Natchez Food & Wine Festival

One of the most highly-anticipated culinary events in Mississippi, the Natchez Food & Wine Festival attracts top chefs and restaurateurs from across the Gulf South. Each summer, they come to the city on the Natchez bluffs to stage multiple-course dinners in historic mansions, progressive dining events, gourmet tastings, and casual social occasions that make the most of the city's spectacular riverside setting. 

Things begin on Friday night with the traditional (and huge) "Visit Mississippi Tastings Along the River" taster's fair, which brings scores of regional chefs, restaurants, and wine and beer purveyors to the Natchez Convention Center (it always sells out). The feast continues through Saturday evening, when the Invitation to the Natchez Table dinners bring top regional chefs to stage elaborate feasts in grand Natchez mansions. Other events on the agenda this year include:

• Mixology classes at Smoot's Grocery (11 am & 1 pm Saturday).
• A Wine & Cheese Tasting at The Castle Restaurant on the grounds of Dunleith Historic Inn (1:30 pm Saturday).
• Boots, Booze and Beer at Church Hill Variety (6 pm).
• The traditional Brats, Beer and Bocce event at Natchez Brewing Co (5 pm–7 pm Saturday).
• This year the festival's signature Invitation to the Natchez Table Wine Dinners bring multi-course menus by visiting chefs and winemakers to Dunleith Historic Inn (7 pm Saturday).
• 'Garden of Earthly Delights' Dinner at Conde Contemporary Art Gallery ( 7 pm Saturday).

It's a weekend-long chance to enjoy fine food, wine, and craft brews in Natchez—the oldest permanent settlement along the Mississippi River and home to more than five hundred antebellum structures. Details for individual events and tickets at natchezfoodandwine.com and bontempstix.com.