Ever wonder if Charleston Wine + Food Festival is worth it?! I am sharing my inside experience, tips for attending the event & more!
Happy Monday y’all! I hope everyone had an amazing weekend! I am kicking this week of with a FULL Charleston Wine + Food Festival roundup. I break all of the things down in this post:: including where to stay, our itinerary, is it worth it, what to wear, my tips & a fun GIVEAWAY! It was such an incredible experience with my #BloggersDoTravel gals, and I can’t wait to share it with y’all.
Where to stay:
For Charleston Wine + Food Festival we had the opportunity to stay at the ever so lovely Restoration Hotel. This hotel has been a favorite of mine for years. We stay here when we visit with my in laws and have an amazing experience every time. The hotel is beautiful, yes, but it’s the other little things that make staying at The Restoration so great.
The location cannot be beat, right off King Street, you are in walking distance to so many destinations. In our case, we were just about a 10 minute walk to the main hub of the festival. I loved being in walking distance of the festival, it just made getting there so much more convenient, not to mention that walking allowed us more time to enjoy the beautiful weather.
In addition to location, their adorable coffee shop, The Rise, & rooftop restaurant, The Watch, are top notch. We had the opportunity to enjoy both. The vanilla oat milk lattes from The Rise were my favorite. SO so good! Did I mention the hotel delivers breakfast & coffee from The Rise to your room every morning?! It made jumpstarting our day so much easier.
Hotel Bella Grace is another incredible hotel in Charleston that would be a great to stay for the festival! Read more about our HBG experience here.
Our Itinerary:
While the festival runs Wednesday through Sunday, we stayed in Charleston Wednesday through Saturday & it was plenty of time to enjoy everything the festival had to offer. We arrived Wednesday afternoon, and checked into The Restoration. We had a quick shoot with Julie & then headed upstairs to The Watch for dinner. Dinner was so yummy! I loved their menu because there was so much to choose from & it all sounded amazing. Their chicken wings might have been my favorite dish of the night.
After dinner we walked down to Opening Ceremony. This is the kick off event for the festival, with live music, wine + food because duh. While dinner was great, we should have opted for light apps & headed down to Opening Ceremony a bit earlier to take full advantage of the event. We got there with about an hour to spare, and most of the tables were out of wine already. I would absolutely grab a ticket to Opening Ceremony next year, I would just make sure to arrive much earlier to take full advantage of the event.
Thursday was our first full day & we took advantage! We jumpstarted our day with a breakfast delivery at The Restoration & then headed to Au Natural at Graft Wine Bar for a beverage workshop. This was my first introduction to natural wines, and Graft is such an adorable bar, but I would definitely skip this next go around. The experience was a little too formal & stiff for my liking, but I did try an incredible natural sparkling that I am on the hunt for!
After our beverage workshop we grabbed lunch at one of our favorites– Basic Kitchen! Y’all I cannot recommend this place enough! If you’re visiting Charleston & are looking for a great spot to grab lunch, Basic Kitchen is where it’s at. This was our second time here as a group & we loved it just as much (if not more) than the first time. If you go you MUST order their buffalo cauliflower & the veggie bolognese. Trust me.
After lunch we had another shoot with Julie (blogger problems), and then enjoyed some downtime before heading to Winderlust. Located at the stunning Lowndes Grove Plantation, this event had us on cloud wine. The setting was beautiful, the food was incredible & the wine was so so good. I loved this event y’all! The wine to food ratio was spot on, and I love that I got to try new (to me), exciting dishes. Hello quail tamales.
While we did get to taste several items at Winderlust, we were still hungry so we headed to Jessica & Cathy’s favorite CHS restaurant, 167 Raw. I was a little apprehensive because oysters are not my thing, but don’t be fooled, this place is seriously yummy & has more to offer than a raw bar.
Friday was our last full day & the most fun in my opinion. We took the morning slow, gearing up for Culinary Village! This day long affair was loaded with all the wine & food tastings you could possibly want. When I think of food festival this is the kind of event I envision. Tents set up around every corner & life music. This event went from 12-5 & was worth every penny! If we had plans to stay through Sunday I would have loved to gone back for another round Saturday. This event was held, Friday-Sunday.
As if we didn’t get enough to eat & drink, we moseyed on over to Parcel 32 for happy hour after Culinary Village. This place was adorable! If you can, ask to sit upstairs on the porch, so cute! And their happy hour was a good one y’all!
Ready or not, we opted for more wine + food. We went to Tradd’s for dinner, a new favorite of Kristin’s & it did not disappoint. The decor is gorgeous, the food was seriously yummy & the prices weren’t to shabby.
Saturday was a super slow morning for us. We were pooped from the past few days, but had to get one more meal in before we headed to the airport to head home. Because we love Basic Kitchen so much we grabbed breakfast there Saturday morning. It’s right across from The Restoration so that is so convenient! The breakfast was good, but I would choose lunch over their breakfast if I had a choice. After our bellies were full it was time to check out & head to the airport.
What to Wear:
- Comfy Shoes: This is a must! Not because you’re going to be doing a ton of walking, but because you’ll be standing quite a bit. Plus most W+F events we attended were on grass. The last thing you want to be doing is wobbling in heels on grass with a glass full of wine.
- Layers: We lucked out with the weather for the most part. It was lows of 30s-40s & highs of 50s-60s with sunny skies. It might have felt cold for the locals, but the weather was great in my opinion. Because of the swing of the high & low temps, it was important to layer up! I most always wore a light weight jacket throughout the day, one that I could take off & carry around easily if I got too warm.
- A Hands Free Bag: Trust me on this! More often than not you’ll have food in one hand & wine in the other, you won’t want the hassle of carrying your bag in your hand.
My Favorite Part:
My favorite part of the festival would have to be our culinary village experience. It was such a fun way to spend the day, and there was SO much to experience. I loved this event because there was really something for everyone:: a biergarten, rosé tent, artisan market, etc! Not to mention every few hours the food vendors would create new dishes, so you could always try new & different things.
Did I mention there was a silent disco?! Y’all we had SO much fun dancing the day away! Yes, I felt like a crazy person, but once you realize everyone else does too & you let yourself go it was so much fun!
The only draw back is that I felt like the booze to food ratio was a little off. There wasn’t as much food as there was alcohol, and the food lines were much longer than the alcohol lines. But it wasn’t anything that would prevent me from going next year– it was my favorite part of the week after all!
Is it Worth Attending:
One word. YES. An abundance of wine & food in one of my favorite cities?! Sign me up! This event was like nothing I’d experienced before, and I would be more than willing to make a trip out of it every year. For one, its in Charleston. What is not to love about this city?! Just talking about it makes me happy. It is truly one of my favorite places to be.
Two, it’s so neat to experience with girlfriends, and I would love to bring Tyler with me next year. I loved doing this with my gal pals. It was a great excuse to come together & try new things. We love us some good wine & great food, so wine + food festival was a match made in heaven!
Three, there is something for everyone. The festival offers countless events a day, so whether your thing is learning or your favorite cuisine is greek food or you love a great whiskey, there is a different activity for you. There is so much more to drink at wine + food than wine, so don’t let that deter you from attending.
Four, it’s a great way to try new things & get your taste buds out of their comfort zone. I love trying new things, but often times if I am at a restaurant for one meal I usually just gravitate towards something in my comfort zone. Attending Opening Ceremony, Winderlust & Culinary Village totally got me out of my food comfort zone & allowed me to try so much new & yummy things!
Five, you definitely get your money’s worth. Like I said before, there are countless events you can attend, so make sure you pick ones that interest you. You won’t leave hungry or thirsty. TRUST ME.
Six, it’s a great way to kick off the spring season! What better way to get out of a winter funk than travel to Charleston for 60 degree weather & enjoy all the wine + food?!
Seven, you can tailor your CHS Wine + Food experience to your preferences. You can do as many or as little events a day as you’d like, you can come for one day, 3 days, etc. You can make your wine + food experience exactly what you want it to be.
I truly loved CHS Wine + Food & am dying to plan our 2020 trip already!
A GIVEAWAY!
In the spirit of Charleston Wine + Food and all things spring. Cathy, Jessica, Kristin & I have teamed up with some of our favorite brands to give one lucky winner a spring essentials goodie bag!
What you’ll receive:
- 1 pair of shoes from Marc Fisher LTD
- 1 pair of Lisi Lerch Earrings
- Essie’s metallic nail polish collection
- 1 piece of CeCe Sportswear clothing
- 1 Brahmin Evie bag (color of your choice)
- 1 Delsey Carry-On Suitcase, excluding the Chatelet Hardside
It’s so easy to enter below! You must be older than 18 years old & live in the US.
Such a great post lady and an amazing giveaway – you better believe I entered that!
xo Laura Leigh
Louella Reese