How to Survive the Beaufort Wine and Food Festival

“It’s the best day of the year!” – Me, the night before the big event, the morning of the big event… and while in line for the big event.

Okay, okay, so maybe “best day of the year” is a bit of an exaggeration, but the culminating event of the Beaufort Wine and Food Festival – the Vin de Mer Epicurean Village, as it’s called – is one of my favorite days of the year. This wonderful day drinking fiasco happens each year on a Saturday at the end of April, and it’s a huge showcase of food from restaurants along the coast and other parts of North Carolina as well as tons of wine from all over.

While I was in undergrad and law school I could never go because I was always studying for exams around this time of year. So I had to listen to my mom’s tipsy voice over the phone after it was over as she called to say, “Ohhhh Rachel, you would have LOVED IT!”

So in my final year of law school, I said, “Screw it, I’m going.” And I haven’t looked back since.

I love a good food and drink festival. We’ve done the Beer and Bacon Festival in Cary, TerraVita in Chapel Hill, Taste of DC, and just a few weeks ago, World Beer Festival in downtown Raleigh. But by far, THE BEAUFORT WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL IS MY FAVORITE! It includes a massive quantity of food and drinks, and I get to spend time with my family at our beach house, so really, it’s the best.

This year was my third year in a row attending this festival and it exceeded my expectations, both with the quality of food and the ridiculous amount and variety of wine… but I was also impressed with my family members’ ability to drink just as much as me, for just as long. Charlie and I headed into this booze-fest with my mom, brother, and two aunts.

There are several events put on by the great people at Beaufort Wine and Food that lead up to the Vin de Mer, but this is the only one I’ve ever attended. The wine flows freely and the food is delicious, fresh, and abundant. Unlike past years, this year’s grand event was held at Front Street Village on Taylor’s Creek in Beaufort and they did provide the mullet line as transportation, just in case your grandma didn’t want to come pick you up. And per usual, it was held in the most gigantic tent I’ve ever hung out in.

If you ever hope to attend the Beaufort Wine and Food Festival, here are some steps and advice so that you can survive this three-hour-long binge eating and drinking event. And by advice, I mean that I’m going to tell you a lot of what I did… so that you can do the exact opposite.

1 – Don’t pace yourself. Eat everything you can in the first 10 minutes… lest they run out.

Once they release the hounds (a.k.a. open the tent to the general public), fill up your plate with every food item within your grasp and gorge yourself. Hey, you gotta get yours.

Okay, this is what I’ve done every year, so I can’t say it’s the worst idea, but I think next time maybe I’ll pace myself better. I was actually in a good amount of pain from eating so much toward the end of this snacking marathon… and then I saw that there were pork belly BLT’s that I hadn’t even tried yet! (Wow, holy #firstworldproblems, I know). Don’t let this be you.

But seriously, while you may want to try everything immediately, sometimes slowing down or picking and choosing things might be to your benefit… if you don’t enjoy the feeling of your stomach bursting at the seams. As I give this advice, I’m promising myself that I’ll pace better next year, knowing full well that’ll probably never happen.

Disclosure:  My mom actually does recommend this method of rapid eating at the beginning of the fest because she claims you’ve gotta get the food before they run out, though I have yet to see that happen.

The pork belly that I didn’t even try, sigh…

There are even restaurants and chefs who dare to serve dessert, so do with this knowledge what you will. To save for last or to mix them in throughout the day? I don’t know! Such decisions! The only dessert I managed to try (because I was so stuffed and because I don’t LOVE sweets) was the sticky toffee pudding from our friends at Plates, which is right down the street from our apartment in Raleigh. Imagine their surprise when they saw us… we’re everywhere!

2 – Who cares about those ribbons and medals on the wine bottles? Fill ‘er up with whatever!

When asking the vendors to fill my glass, I was merely concerned with, Red or white? Malbec or rosé? Will this guy give me a taste or more of heavy pour? I didn’t consider that some of these wines were champions among the competition. The ribbons and medals on certain bottles mean something! They’re there to note which wines had won the honor of being the best varietal and even “best white” or “best red” at the event… and this is out of 300-ish wines.

I actually got to try the best in show for the white wines and it was fabulous, so later on in the day I just started pointing to the wines that had ribbons on them… you know, since by this time my palate and brain could realllly discern the difference.

But hey, you can also go the “I’m just here to get drunk” route. That works too. Charlie actually employed this technique at our recent attendance of the World Beer Festival.

Of course, being that we were at a wine festival, there were many kinds of cheeses too. But don’t count on those to keep you from getting too drunk. Though I do recommend keeping a spare piece of blue cheese on your plate at all times. 

3 – Try to balance your food plate, wine glass, and camera in your hands all at once. You don’t need those goofy wine plates.

Okay, this is a complete lie. You ABSOLUTELY need a plate that holds a wine glass, and even I know this. The festival volunteers will sell you one for $5 upon entry or you can pounce on them like a tiger whenever you see them at a yard sale like my mother does. In my family, we hoard them.

Amazon also sells these wine plates by the set. They can be as fancy or as simple as you like. They even make recycled, disposable wine glass-holder plates out of sugar cane, which we’ve used before at previous festivals.

These plates are indispensable. It is impossible to simultaneously hold a glass of wine and a plate of food and eat. You try it. And then if there’s some food that requires a fork too, don’t even think about it. I also had my camera with me, so thankfully I could take photos with one hand and hold my plate (with wine glass securely in tow) in the other.

Sushi made with cured beef, topped with a little goat cheese – SO good

 4 – Don’t drink any water, even though it’s free and it’s everywhere.

I did not drink any water, save the small amount I futilely tried to chug before I left home that morning. Dumb.

It would have been helpful to take an occasional sip of the conveniently provided bottled water which sat on tables all around the tents. Alas, I did not take advantage.

But I’m not the only one. By the end of the day, we were all running around pounding whatever wine we could get into our glasses as the clock ticked away the final minutes of the festival. My aunt struggled to articulate/gesticulate to Charlie what she was trying to retrieve, so Charlie supplied the possible words, “Oh, are you going to get water?”

“Pshhh! HA! … No,” was her response. She just meant wine… she was going to get more wine.

So yes, instead of any water at all, we filled ourselves up with a plethora of wines… not to mention a couple spirits. From the tequila station that was making fresh margaritas… and the sweet potato vodka folks serving a great twist on the mojito. [There are no pictures of water here. I realize that.]

And this stuff… this stuff was really good. Made in Durham and tasted like festive holidays.

5 – Stay in the big tent. It’s just so happenin’!

Nooo! I have made this mistake in the past. Don’t forget to venture out of the main gigantic tent over to the other tent where you’ll find lots of North Carolina products and see cooking demonstrations by North Carolina chefs on the stage. In the past, this hasn’t been such a big thing, but the offerings this year were intriguing… and of course, Charlie had to buy something.

We tried local goat cheese, honey, some spice mixes, and cakes. There were North Carolina cheese straws – allegedly raved about by Oprah, Paula Deen and Laura Bush, and even requested specially on board Air Force One. There was local wine and the aforementioned sweet potato vodka and tasty liqueur. We even tried some gluten-free (not that I care) shortbread and cheese straws from a bakery here in Raleigh who also offered it as a mix so you could make them (in much larger quantities) yourself… and that is what Charlie bought.

Oh Rachel, you can make those! We gotta get some of those! He’s such a buyer.

It was really cool to see local folks pushing their brands and hear about how they’re hoping to expand. I’m lookin’ at you, Cheese Louise.

6 – After the festivities are over, definitely don’t take a nap. Keep drinking and maybe even eat dinner with your grandmother.

Ummm yeah. Don’t do this. Even if she makes lasagna. Even if impossibly, SOMEHOW you are hungry.

You run of risk of saying the “f” word way too much in front of your poor grandmother and other sober folks.

Just go to bed. Really.

Once the night begins to fall, you should probably call it quits. Especially if you’ve continued your drinking long past the festival hours.

Caveat:  It’s actually one of my goals in life to attempt the Vin de Mer from 1:00 to 4:00 and then later head out to the Beer, Bubbles & BBQ event that happens at 7:30 that evening in the same tent. It would be the absolute marathon of eating and drinking events. And it would also probably require a mid-afternoon nap. If you are badass enough to try this, please, be my guest. And take pictures. I’d love to see it (because otherwise, I’m not going to believe you).

Speaking of pictures, if you like the photos you see here, I took them all (with no real prior experience or training) with my Nikon D3300 (affiliate link) which I’m really loving at the moment and highly recommend. And for this event, because of the need to hold my wine plate, eat and take pics all at the same time, my new camera strap (not an affiliate link, wanted you guys to see the exact one I use) was essential as well – it slings across the body like a rifle strap for easy maneuverability.

Tickets to all of the Beaufort Wine & Food Events can be purchased on their website. The Vin de Mer Epicurean Village event costs $65 per person and is totally worth it.