{"id":163735,"date":"2026-02-21T12:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163735\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T12:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:19:06","slug":"best-of-the-best-at-south-beach-wine-food-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163735\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of the Best at South Beach Wine & Food Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n

adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

There are more than 100 events at the 2026 South Beach Wine & Food Festival. But there is only one Best of the Best.<\/p>\n

One of the most popular events, Best of the Best brings together more than 60 well-known chefs and more than 65 wineries at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for an evening of tastings amid the glamour of a historic hotel.<\/p>\n

On Friday, guests donned their glam best (or, if they were smart, their most comfortable shoes because this was a walk-around event with no seating.) They sampled everything from Belle Glos pinot noir to cabernet sauvignon from Caymus Vineyards to a splash of rose from Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019Esclans (whose owner Sacha Lichine, creator of the Whispering Angel brand, will be celebrated at the festival\u2019s tribute dinner, along with Miami chef Michelle Bernstein<\/a> of Sra. Martinez).<\/p>\n

Popular Miami chefs were there to show off their best bites as well. Eileen Andrade of Amelia\u2019s 1931. Timon Balloo of The Katherine. Alejandra Espinosa of Cotoa. Erhan Kostepen of Doya. Pedro Mederos of Kojin. Patrick Ochs of Amal. Tam Pham of Tam Tam. Raheem Sealey of Shiso.<\/p>\n

Nobody left hungry.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the photos from Al Diaz from the event:<\/p>\n

\"Guests Guests select from a sampling of desserts as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Elaine Elaine Walker, at center, selects from a sampling of desserts offered as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Maple Maple & Ash Saus Chef Chadd Hood serves up Wagyu Beef Carpaccio to Michael Dugas and Kathleen Ditton as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Jackson Jackson Family Wines Executive Chef Tracey Shepos Cenami serves Lump Crab Roll to Dara Spragg as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Jackson Jackson Family Wines Executive Chef Tracey Shepos Cenami serves Lump Crab Roll to guests as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Diana Diana Fernandez takes group photographs with a guests cell phone as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Singer Singer Daniel Marzoa performs on stage while the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Aman Aman Sarkaria takes a selfie with Craig Richey as singer Daniel Marzoa performs while the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Cindy Cindy Zieba and John Rossi select a taste of Casa Zeru\u2019s Truffle Tuna Tartare and Smoked Cream Cheese served up over a bed of dry ice as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Casa Casa Zeru\u2019s Chef Christian Medelllin serves up Truffle Tuna Tartare and Smoked Cream Cheese over a bed of dry ice as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"La La C\u00f4te Mediterranean Restaurant serves up Sultan\u2019s Delight to guests Santiago Nieto, Andreina Chacin and Christine Stech, left to right, as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Kerry Kerry Lando\u00f1o and Emily Dwane have a taste of wine as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Prime Prime 54 Chef Michael Paley serves Pepper-Crusted Waryu Striploin as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Bourbon Bourbon Steak\u2019s Assistant General Manager Christian Rodriguez serves caviar on the back of attendees hands as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Bourbon Bourbon Steak\u2019s Assistant General Manager Christian Rodriguez serves caviar on the back of attendees hands as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Feullah Feullah Anar watches Bourbon Steak\u2019s Assistant General Manager Christian Rodriguez serve caviar on the back of Secil Russell\u2019s hand as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com \"Guests Guests line up for wine being served as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best with 60 of the nation\u2019s most acclaimed chefs and more than 65 of the world\u2019s premier wineries at the resort hotel on Friday, February 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Amy Reyes edits the education team plus arts, entertainment, food and race & culture.\n <\/p>\n

Connie Ogle loves wine, books and the Miami Heat. Please don\u2019t make her eat a mango.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com There are more than 100 events at the 2026 South Beach Wine &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[78253,78254,123,78255,125,124,77946,53134],"class_list":["post-163735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-best-of-the-best","tag-fontainebleau-miami-beach","tag-miami","tag-miami-beach-food-festival","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-south-beach-wine-food-festival","tag-wine-tastings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}