Michele StuevenAfter a three-year hiatus, the fourth annual Valle Food & Wine Festival returns to Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe on Saturday, Oct. 22 and Sunday, Oct. 23. The weekend event includes an all-star lineup of chefs like Nancy Silverton, Rick Bayless, Aarón Sánchez, Bavel’s Ori Menashe, Neal Fraser of Red Bird, Burt Bakman from Slab BBQ, Frank Ostini from the Hitching Post 2 in Buellton, California, and Daniel Horn of Cuyama Buckhorn.
Each day will feature 25 chefs and 20 winemakers from the United States, Tijuana, Ensenada, Valle de Guadalupe and Tecate. In addition to the food, there will be a variety of craft brews, artisan cocktails and live music. Tickets for each day are sold separately, and the lineups of chefs, winemakers and music are exclusive to each day.
Chefs will prepare dishes using local ingredients from nearby Ensenada, known for some of the best seafood in Mexico, inspired by regional or Mexican dishes, like ceviche, and the area’s most famous export, fish tacos.
Each day will feature 25 chefs and 20 winemakers (Chema Gonzales)
Foods are cooked under the sun and stars of Baja’s storied wine region over open fires, in barrel smokers and in Caja Chinas, unique to the rustic style of contemporary and traditional cooking of the region. The day-into-evening Saturday event, and the daytime Sunday event both feature live music and dancing, artisan vendors, culinary talks and live painting.
Ticket levels start at general admission, $255 per day; early admission, $355 per day; VIP $495 per day or VIP Saturday/Sunday Weekend $925; and the three-day All-In VIP Weekend, $1,300 (includes a ticket to Friday’s exclusive welcome dinner, and Saturday and Sunday VIP Tickets).
The ultimate “Travel with the Chefs Weekend Experience” ($5,550) offers to spend the weekend with the visiting celebrity chefs, hopping on a luxury sprinter van on Friday afternoon in San Diego to join them for a Street Food Crawl from Tijuana to Ensenada. That experience includes All-In VIP tickets plus exclusive access to the talent lounge in the festival (tickets are not sold for this), and for every two tickets purchased, lodging where the chefs are staying.
Chef Rick Bayless joins the all-star lineup (Chema Gonzales)
Add-ons include the exclusive welcome dinner in Valle de Guadalupe on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 ($325), and the Portée Petanca + Restaurante five-course farm-to-table dinner collaboration by chefs Horn, Elmo Ruffo, and Kael Mendoza ($225) on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022.
Transportation from the United States or within the region also is available through the Travel & Transportation page of the website.
Valle Food & Wine Festival (Chema Gonzales)
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