The Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience

Photos by Gamma Nine Photography and Huge Galdones

Located in the heart of California wine country, the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience (HWFE) celebrated the best of Sonoma County with world-renowned food and wines. Held this year May 18 through 21, the festival showcased the region’s makers, including farmers, growers, winemakers, and chefs alongside globally recognized wines from the greatest wine regions of the world and highlighted vibrant culinary diversity, sustainable farming practices, and deep connection to agriculture.

The event included special wine tastings and seminar discussions, barbecues, lunches, dinners, celebrity chef demonstrations, cocktail experiences, and an expansive Grand Tasting complemented by a live outdoor concert featuring Maddie & Tae at Rodney Strong Vineyards.

New to the festival, the Farm-to-Glass Cocktail Seminar was hosted by the awardwinning team of the Little Red Door from Paris. Guests also enjoyed culinary demos from chefs Joe Sasto and Viet Pham; a special dinner experience at Michelin-starred and recently reopened Cyrus; and a new zinfandel tasting and pairing event hosted by Leslie Sbrocco called Zinfandel Live, with a unique live music component at Villa Chanticleer on Sunday.

The organization’s mission is to raise funds that support the Leadership Academy, workforce development and other resources that elevate local vineyard workers, farm workers, and their families. The outdoor concert at Rodney Strong Vineyards benefited the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation. This year’s event sponsored by Foley Family Wines also featured a community brunch at Chalkboard Restaurant that benefited Healdsburg Future Farmers of America (FFA). A significant donation went toward the HWFE Future Farmers Scholarship, created by HWFE for students from the local Healdsburg High School FFA chapter. The organization also contributed to Farm to Pantry—its goal is to end food injustice by bringing communities together and reversing global warming by rescuing and sharing locally grown food with those who have been marginalized.

For more information, visit healdsburgwineandfood.com.