Courier-Journal Wine & Food Experience

This year I visited the Courier-Journal Wine & Food Experience for the first time, and I was absolutely blown away! The amount of food and drink at this event is crazy! And, you don't only get to sample tons of food and drink, many vendors give you items to take home. How awesome is that?!There are so many amazing local restaurants at this event, plus many alcohol vendors, stores, and international companies there offering samples and take-home goodies. Plus there are really awesome speakers and demonstrations to check out. If you're looking for an amazing food and dining event, the Courier-Journal Wine & Food Experience is definitely it! I plan to attend this event again, as many times as possible, in the future!

This year was amazing! I won tickets free from Yelp and had a blast! The food and drinks were incredible and we loved watching Alex Guarnaschelli cook and hear her answer questions. Norton Commons is an incredible place and I would love to go back next year!

Thanks to Emily and Yelp I was able to attend this exciting event with my sister. Everything was very tasty and the place was sold out.

This event was fun! It was a beautiful day and there was so much food, wine, and spirits to enjoy! Kroger has vendors and food set up that you can find in their stores. There were plenty of samples and coupons as well. Macy's had a great display of their Martha Stewart line including paints. I loved making a frame for home with the paints and stencils they had out. Definitely a fun start!The highlight was trying samples from the local restaurants around Louisville. Next year I will be sure to start here! We arrived an hour later than the start time and there were some foods we didn't get to try. Some people ran out of food and we were there till they shut down. We cut it close getting to all the food and wine vendors. Plan to be there for the full event!You get a glass when you arrive to sample the wines and spirits available. They check off a circle on your lanyard so you don't take advantage of sampling too many times. There were also cooking demos and plenty of seating for enjoying the food samples. I highly recommend this event! It was a fun afternoon enjoying friends, food, wine, and spirits! Lots of samples to keep you full for hours!

This event was a blast. I was excited to see familiar chefs and to meet new ones. I also ran into some foodie friends of mine, that was also enjoying the event. I could see a lot of Kroger sponsorship and inspiration around the event. Kroger really put some cuteness and fun with the plane in the air waving the kroger logo behind it, the kroger labeled wine glasses, to the cool kroger guy at the picture booth, and much more. The location was also perfect, in the beautiful neighborhood of Norton Commons. This event featured restaurants from all over Louisville, which was awesome. I really wish we would also see mini events like this in other parts of Louisville. Like mini events representing each area of louisville and the restaurants located in those areas. Louisville has an abundance of great restaurants all over, so this would definitely be possible. The food showcases were nice, and my sister and I sure had some favorites. For me, Scarlets Bakery had the best fall spiced mini cupcake ever! I'm not sure how something so small could pack so much flavor and yumminess. Bee Boys KY raw honey was also tasty. I've tasted some good raw honey before, but this sure had them beat. The little mini spoon in the honey cup was a cute addition. It helped to get all the honey from the corner of the cup. I didn't want to waste any of that goodness. There was also another restaurant I enjoyed, and shame on me because I didn't view the name. They served mini pita bread and some had cinnamon sugar. The mini pita breads were delicious with a roasted spongy consistency. If anyone knows the name of this restaurant or vendor, send me a message. I really want more of that pita. The chef there was really nice. That's another thing that made this event great, was how friendly chefs were. Each with a fun story and a little history to give. If you are trying to sway towards the drink selection, well they had it here. The wine selections I tried were nice. Full reds with deep flavors, just the way I like. I also enjoyed a taste of Woodford Reserve, and wow was it smooth with a hint of sweetness at the end. Frank at this Brown Forman drink showcase was so much fun. He had us smiling with his conversation, while he poured our drink. It was cool to see some of my favorite Norton Common's restaurants such as Tea Station and Mercato. Also, one of my Louisville hangouts Havana Rumba. My sister hurried and grabbed her Cuban plate from the Rumba. With all said, my favorite part of the whole event was the produce setup of fresh exotic fruits. There you could grab fresh guava and a medley of fruit salad. They would chop the fruit there and make a fruit salad for all to try. The fruit salad was so good and gave me inspiration to try similar ones at home. Their salad had jackfruit and passion fruit. The display was full of brightness and fresh scents. The week was full of rain and coldness, but the event was blessed with beautiful skies and a strong sun that kept us warm. The only thing was a strong wind, but that's better than rain. Overall the event was grand. Thanks Emily and Yelp!