By Patrick Mould

Lovers of the nectar of the gods and gourmands unite! The City-That-Care-Forgot will once again plays host to the New Orleans Food & Wine Experience.

The annual event now in its ninth year will take place July 12th through the 16th at various locations throughout the Big Easy. The event is fast becoming one of this nation’s premier food and wine events.

With attendance expected to exceed the 3500 that attended last year’s event The Year 2000 Experience will attract wine and food aficionados from throughout the world.

Over 500 wines and their creators from more than 100 wineries will converge on the city for what is sure to become a meeting of international vinification and bayou gastronomy. The culinary artistry of some of the cities finest restaurants will be paired with some of the greatest wines in the world. The Governing Board of the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience has selected 32 of the area’s most notable restaurants to host its Year 2000 Vintner Dinners.

Many of the chosen restaurants have been recognized worldwide for their commitment to fine cuisine, exceptional service and stimulating atmospheres. Each restaurant will work in tandem with winemakers to create extraordinary menus specifically for the event. Winemakers will host the dinners, which will be held citywide. Each dinner will feature a selection of wines from at least two specific vineyards with principals, often the winemakers, on hand to explain the wines before each course. Chefs and vintners consult extensively in the creation of outstanding, compatible menus. Participation in Vintner’s Dinners is $75 per person, inclusive. Reservations for Vintner Dinners are limited and must be made directly with participating restaurants.

“New Orleans is recognized as one of the world’s premier food cities,” explains Year 2000 NOW&FE president Pat Patterson. “New Orleans’ abundance of outstanding restaurants and the great wines of the world are a natural match.”

Other events include the Royal Street Experience, sponsored by the French Quarter’s Royal Street Guild and will take place within seven historic blocks of the Vieux Carre. Live Crescent City jazz will fill the air while you stroll art galleries and antique shops enjoying vintage wines and fine food from some of the cities best restaurateurs.

The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center ballroom will be the site of the Grand Tasting which will pair hundreds of the city’s chefs with vintners for a huge food and wine frenzy. The event will culminate with an authentic Sunday Champagne Jazz Brunch and Fine Wine Auction at the Omni Royal Orleans.

“Many wine and food festivals bring in well-known chefs from outside,” says Patterson. “New Orleans is already bursting with famous chefs with extraordinary talent. There’s no reason to look further than our own backyard.”

Ever wonder why certain wines just seem to taste better when served in particular glasses or why individual vintages of some wines are unforgettable while the same wine in a different year is to be avoided? Ever try your hand at Creole cooking but couldn’t make a roux?

A series of seminars will address a variety of vitucultural and culinary topics geared toward persons with all levels of wine and food knowledge over two days in conjunction with the Year 2000 event.

“The New Orleans Wine & Food Experience is stimulating for all the senses,”

Patterson goes on to say. “The development of lasting wine and food knowledge through education will continually enhance the pleasures of good wine for each of the participants of this years event in the future.”

So grab your vintners tasting cup and head south to the Crescent City and remember to sip but not swallow.

To register call (504) 529-WINE or visit their website www.nowfe.come. To make travel arrangements, call Travel New Orleans, 1-800-535-8747 or visit www.travelneworleans.com

Proceeds from NOW&FE 2000 will benefit the New Orleans Hospitality Education Foundation, a mentoring program serving youths interested in careers in the restaurant, and tourism industries.

Filed Under: Food Talk