, but in Washington we have different flavor profiles. For example, we get two hours more sunlight a day than Napa does, so typically our wines use smaller grapes with a little bit more concentrated fruit.”

Jordan Heim from Delicato Family Wines shared what makes his company’s imported Stoneleigh wine unique.

“It’s the No. 1 selling wine in New Zealand, so locals drink it,” he said. “But one cool thing about the winery itself is each vineyard, or row of vines, has river rocks sitting below it. So, throughout the day, they heat up and once the sun sets and the evening cools down, those river rocks radiate some of the heat collected earlier, and create kind of an even temperature through the night. So, it’s a very interesting winery in that regard.”

Wine enthusiasts walked from table to table tasting wines from California, Washington, Spain, France, New Zealand and elsewhere, while listening to live music and dining on small bites from local restaurants and businesses.

For so many wineries, it’s the stories behind the vineyards themselves that make the wine special.

“Lux Wines is a small boutique division with E&J Gallo and we’re the tip of the sword with interesting new items,” noted representative Jeff Adler. “Our wines have either a philosophy or an estate or a winemaker that makes them who they are. It’s a co-op, so we help them, and they help us. Frankly, it’s about legacy and doing the right thing. And it’s great for me to be able to interact with a crowd who may not have seen these wines before.”

The festival’s goal of teaching people about wine began earlier in the day with a series of seminars leading up to the wine-tasting portion of the event. Topics included “Hidden Villages of Burgundy,” “Fresh Faces of California,” “How to Drink Australian,” and others.

“We had a seminar on Burgundy that included Burgundy tasting and education,” Patel explained. “We had one on Australian wine, another with a winemaker from Spain, one that involved a Cabernet face-off between Napa and Sonoma, and others. We do new and different wine seminars every year.”

Those teaching opportunities are an extension of the mini seminars he does on a regular basis in his Nashville store. It’s something he’s done since he first began selling wine and spirits two decades ago. He takes the same approach with his companion Nashville Whiskey Festival in October.

He believes people, young and old, want to learn more about the art of making wine and spirits, and the stories behind their favorite brands, even as they learn about new ones. And given this year’s turnout, he’s right on the mark.

For more information and to stay up to date for next year’s Nashville Wine and Food Festival, please visit www.nashvillewineandfoodfestival.com