Food + Wine Festival Celebrates Denver's Culinary Scene

The Denver Food + Wine Festival is a 4-day celebration of the city's fantastic food scene, with different culinary experiences each day.

"It's really a celebration of the entire industry, especially as we come out of a really difficult time for this industry. It's a time to, sort of, cast off the past and celebrate," said Laura Shunk, President of the Colorado Restaurant Foundation.

The Colorado Restaurant Association hosts the festival as a fundraiser for the foundation. All the proceeds go back to restaurant industry workers.

"The Colorado Restaurant Foundation is about helping restaurant employees advance and thrive. We run workforce development and training programs for restaurant industry employees, and we also do health and wellness initiatives," Shunk explained.

Festival events include:

• Tuesday, September 6             Yamazaki Rare Whisky + Sushi Tasting
• Wednesday, September 7         Dinner Under the Stars
• Thursday, September 8             Riedel Wine Glass Seminar
•                                                   Shake + Brake Showdown
• Saturday, September 10           Grand Tasting

The Shake + Brake Showdown on Thursday is a friendly competition, in which food truck operators face off against each other and bartenders also face off against each other.

"This is meant to be a celebration of the breadth of Denver's food scene, and food trucks are absolutely a part of that.

The two signature events for the festival are Dinner Under the Stars and the Grand Tasting. Dinner Under the Stars is a five-course meal from some of the City's best chefs paired with wines picked by Southern Glazer's sommelier. The guest speaker at that event is Sean Razee, Director of Sales and Wine Education at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits of Colorado.

"All proceeds from that event go to mental health care for restaurant industry employees," Shunk told CBS News Colorado.

The Grand Tasting showcases more than 700 wine and spirit options and bites from some 50 Denver metro area restaurants. It all happens from noon to 4 p.m. at the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus.

"This is kind of the pinnacle of the entire festival," Shunk said.

LINK: For Tickets & Information about the Denver Food + Wine Festival