Wine & Food Festival

Named among Forbes Travel Guide’s Top 10 Winter Food Festivals, DC’s premier food and wine event, The Washington, DC International Food & Wine Festivalwill take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center from February 5 through 9, 2013; and this year, it’s bigger and better than ever with an extended schedule and extra added attractions including Signature Events, Tasting Room Experiences, educational seminars, focused tastings, chef inspired dinners and demos, food and wine pairing, a ‘Sommelier Showdown,” and a silent auction to benefit Cohn’s Kitchen, which provides restaurant and culinary job training and workforce development to DC’s underserved and underprivileged young adults with a demonstrated passion for excellence and a commitment to employment in the restaurant industry.

From February 5-8 from 4-8 p.m., free and open to the public, guests are invited to the Wine Cooperative Wine Tasting Room where they have a unique opportunity to purchase tastes/glasses of premium wines from around the world’s premier wine regions and meet winemakers, educators and other oenophiles The Wine Cooperative will host a Silent Auction display of items benefiting Cohn’s Kitchen.

On February 6th from 6:30-9 p.m., it’s among the Festival’s most popular events, the Sommelier Showdown, where local sommeliers challenge each other in feverishly tasting and identifying wines—bragging rights included, while guests taste bites from the area’s best chef along with tastes of premium wines.