Get your flannel shirt, Olivia Pope wine glass and most importantly, appetite, ready. The Saratoga Wine & Food Festival, presented by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), will be returning to the Saratoga Spa State Park this October 4-5, with a regionally and internationally renowned cadre of chefs on hand to whip up gourmet meals for event-goers to enjoy with an array of vino.
On Friday, October 4, the festival will present a “forest themed” Farm-to-Table Harvest Dinner, which will be curated by Kim Klopstock of Ballston Spa’s Lily and the Rose, in collaboration with John Sconzo of Saratoga Springs’ Rascal + Thorn, along with Chef Dan Spitz of Fat N Happy LLC and Yaddo’s Head Chef Michael Blake and Kevin London, owner of Farmhouse Restaurant at the Top of the World Resort in Lake George. The regional chefs will be paired with Diego Moya, Executive Chef of TriBeCa hot-spot Racines, rated one of America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants of 2019 by Wine Enthusiast magazine; and Austin Peltier, an expert on Ayurvedic cooking practices—where the culinary arts meet the healing sciences. Each twosome will present a course that incorporates sustainable and locally sourced ingredients.
Also making a cameo at the farm-to-table event—but only for VIP ticket-holders—will be Chef Tim Spedding and partner Louise Rødkjær Jørgensen, both from the UK, who will put local produce in play for Friday’s VIP dinner and prepare canapés for the VIP Grand Tasting on Saturday, October 5. (Spedding, one of the UK’s most influential young chefs, along with partner Rødkjær Jørgensen, plan to open their own restaurant and inn in Cornwall, the center of England’s bourgeoning farm-to-table scene.)
Along with all of the food and wine that will be presented at the festival’s signature Grand Tasting on the 5th, for the first time in the festival’s history, the Grand Tasting will feature a sculpture garden curated by Glens Falls-based art museum The Hyde Collection, with pieces by contemporary artist John Van Alstine. “For the first time at the festival, our largest fundraiser to support SPAC’s educational programming, we are celebrating the incredible cultural organizations in the region with live music, a sculpture garden, gorgeous photography of compostables and much more,” says SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol. (The photo gallery Sobol’s referring to was shot by local photographer and saratoga living contributor Terri-Lynn Pellegri.)
Check out a full schedule of the food- and wine-related events below:
Friday, October 4
Farm-to-Table Harvest Dinner (6pm – 10pm) – see above
VIP Farm-to-Table Dinner: $225 (6pm)
Farm-to-Table Harvest Dinner: $175 (7pm)
Saturday, October 5
Grand Tasting (11am – 4pm) – see above
VIP Grand Tasting, $175 (11am)
Grand Tasting, $100 (12pm)
