The Woodlands’ Wine & Food Week Returns For Its 20th Year With New Events, a Food Power Couple and Old Favorites

Celebrating 20 years as one of the region’s top culinary and wine events, Wine & Food Week in The Woodlands is set to return this June 3 through June 9 for what’s been touted as  “A Gem of a Celebration.” With hundreds of wines, 20 special guests, a roster of fresh food stars and new event experiences, this is a week not be be missed.

“We created this event to be big,” Wine & Food Week founder Constance McDerby tells PaperCity The Woodlands. “It wasn’t one of those kind of situations where you start small and you grow into it. We knew that we wanted it to be a large platform and we still have a ways to go.

“In the early years, we did 24 events over five days and sold out 22 out of the 24. At the time our office was myself and my husband and the occasional worker. But it operated like 22 hours a day.”

One year, the week long vino bonanza had more than 40 different wine events.

“What we realized is that we were cannibalizing and forcing people to choose because they couldn’t go to all of them,” McDerby says. “And so less was more. We became hyper focused on a more elaborate quality experience. And then COVID told us that it was much more pleasant to have the Wine Walk in October when it’s not 100 degrees.”

In the past few years, the number of events during Wine & Food Week have been pared down.

“We’re really focusing on the ones that really make sense and then if there’s a special experience that we want to put into overlay, then we’ve got the added opportunity to do those on Mondays and Tuesdays, or a seminar on Saturday before the Grand Tasting or those types of things,” McDerby notes.

A New Yoga Wine Event

One of those things that’s new this year is a yoga event dubbed Stretch, Sip and Savor. One of the new event’s partners is Aruba. As in the island.

“They’re bringing the island’s premier yoga instructor,” McDerby says. “That $35 gets you a yoga mat that you get to keep. They’re really nice. You’ll have the class from (yoga star) Shanti and, after the class, chef Urvin Croes doing the island-style breakfast. And, of course, we’ll have bubbles.”

Croes is the chef at the well regarded Infini restaurant on Aruba.

Throughout the 20-year history of Wine & Food Week, the mission has been to celebrate and recognize talented industry individuals shaping the food scene. Keeping that going, Wine & Food Week will induct Houston power food couple Chris Shepherd and Lindsey Brown into its Hall of Fame. Their induction is only the seventh in the two decade history of Wine & Food Week in The Woodlands.

The couple is being recognized for their decades of culinary achievements, including the formation of the nonprofit Southern Smoke Foundation. Southern Smoke has distributed more than $11.3 million directly to workers in the food and beverage industry in need via its emergency relief fund.

What to Look Forward to at Wine & Food Week

In addition to the yoga event, this year’s lineup includes Wine Around the World Wednesday; Get Frosted at Rose’ Way at The Peach Orchard Venue; the Ladies of the Vine Tasting, Luncheon, & Panel Discussion at The Club at Carlton Woods; and Sips, Suds & Savor.  The week culminates with the grand dame — the elaborate Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott hotel ballroom where acclaimed chefs compete for the coveted Chef of Chefs Award and a $5,000 cash prize from Goya Foods.

Looking for that extra touch of VIP fun? The Bayway Cadillac VIP Luxury Lounge beckons with ultra premium wines, but limited space.

Wine & Food Week is truly something of a foodie heaven, one that supports charitable organizations such as Southern Smoke Foundation, The Woodlands Arts Council,  New Danville and the Montgomery County Food Bank. Wine & Food Week has donated more than $2 million to local charities and deserving nonprofits since its inception in 2004.

For more information and tickets, go here.