Forks and Corks 2026 - Another One for the Record Books!

I look forward to a lot of events in Sarasota that occur throughout the year, but my favorite by far is the annual Forks & Corks Food and Wine Festival that takes place on the last full weekend in January every year! It’s like the planners sat down in a room and said, “What event can we plan that spans an entire weekend, and that Mark Geis would love the most?” I’m pretty sure that’s not how this event came to be, but they nailed it nonetheless! Here’s my report on the 2026 Forks & Corks Festival!

I start getting excited about the annual Sarasota-Manatee Forks & Corks Food and Wine Festival in late October, when I receive my first e-mail announcing the date that VIP tickets for the Grand Tasting go on sale. I put the date and time on my calendar (9:00 am sharp!) and make sure I’m sitting at my computer to snatch up the tickets as early as possible. That’s because the VIP tickets (which include early entry to the venue, valet parking, and a $150 wine purchase voucher) sell out within a couple of hours. The rest of the tickets for the Grand Tasting (early access and what I call the “coach class” general admission tickets) also sell out quickly, usually within 24 hours of going on sale.

Then comes the e-mail that provides a link to all of the events for the weekend – winemaker dinners at some of the best restaurants in Sarasota, Master University wine tasting classes held at Michael’s on East’s ballroom, “lots” of wines that will go on sale once the wine auction (all proceeds go to charity) opens, and a listing of all the wineries and restaurants that will be pouring wine and offering food at the Grand Tasting. After that, I spend the next two months eagerly awaiting the big weekend!!

This year’s festivities for Laurie and I started with a wine tasting dinner at Sage Restaurant in downtown Sarasota, featuring RIISE wines paired with each course. RIISE is a small production winery in Paso Robles, CA that specializes in red blends using primarily Rhone varietals. They make three different wines – one a Tempranillo based blend, one a Grenache based blend, and one a Syrah based blend. They are all stunningly delicious, albeit a bit pricey! The dinner was fantastic as usual – Executive Chef Christopher Covelli knocked it out of the park with four delicious courses: Pan-seared crab cake with truffle aioli, apple-jicama slaw, and shiso; Braised oxtail with salsify Swiss chard au gratin; Oven-roasted short rib with goat cheese truffle pomme puree, and Peking style banana fritters for desert – YUM!

 Sage dining room, Chef Covelli, RIISE wines, crab cake, braised oxtail, and short rib

Next up were University Master Class Wine Tastings on Saturday. Four were offered and I attended two while Laurie went kayaking instead! I chose the Trailblazers & Innovators tasting, as well as the Global Terroir & Cool Climate Expressions. Both were wonderful – all the winemakers or winery owners were there to talk about each of the wines. It was both educational and a blast. And best of all, each class included at least 12 wines to taste along with small bites to enjoy along the way, and also the opportunity to buy any of the wines included in the tasting!

My wine purchases from the University Master Classes, along with my table setting from the Trailblazers & Innovators class

The on-line wine auction started on Wednesday and ran through Sunday afternoon. The lots you could bid on included single bottles of wine, collections of wine, wine tastings, and wine tasting dinners. As was the case in previous years, the initial bids spanned the range from affordable ($50) to largely unaffordable ($3,000). I ended up bidding on four lots – three of them were collections of three paired bottles of small production wines (nothing I could get at Total Wine!), and the other was a magnum of a RIISE wine I had tasted and loved at the wine dinner earlier in the week. I expected to get in a bidding war for all of them, with the plan to win one or two lots. In the end, I won the three lots of paired bottles of small production wines to my great surprise – more wine than I was planning to buy but not a problem!

My wine auction wins - 9 beautiful bottles of wine!

The grand finale was the Grand Tasting held on Sunday. The weather was beautiful, although a bit warm with highs in the low 80’s (but thankfully no humidity!). As usual, I mapped out our plan for which wine booths we were going to visit – with 100 different wineries to choose from (along with 470 different wines being poured!), we had to pace ourselves! Laurie and I ended up visiting almost 20 different winery booths over 3 ½ hours, along with 20 different food booths! There was also a VIP tent with cooking demos, along with pop-up cocktail bars. Once we had reached our limit of both food and wine, we left to sleep it off at home!

Our favorite wines from the Grand Tasting (we only bought 9 of them – talk about self-control!!), and the Grand Tasting in the courtyard of the Ringling Museum

For those of you who have never attended Forks & Corks, I strongly encourage you to do so next year! The planners really put on a great show, and all the food and wine served is top notch and high quality. Plus, it’s a blast!!  So, to our friends and neighbors down here, come join us in 2027. And to our friends and family up north, plan a trip down here for Forks & Corks weekend and we can experience it together!!