I returned recently from the bacchanal that is the Aspen Food & Wine Classic. My memory is still a bit hazy, and my eyes are still blurry from three days and three longer nights of parties on top of parties. Over its four decades, the Food & Wine 
Classic in Aspen has become an internationally buzzed-about festival where year after year, more than 5,000 attendees—including the world’s most famous chefs, Master Sommeliers, major liquor brands, and NBA superstars—head to 8,000 feet of altitude for Grand Tastings, sip-fueled lectures, cooking seminars and a never-ending number of dinners and late-night parties.
This was my first Aspen Food & Wine Classic, and it did not disappoint. Aspen is a town that makes Washington, D.C., real estate (my hometown) look like a sales bin at Target. When I landed at the Pitkin County airport, I knew I was in for a quintessentially Aspen experience with one glimpse of the majestic mountains and an inhalation of the crisp mountain air. As I waited in the airport for my former college roommate, Jaime, to arrive from Ohio, I felt like I was on a Top Chef All-Star casting call. The airport was teeming with Top Chef celebrities. And, yes, celebrity chefs really are everywhere, and they’re willing to chat it up and take pictures with us ordinary folk.
The entire event is an intricate choose-your-own-adventure. Ticket holders choose five seminars to attend throughout the weekend. Ostensibly, the event is about education, and among this year’s seminars that I attended included Anthony Gigilio’s, “The Sicilian Wines of The White Lotus," in which the audience imbibed on the 2021 Planeta Etna Bianco, the Tornatore Etna Bianco, and the Donnafugata Dolce & Gabbana “Rosa” Rosato, to name a few. Anthony’s unpretentious style and playful enthusiasm made the tasting feel more like a raucous, boozy brunch than a stuffy tasting.
I also attended a phenomenal seminar with Bobby Stuckey and Carlin Karr, where they implored attendees to rethink what they know about Italian wine and to try the great French varieties grown in Italy. The 2020 Dalia Maris – Friulano Bianco B we sampled was enough to sell me on their thesis. Later, Mark Oldman introduced us to the charms of Australian wines, and we imbibed on some incredible wine as an all-star female panel led by June Rodil, Master Sommelier, walked us through the differences between Rioja and Ribera del Duero Tempranillo.
After and between the seminars, attendees can be found careening around the tremendous pavilions in Wagner Park. We were offered spoonfuls of caviar in the pavilions like they were free samples at Costco. Delectable small-bite dishes, oysters, Wagyu beef, and hand-carved Ibérico ham were everywhere. Not to mention the endless supply of mezcal margaritas, whiskey samples and heavy pours from famed wineries. It’s an incredible amount of excess – nothing quite like it. It’s also worth noting that this unbelievably well-run event is primarily volunteer-led, and they operate like a Formula One pit crew.
Hobnobbing with the likes of two-time Top Chef winner Buddha Lo, the lovable chef and TV personality Carla Hall, and NBA star CJ McCullum, who launched his own McCollum Heritage 91 wine label, while eating and drinking your way through the weekend was also pretty priceless (or at least worth $1,950, the price for a consumer pass). However, the best events aren’t part of the festival. It’s more about getting your name on the right lists for the parties that went down each night – with a blend of ticketed and free events supplying free-flowing wine, dynamic dishes, and the opulence only Aspen can offer.
63