The South Beach Wine and Food festival in Miami gets bigger and better every year and this year marks the 10th anniversary of this great event that celebrates everything food, wine and spirits. Each year the festival introduces new theme parties, and to celebrate this special milestone they put on “Let Them Eat Cake”, which featured desserts by some of America’s best pastry chefs. This jam-packed party was held at one of South Beach’s architectural gems-1111 Lincoln Rd. This Herzog & de Meuron-designed concrete parking garage, perhaps the most famous and beautiful parking garage in the world, was filled with all the ingredients of a really great party – its share of celebrities and some decadent cakes and desserts. The party was hosted by Chef Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart who thanked everyone for coming and also thanked event organiser Lee Schrager with a short video tribute.

Champagne on Ice

High-flying aerial bartenders poured Moët & Chandon’s newest venture called the Moët Ice Imperial. This champagne is especially formulated to be exclusively served over ice — a non-traditional way to enjoy sparkling wine. This new Champagne range comes in a three-dimensional white and gold bottle and is a blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay with notes of tropical fruits such as mango and guava, sweet spices like licorice, red fruits and peppermint. If Champagne on ice was not your thing, there were lots of other bars making a wide range of cocktails from 10 Cane Rum, Hennessy, Belvedere, and Grand Marnier.

Participating Chefs.

You had to really pace yourself as some of the best pastry chefs in America created some of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen. Chefs included were Colette Peters (Colette’s Cakes, New York, NY); Duff Goldman (Charm City Cakes, Baltimore, MD); Edda Martinez (Edda’s Cake Designs, Miami, FL); Elena Warrens (A Piece of Cake, Miami, FL); Epicure Gourmet Market & Café (Miami Beach, FL); Jacques Torres (Jacques Torres Chocolate, New York, NY); Lori Karmel (We Take the Cake, Miami, FL); Margaret Braun; Patti Schmidt (The Dessert Lady, Orlando, FL); Ron Ben-Israel (Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, New York, NY); Sophie Montagne & Katherine Kallinis (Georgetown Cupcake, Washington, DC); Sweet Street Desserts; David Funaro (Godiva Chocolatier).

If you really enjoy great food and culinary adventures, then journeying to one of these festivals in South Florida should be on the agenda, budget permitting.

Chris Reckord is an entrepreneur & wine enthusiast. He and his wife Kerri-Anne are part-owners of Jamaica’s only Wine Bar – Bin26 Wine Bar in Devon House, Kingston. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter.com/DeVineWines.