February 19th to 22nd, 2009

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine, is a national, four-day event showcasing talents of the world’s most renowned winemakers, spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmbJD_xnCmI
Hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida and Florida International University (FIU), the festival benefits the Teaching Restaurant and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center, both located at FIU.

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine, began as a one-day festival known as the Florida Extravaganza held at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus.

For six years, the Florida Extravaganza showcased wines from national and international wineries paired with food from local restaurants and chefs working with students of FIU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

In 2002, Lee Brian Schrager, Director of Special Events and Media Relations at Southern Wine& Spirits of America, reinvented the Florida Extravaganza.

Now in its eighth year, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is one of the largest food and wine festivals of its kind in the country and combines worlds most celebrated chefs and culinary personalities set against the backdrop of America’s Riviera, South Beach.