Food and wine tastes better in a snowsuit on the top of a ski mountain, that’s the premise of The Taste of Vail, a leading food and wine festival based in the famous Colorado resort town. It brings together approximately 30 of Vail’s top chefs and 50 of the world’s top wineries for what could be the wine world’s most extreme sport outside of the vineyard: the festival’s signature, snow-covered, all-you-can-drink tasting at the top of the Vail ski lifts. The winemakers themselves slog through the snow to refill glasses and educate attendees on the bottles they’ve produced. Don’t worry, not all the festival’s happenings are quite as chilled. At the bottom of the lift, there’s a sampling of the year’s newest rosés, an aprés ski meat cook off, and a yoga class sponsored by La Croix as well as wine dinners and food and wine seminars. Vail is a vacation spot of the elite, and the local food has elevated itself to satisfy high end tastes. Chefs at Taste of Vail have served beef tartare with truffle aioli, molasses quail, and maple bran muffins. Attendees can spend the day skiing, and their afternoon hobnobbing with a wine glass in hand. It’s all very luxurious. NOTE: 2023 events have not been released for this festival at the time of this posting.
The Specs
- Each event happens at a different location in Vail. Check their website for the details.
- In 2022, 1,000 people attended the Mountain Top Picnic.
- Tickets are available per event and range from $10 to $240.
- Check out the forthcoming list of events here.