REVIEW: Adirondack Wine & Food Festival 2016 [PHOTOS]

To see a list of vendors CLICK HERE & for my review of last year’s festival CLICK HERE.

About a month ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Annual Adirondack Wine & Food Festival. For the second year in a row, I couldn’t wait to taste all the local wines and eat some of the delicious food with the backdrop of the beautiful Lake George. The event lasts two days, Saturday-Sunday and last year I attended on the Saturday so I figured this year I’d see how Sunday went. Being only the second year, the ADK Wine & Food Festival broke records by selling 5200 tickets beating last year’s numbers and causing them to implement a no tickets at the door policy to regulate crowds.

Ticket prices were the same and I still feel that they’re incredibly reasonable for the great day-long event you’re experiencing. Last year I had some concerns since the lines seemed rather long and it didn’t seem as if the vendors expected how many people were coming. This year it seemed like the recognized that and handled it much better. We had the chance to go to multiple vendors and try whatever we wanted without having to wait in the large lines. I was even able to stop and talk to local businesses without worrying about a lie gathering behind me. According to their press release, the 2016 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival included 21 wineries, 4 breweries, 4 distilleries, 2 cideries, 19 artisan food vendors, 6 food / beverage trucks, 1 local restaurant.

Some quick notes on some of my favorites: I, of course, always enjoy the wine from Adirondack Winery, if you’ve never had mead, look up Helderberg Meadworks who are opening a tasting room soon, it was great to have other options like whiskey from Yankee Distillers & cider from Nine Pin Cider. I loved seeing Bald Mountain Garlic Farm and ended up buying a delicious marinade that I’m currently obsessed with, Palatine Cheese is not only the perfect pairing with wine but delicious in its own right & same goes for Worldlings Pleasure. There were more food options with various food trucks. In the small space, they do tend to take longer to cook food but Empanada Sonata did get their delicious mac & cheese empanada out in great time and it was delicious!

Everyone did a great job this year! It was fluid, it was well-done, I wasn’t overwhelmed with people and as always, watching a cooking demonstration from SUNY ADK where I got to try some delicious goat cheese was a great couple of minutes out of the sun. I love this festival and can’t wait for it again next year! I’m happy to see they made improvements from year one to year two and can only imagine that, like wine, it will only get better with age!