The Food & Wine Classic is coming to Charleston for the first time this September. Joining the Aspen, Colo.-born festival is an all-star cast of chefs, celebrities, beverage producers and restaurateurs, organizers announced July 16.
Al Roker, Andrew Zimmern, Maneet Chauhan, Tamron Hall, Stephanie Izard, CJ McCollum and Sean Brock are among the participants in the inaugural Food & Wine Classic in Charleston. They will be joined by local culinary professionals to lead tastings, seminars, demonstrations and other events during the inaugural gathering, scheduled for Sept. 27-29.
Columbia native Craig Melvin (left), shown with NBC “Today” show colleague Al Roker, who will participate in the Food & Wine Classic in Charleston. “We are grateful to all the chefs, winemakers and experts joining us in the Lowcountry to build an exciting new Food & Wine Classic created just for this area,” Food & Wine magazine Editor in Chief Hunter Lewis said in a press release. Led by Food & Wine, Southern Living and Travel + Leisure magazines, and presented by Explore Charleston, the new festival is a spinoff of the original in Aspen, first launched as the Aspen/Snowmass International Wine Classic in 1983.
The Colorado event took place for a 41st time June 14-16. It joins the city's existing food festival, Charleston Wine + Food, which was founded in 2005. The annual five-day event welcomed more than 38,000 people last year and will next take place March 5-9, 2025.
With 2,000 expected attendee.