The Food and Wine Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo 2012 (media preview event in Vancouver)
As a Mexican, and as someone who writes about food, wine, liquor and travel, it makes absolute sense that I write about the Food and Wine Festival in Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, to take place from March 22-24, 2012. The festival takes place, as its name indicates, in one of the most beautiful locations yet, the amazing Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (please, foreigners, don’t call it “Zihua”. It’s Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, a blended community of the resort town Ixtapa with the municipality of Zihuatanejo). We Mexicans often call it Ixtapa, but more often than not we use the full name Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
I recently attended the Vancouver media preview of the Food and Wine Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, with leading wine expert and award-winning author Mark Oldman, who will also be featured at the festival March 22-24. A select number of wine, travel and food writers (myself included) were invited to a preview of the festival in an evening of Mexican wine and mezcal tasting.
Mark shared exceptional wine selections from the increasingly popular Baja California region and Guadalupe Valley. During the evening, we talked about and tasted wines from the legendary Bodegas de Vino Santo Tomas winery, as well as a selection of wines from the renowned winemakers of Viticultura Unida (VTU).
We finished the evening by sampling Partida’s premium tequila and taste a glass of mezcal to learn what makes this smoky, complex Mexican spirit so special.
As the only Mexican in the crowd, and a Canadian resident, I felt (as I mentioned at the event) a lot of ownership of the event. I felt incredibly proud to have the opportunity to hear the fantastic Mark Oldman pay tribute and teach my fellow writers about some fantastic wines and an excellent tequila (I wasn’t crazy about the mezcal, but the tequila was to-die-for).
This year’s Festival presents another banquet of culinary indulgences, all with a distinctive Mexican point of view. Celebrity chefs Michael Symon and Marcus Samuelsson and wine expert Mark Oldman join Mexico’s foremost masters of cuisine for an authentic exploration of local flavors. Sample traditional dishes with a modern flair and for a special highlight, dig into avant-garde street food that will have you ooohinng and ahhing down the embarcadero. Doin’t miss classes, exclusive house tours and a catamaran cruise past quiet fishing villages – reminding you what makes gorgeous Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo so delectable, all by itself.
I doubt I will have the time to travel to the Food and Wine Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo this March, but if I can’t you probably should! It’s going to be an amazing event. And if you do attend, make sure to tell your friends about it, because Mexico has a lot to offer to the Canadian traveler (I know, despite the horror stories that we keep hearing!)
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