Disney's Quite Serious Wine Festival

Last year I attended a professional conference held at a Disney resort. Because I'm a Disney fanatic, Kevin flew down and we extended the trip into a full-blown Disney vacation. I had been extremely excited to visit EPCOT, as I hadn't seen it since the early 80's. It turned out that we were there during the 10th Annual EPCOT Wine & Food Festival.

The Festival was more than we imagined. Free (er ... included with admission) seminars were hosted all day in the information center. We attended several seminars, but the one that stuck with us the most was given by Doug Frost (Master Sommelier, Master of Wine) on Greek wines.

We tasted several Greek wines while Doug talked about the under-appreciated wines of the region. Doug was not at all what we expected. He was like someone we would hang out with on a regular basis, and quite young. He was also extremely passionate about his subject. As a trainer, I know that the more passion you display for your subject, the more enjoyable the class and the more information your students take away. Doug Frost succeeded in that - so much so that I couldn't tell you anything about the other seminars beyond, "We tasted wine."  (We might have been at a South African session in there somewhere.) Disney also offered other free seminars on food and cooking.

There is a book store and a wine store set up in the Information center so that you may buy the wines you try in the seminars and pick up the cook books.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the EPCOT World Showcase - the Disneyfied version of many countries around the globe. More countries are added for the Festival and every country has a special booth featuring one or two wines or beers, a small tapas-sized food item, and a small dessert item. We had dinner and lunch by visiting all these booths, although I was undeniably hooked on the quiche and chocolate from France. Each booth tasting costs between $1.50 and $4.50.

Another "included in your admission" item was the beer seminar. We stood in line for an hour at the Rose and Crown Pub in "England," but secured our table. Each table has a bucket of 5 different beers from Europe. Your hosts then walk you through how each beer is made and what differentiates the beers. There is a similar session on tea, hosted by Twinings, also in "England."

In addition to the booths and "free" sessions, the Food and Wine Festival includes a lot more. We were late to the whole idea, but had we known, we would have booked places in one of the various wine schools that are offered or attended the Party of the Senses. The "Schools" are 6 hour sessions, plus lunch, with an expert in a certain area - be it cooking or wine. They are limited in size and cost around $140/per person. The Party of the Senses is hosted every Saturday night. Chefs from around the globe offer samples of their food, wineries are offering pours, and entertainment is provided by the La Noube Cirque du Soleil troupe. It is an over-the-top Disney cocktail party for adults. The EPCOT Food and Wine Festival offers several extremely expensive dinners, more sessions on everything from cooking, to cheeses, to pairing food and wine. It's up to your time, and your budget, as to what you might attend.

As you might expect, we were so taken by the Food & Wine Festival in 2005 that we're returning for 2006. I'm attending the same professional conference. This year, we've already purchased tickets for the Party of the Senses as well as a Wine School. We'll be spending our 6 hours with Doug Frost, learning about Spanish wines. Everything else we'll discover as we go.

Want to learn more? The Festival runs at EPCOT Center (and at restaurants throughout Disney property) September 29 - November 12, 2006.

EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Official Site

AllEars.net - The best site I've found for Festival information