Art of Food & Wine Palm Desert

The Art of Food & Wine Palm Desert, now in its third year, is an annual gathering of art, food and wine enthusiasts in Southern California’s Coachella Valley. Poised to become the premier West Coast destination for the discerning palate, the four-day event features food and wine tastings, art exhibitions, celebrity chef demonstrations, culinary seminars, music, shopping and golf.

The 2008 event will take place from November 6 – November 9, 2008.

New to the schedule in 2008, the opening night “Food Flight!” – a friendly, interactive competition featuring Coachella Valley’s finest chefs and bartenders; wine dinner benefits, pairing local restaurants and charities with celebrity chefs and master sommeliers; “Sweet Dreams,” a nightcap event showcasing delicious desserts, wines, champagnes and after-dinner drinks poolside at the Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa; the dedication of 18 new sculptures to enhance the beauty and excitement of Palm Desert’s El Paseo shopping district, a fashionista’s paradise; and a concert at Palm Desert’s first-class music venue, the McCallum Theatre.

The Art of Food & Wine’s signature two-day Grand Tasting will again feature celebrity chefs, elite vintners and exclusive restaurants. Returning are James Beard Award winner and Food & Wine Magazine's Best Chef (2002) Rick Tramonto; two-time James Beard award winner and food and wine expert David Rosengarten, editor of The Rosengarten Report; former Food Network stars The Hearty Boys; famed Thai chef Tommy Tang; "Breakfast Queen" Ina Pinkney and others. These chefs and others promise to dazzle guests with impressive recipes and demonstrations. Event attendees can also look forward to delicious samples prepared by local chefs and chefs from Palm Desert’s Sister Cities, as well as wine and lifestyle seminars, book signings, artists, exhibitors and tastings of wines and spirits from around the world.

Presenting Sponsors of The Art of Food & Wine Palm Desert are the City of Palm Desert, the Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa and Southern Wine & Spirits of America. To date, Event Partners include KCET and Jenn-Air. Burrtec Waste & Recycling Services, Pacific Western Bank, Palm Springs Desert Resort and Communities Convention & Visitors Authority and Set to Save (The Palm Desert Energy Partnership) are all members of the event’s Host Committee.

History

The idea for the festival began two years ago at Desert Springs JW Marriot Resort & Spa, where, Director of Business Development Tammy Perezchica says, the general manager was “thinking down the road” of an event that would capitalize on the resort’s major renovation. He noted that there were no luxury food and wine festivals in the southwest to mirror those in Aspen and South Beach. It was Perezchica’s enviable task (with city staffers) to attend other food and wine festivals for research.

Desert Springs and the city could supply venues, food and entertainment; but they needed a partner to bring wine to the table. Identifying such a supplier proved an easy task. With more than 3,000 hotels, Marriott Corporation, is one of Southern Wine and & Spirits’ biggest accounts, and the Florida-based distributor sponsors the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

“We knew the West Coast was ripe for this kind of a show, and Southern Wine & Spirits jumped on board in a big way,” Perezchica said.

The festival's goal was to create an iconic moment to strengthen Palm Desert’s reputation as a destination for leisure travelers for sophisticated tastes. In an effort to do so, only 2,000 tickets were made available for the inaugural events (as opposed to 5,000 and 25,000 in Aspen and South Beach respectively). “We want to make sure that it is a quality event for attendees” Perezchica said, adding that long lines and masses of people could detract from the sense of “a great luxury event.”

The 2006 poster art shown here was created by accomplished artist Ken Joudrey. In addition to his work for the Art of Food & Wine Palm Desert, one of Joudrey’s covers for the mystery magazine “Ellery Queen” was featured in Secret Window. He has also created book covers for various publishing companies, such as Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins. Joudrey lives in San Diego.

The 2007 poster art for this year's festival, shown above, was done by artist Michael Bast. With more than twenty years experience, Michael has carved out a reputation for illustrations of a stylized realism that draw the eye with a skilled use of light, bright colors, and tactile warmth. His talent for commercial art was recognized early on when in his teens local not for profits began calling upon him to create their corporate identities. Michael's signature style was honored when the industry bestowed the coveted Cleo award for a project he did for Kraft. Past clients include Proctor and Gamble, SC Johnson, Post, Oscar Mayer and Wal-Mart.

External links

* [http://ArtofFoodandWine.com Official Website of The Art of Food & Wine]