Residents of Connecticut and beyond enjoyed some of the state’s best food and drink at the First Annual West Hartford Wine & Food Festival on Saturday, June 17th at Kingswood Oxford School. Attendees were treated to more than 30 wine tables featuring 250+ wines from local, national & world-renowned brands, food from 30+ top area restaurants, and live entertainment, that helped raise funds for select Independent Schools in West Hartford. It truly was a fantastic event and if you weren’t there…you definitely missed a great one. Eat IN Connecticut, who helped out with the festival planning and was tasked with promoting the festival and working with the restaurants, did an outstanding job.
Presented by Maximum Beverage and JUSTIN Winery, the festival featured wines from the likes of Justin Vineyards, Landmark Vineyards, Stonestreet, La Crema, Windracer Wines, Stag’s Leap Wineries, Bonterra, 1000 Stories, B.R. Cohn, Wente, Murrieta’s Well, Magic Door, 90+ Cellars, J. Lohr, Ferrari Carrano, Caymus Vineyards, The Prisoner Wine Company, Meiomi, Cooper and Thief Cellarmasters, Rombauer Vineyards, William Hill Estates, Chalk Hill Estate, and more.
Participating restaurants included Millwright’s Restaurant, Grants Restaurant, INDIA Restaurant, Zohara Mediterranean Kitchen, Artisan Restaurant Tavern & Garden, Park and Oak Restaurant, The North House, ON20, Local’s 8, Noble & Co., Firebox, 4 Eat & Drink, Blind Pig, @The Barn, Butchers & Bakers, Cafe Louise, Carbone’s Kitchen, Cavey’s, Chango Rosa, Flemings, NoRa Cupcake, The Rockin Chicken, Ideal Tavern, Killiam & Bassete Farmstead, Popover Bistro & Bakery, The Rooster Company, Savoy Pizzeria, Sub Edge Farm, Seoul BBQ, SHU Restaurant, Student Prince, Table 570 Asian Fusion, and The Green Teahouse.
Some of our favorite farm-to-table restaurants offered delicious bites like Popover (candied rhubarb and strawberry scone – gluten-free!), Butchers & Bakers (coal fired garlic bread), India (Dahi-Puri), Grants (chilled corn soup w/crab), Park & Oak (chilled lobster salad), Rooster (chicken liver pate with peach marmalade), Firebox (seared diver scallop), Zohara (grilled greek octopus), Artisan (chicken liver mousse with crudite), Millwrights (chocolate nougat cake) and Savoy (wood fired pizza).
And the wine of course…was to die for! Some of my favorites: Villa Maria Bubbly Sauvignon Blanc, Domaine Delaporte Sancerre, 1000 Stories Zinfandel, Murrieta’s Well “The Spur” and Wente Nth Degree. I loved having the opportunity to sample such a huge variety of wine from all over the world.
When you got tired of wine, there was also craft beer and spirit sampling too – my favorite was PERC coffee liquor. Great music, fun crowd – all in all a fantastic day. Stay tuned for information on next year’s festival!
Submitted by Dr. Diane Hayden. For more information, visit: www.westhartfordwineandfood.com