Wine and Dine Wisconsin

Great opportunity to try high quality food and drink from many local restaurants, breweries, wineries and more. Had some old favorites and found some new places to go for our nights out.
The Critic’s Choice event had virtually all of the top Milwaukee area restaurants and the food samples were fantastic. The chance to chat with the chefs was an unexpected bonus. Great event!

Solid food/​bev-​focused event with a real «trade show» feel. Lots of awesome here, but tons of potential, too.
Full disclosure: I spoke on a media panel Saturday morning and got free tix to the event as a result. Of course I’ll hang w/​some of my Unilocal crew that also got free tickets!
(Rec: Media panel was awesome and should be replicated next year, opened up to more attendees, and have fewer panelists. Boom.)
I wandered my butt all over the place eating, drinking, and saying hi to both old faces and folks new to me alike.
DIG:
–the «General» area: lots of interesting booths and offerings from varied local, regional, and national brands. Informal in nature with a fun/​laid-​back vibe. Demos + chili cookoff, tastings, rounded out this area.
–venue: it’s right for the size (but is the capacity of this event sustainable moving forward given market considerations? Smaller restaurants probably can’t afford to do both days and that kind of volume, and with increased competition with events in MKE going for the same market share… ???)
Carol Deptolla’s Choice area:
It’s my personal thought that while this area boasts awesome restaurants and offerings, it also needs some work. Some really heavy hitters and incredible dishes in here food-​wise — bev-​wise they brought heat here too, but that was obviously secondary to the food — but the ambiance left quite a bit to be desired in multiple ways. Smooth jazz meets 70s porn music on a keyboard and guitar, swirly carpet, hushed tones, general demographic = 50+ and stuffy… it just wasn’t my scene, if I’m being honest.
Plus, it’s way more expensive! I guess this area just felt somewhat forced to me. [The people at the entrance made very sure I knew three times that if I left, I couldn’t get back in.]
For the price of a W&D ticket including critic’s choice access I could go have an amazing dinner at any of the great restaurants featured, and I’d rather do that. I dig almost all of the restaurants featured in there, but I wouldn’t shell out of my own accord for this event and area; I’d rather just take my time and enjoy a full meal at one of these spots. (I’m wondering who their target demo at this price point and time frame is… as the event needn’t be two days, one’s definitely enough.)
I know this critique may have come off as more negative than positive, but I certainly don’t mean it to… I like W&D! This event has a lot great things going for it already, but it also has a lot of potential to become more relevant with the up and coming food/​beverage enthusiasts of MKE.

I attended this event for the first time this year as a result of a Unilocal giveaway (thanks!).
Favorite parts:
–Chili Cook-​off — the different teams were fun and enthusiastic — and their chilis were delicious!
–Lots of beverage options — breweries ranging from the big guys (e.g. MillerCoors) to the local guys (e.g. MKE Brewing), distilleries with tasty craft cocktails (Central Standard, you’re seriously pretty great), and wineries as well.
–In addition to the adult beverages, I LOVED the coffee representation there. While I tend to be a Colectivo gal, it was great to sample some Valentine Coffee again — I don’t live near Valentine, so events like this always remind me to get out to Washington Heights.
–Good food. Really good food. Especially in the Critics Choice section, but also upstairs in the main area. Lots of savory goods, but also a nice selection of desserts. Nice to see both restaurants and retail alike represented.
–Easy to navigate the event — the convention center is so big that you can have lots of people but not always feel like it’s lots of people.
Areas to improve:
–I attended one of the panel discussions before the event. The breakfast served was amazing, and it was nice to chat with other attendees. However, the panel itself just had too many people for the amount of time allotted to the discussion. Once introductions were over, the time was already halfway up. Super great and cool to hear from so many media and restaurant folks involved in MKE, but either having more time or fewer panelists would allow for more questions.
–Aside from the Critics Choice section, this even was super Wisconsin — as in, LOTS of cheese, beer, and sausage. Which is great, I promise — I love this part of Wisconsin — but it’d be nice to see a *little* more variety, mostly because I could feel my pulse slowing throughout the day. :)
–I’m not sure what the volunteer training is like, but there were some people wearing volunteer badges pouring beer at the back of the main room — and at least two seemed to know nothing about what they were pouring. I don’t expect volunteers to be experts, but it’d be cool to even have just some product info posted for people looking to learn more.
General thoughts:
–Great event for using public transportation, both because of the amount of alcohol available and because of limited parking (okay, so cheap limited parking is more accurate). The convention center is right downtown, so it’s easy to grab a bus or cab. Kudos to Über for promoting safe rides.
–Overall, well done in terms of layout, number of vendors, samples, etc. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’d pay $ 65 for the general admission ticket and definitely not $ 95 for the ticket + Critics Choice. Loved it all, but that’s just not in my budget to splurge so much on a day of samples. Maybe another location or changing vendor selection would allow for lower prices? I guess it depends on the audience you’re looking to attract. I’d even be interested in a lower ticket fee with a limited number of samples, but that’d also change the event. Hmm. No perfect solution.
–All in all, a great time was had here. I’m happy to recommend this event to food and drink lovers and think there’s great promise for keeping this event going in the future!

I attended Wine & Dine on Sunday &, as a returning fan for year 4, was eagerly looking forward to the event. MATC was the shining star as were the chefs we were lucky to see. Sadly, this year the organizers seemed to think it was ok to make the Critic’s Choice sampling an exclusive event (Apparently paying only the $ 45-​$ 65 admission fee was deemed unworthy to partake samples from the 4 star restaurants). That meant fewer vendors than ever for the general admission group in terms of restaurants, wineries/​distributors, & breweries. The upstairs did have a lot of empty spaces filled with couches„ lots of cheese samples, & a poor food truck operator trying to sell his food. People began leaving within a couple of hours, &, by the time we left at 3:00, even the vendors were starting to pack up. What a shame.

If you’re one to get in ahead of the crowd and do a whirl wind tour before the mega rush then this may be your event. Personally crowds don’t bother me and I like taking my time to ask questions.
Here are some bullet points from my first time experience:
–Throw down for cash for the Critics Corner it was well worth it. Better knowledge, better food.
–Absolutely appalling to see that the Miller Coors reps didn’t know a single thing about the product sitting in front of them.
–Some people are there just to get wasted, while others are genuinely interested in the vendors.
–Parking isn’t great. Use public transportation or cab it there.
–Chili competition had some strong contenders. Recommended.
–Some people are there just to pick up a free things.
–Tons of craft brews + reps wanting to tell you more about their product. Great people.
–Wear comfortable shoes you’ll be on your feet all day!
–The demonstrations are cool but can be long and tiresome.
–Overall pace yourself, there is soooo much and not enough room in the stomach.
Overall it was a good event. Will I go again? Perhaps leaning to a yes, because it seems like a MKE staple event to go to and is also great with a group of friends.

I would like to add my review of the «Taste of Eats» Discussion Panel. When I heard about this discussion, I was very excited to hear the thoughts and opinions of the local restaurants and others who also enjoy the love of food. Overall, I really liked the discussion panel. However, there were a few things that I could see definitely improving to make it an even better experience.
The types of questions asked for the panel could have been a bit a more diverse. I thought that the questions tailored to only restaurants whereas there were representatives present who weren’t from a restaurant. The amount of time for the Discussion Panel was a little too short. Right when the anticipation was building, the time ran out. So maybe the time could start just a little bit earlier to have time for breakfast, meet and greet, and the discussion panel. By the way, breakfast was delicious and the presentation of the food was OUTSTANDING! It far exceeded my expectatiions! I am anxiously looking forward to next year!
I rated it a 4 because the description for the 3 star was definitely not what I was thinking, but was still awesome!

Thanks to Unilocal and my friends of Unilocal (Rick R, Beth P, Brad K) for sharing in the wealth :) Love you guys! for enabling me to check this out this year.
I must say aside from a Packer-​win Sunday, it was a one of my most favorite Sundays!
The critics choice was most of the time was spent. Eating ALL of the things.
This area is where the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel food critic Carol Deptolla chooses her top 30 restaurants. Most of them there I can totally agree they belong but I think a few smaller ones were missing and it got a little Bartolotta-​Heavy.
My personal favorite was Circa 1880’s squash soup with toasted hazelnuts and few other ingredients that sit in the bowl initially, waiting for chef to release the bath of piping hot soup. It was SO SO good.
I also enjoyed the sweet potato and pulled pork from Meritage. It was so much like Thanksgiving, I forgot it was actually pork meat. Very comforting.
Not being much of a dessert person, I really have to give great props to the pastry chef at Bacchus. Her dessert was almost like a tiramisu level of sugar. Very light and not excessive or gritty and delicious. She explained her dish well and handed out her cards and energetic to get people into Bacchus even if just for happy hour or snacks and desserts at the bar. I’d say the name of the dessert — but it’s escaping me! She also mentioned doing a lot of deconstruction and other fun things at the restaurant. If you’re a big dessert person, I’d say check them out after a meal from someplace else!
There was a delicious wine blend called Millenium being poured amongst others, but that was the real winner. Also, several beers were available for trying and one so chocolatey it was like liquid alcoholic dessert.
After tasting just about everything, we went upstairs. Now, I’m wishing that I would have arrived a bit earlier because there was so much more. But, I hit up as much as I could and they practically had to kick us outta there. The sweet potato cheesecake (made with greek yogurt and ricotta cheese) from Tall Guy and a Grill catering was SO fantastic that I actually placed an order to share with the fam next week for Thanksgiving.
Some serious time and money was spent at «Our Daily Salt» a place that makes beautiful, gorgeous hand crafted wood products. I just loved it and made a few purchases for myself and as gifts.
Also interesting — did you know that there are crackers made out of nothing but cheese??? And lots of booze was upstairs, as well. Yay!
Since I was lucky enough to get complimentary tickets, I must admit finding out about the $ 95 cost I feel is a bit steep. I’d price this more around $ 50-​ish for both. Maybe there is a reason for wanting to limit the attendance by increasing the price, however. There was no congestion, at least on Sunday when I went. Everything was easy to access and there was time to get a little chatty with the chefs and vendors which I really enjoyed being able to do.
It definitely was a really great time and highlight of my weekend! I’ll certainly be considering it again in the future.

I attended this event Saturday after receiving a complimentary pass for attending the Inside Eats panel discussion earlier that day. I learned that Wine & Dine Wisconsin was in it’s 5^th year, but I could swear that I attended more than 5 years ago, maybe it was a similar event with a similar name at the same venue, or it was reinvented, or maybe I was there 5 years ago (likely).
I can tell you that I never went back because the event had more wine than food and I wasn’t wowed by any of it. Plus the layout of the event seemed to encourage bottle necks. What is it about a row of tables that makes a large crowd feel obligated to start at the first table and form a line moving table to table? So instead of multiple lines perpendicular to each table, allowing a person to choose which lines he/​she wants to stand in, there is just one LONG, agonizingly slow moving line because the people who never get out have to stop and make friends with the people working the table and talk about how the item reminds them of their daughter’s wedding or a vacation they went on. Nobody cares! Just keep moving. I spent most of my time in line and did not get my money’s worth, which was $ 45 or $ 50 at the time, if I remember right. That was the event that I remember.
This event was NOT that, at all.
The floor plan for this event was brilliant, IMHO. There wasn’t even a pattern for me to travel up and down aisles or starting at an outer perimeter and moving toward the center. It seemed random, which I loved! There were no more than two tables side by side at any point on the floor. Traffic flow moved well, except for two areas.
The cheese islands had the continuous line of people moving station to station, but there were several cheese islands so that helped. I didn’t go to any of them because of the aforementioned line of slow moving herds.
The other area where traffic did not move well was the chili cook-​off area. There were six participants and of course everyone started at the first table and the line formed behind them and got really long and hopeless. So I skipped to table 4, where there was NO LINE because the people at tables 1 – 3 were chit-​chatting. I hit tables 4 – 6 with no wait, then went back and found a gap at table 2 between chatty chili eaters, then grabbed a sample from Table 3 and called it a day. Sorry Table 1, I couldn’t get to you and I was not willing to wait for 30 – 35 people to pass through before I could. I voted for the chili from Table 6.
Rant completed. I feel better now.
So, there was beer, wine, spirits, and food. If that’s not a party, than I don’t know what is. I only visited a small number of beer, wine, and spirit vendors because I still had my nephew’s 21^st birthday party that night, and I’m a responsible adult (mostly).
I specifically looked for beers I’ve never tried before, and was able to find a handful. There was a large section called «The Best of Belgium» or something to that effect. I got excited! I love Belgian beers. Then I noticed the Stella Artois signs everywhere and realized that was probably all they were serving. Stella Artois has a brilliant marketing department. I don’t think that beer even slightly embodies a Belgian beer, but the light beer drinkers love it, so more power to them. I want nothing to do with it.
Central Standard Distillery was serving samples of three of their craft cocktails. LOVE that idea. Getting away from sampling straight alcohol and instead offering up craft cocktail (the latest hot trend in the industry) samples is a nice change of pace. Great Lakes Distillery may have been doing the same, but I’m already familair with their products, so I skipped that booth.
There were three stages with chef demos, drink demos, and other cooking related presentations.
I stopped at the Chef’s Stage to watch Chef Michael Feker. He’s very passionate about what he does and has a fun personality, so he puts on a great show! This was no exception. He made a squash soup and we each received a delicious sample.
My favorite part of the day was visiting the Critics Choice area. This area featured food samples from Carol Deptolla’s Top 30 restaurants. Most were there, but not all. The food samples were great for the most part, and the area also offered beer and wine samples. Guests attending the main event needed to purchase a separate $ 30 ticket to this area. To be honest, I probably would have just paid the $ 30 to attend this area and called it a day.
$ 65 for the main event and $ 30 for Critics Choice brings you up to $ 95!
Was it worth it? The Critics Choice area for $ 30, I say yes. The main event for $ 65? I say probably, especially if you go there to try EVERYTHING. I wasn’t there to try everything, nor did I want to attend every presentation. I can see that valuation, but it’s hard to drop $ 95 on any event.
Based on my experience this year, I will at least CONSIDER going & buying tickets next year. So mission accomplished, W&D WI!

I scored free tickets *Thanks Carrie G!* for this last minute, and I was stoked as I wanted to go, but the hefty $ 65 price (plus an additional $ 30 for Critic’s Choice access) deterred me. I was super excited and got there around 12:15.
It’s set up with a very open concept — each vendor has their own booth and lines form accordingly. I thought the addition of siding contractors and roofing experts was a strange choice to fill space.
There were ‘cheese islands’, I think three-​four of them. The lines were the longest for these, but the presentation and descriptions provided by the makers were cool and informative. Otherwise food ‘tastes’ were offered at the representative’s booths. They usually came in a small plastic ramekin with plastic cutlery. I think I had one soup, four beef tip /​pot roasts, and a few creative ones.
This event was VERY liquor forward. There were several booths for cider, a few for wine, some liquor and some beer. Some vendors really represented their products well by making smart cocktails and showing how to work their liquors into everyday drink and food recipes, but some were just offering sips of the booze (Dill Aquevit in a shot? No thanks…) It was neat to be able to speak with a lot of the breweries present and hear the differences between the brews.
The hours were from 12:00 — 5:00, and by 3:00pm most of the booths had run out of food. For example the Milwaukee Chophouse had set out brochures and business cards instead of food… um if I had paid the hefty price tag and didn’t get to try half the stuff TWO HOURS before they closed, I would NOT have been pleased. Also I thought it was very chinsy that they didn’t provide plates — you had to purchase it for $ 3 on TOP of the $ 65 price tag. A lot of the vendors were only available on the «Critic’s Choice» floor for an additional thirty bucks — so it left a lot to be desired in general admission.
Overall it was a lot of fun to go for free, right at noon, but I am not sure that I’d be willing to shell out that many doll hairs for the experience.

This was my first time at the Wine and Dine Wisconsin. We got to go through Unilocal!and got media all access passes. We started out with a gourmet breakfast with made to order omelets, mimosas, pastries, eggs Benedict, and a lot of other food. Delicious! And if that wasn’t enough, we had a whole day of eating ahead. We got to go on the floor and try out the vendors first. Some familiar places were there like Meritage, and all of the Bartolatta’s restaurants. There was just so much to see and do. I did sign up for a cooking class at Superior and was excited to see Chef Feker. Nice to see Wisconsin represented so well. My favorites in the Critic’s choice area were Harbor house with a shrimp bisque and I think it was shrimp and grits and Bacchus with a BBQ’d short rib. I hope to go back next year.

Fabulous, but 2013 should have been renamed to whiskey fest Milwaukee. So many bourbons, ryes, blends, not to mention cocktails, gins, barrel aged gins and liquors, aquavit, cordials, etc. Some food, although not enough options. Watch the sheep wait in line for cheese… 50+ purveyors of cheese, and everyone sees the need to wait in one line. I dkip it, because I don’t need to eat 1 pound of cheese.

Wine & Dine Wisconsin was more «Wisconsin» than «Wine & Dine». Next year they should change the name to «Beer, Cheese, Beer, Beer, & Mediocre Wine Wisconsin». Why an A-​OK rating? I love beer and cheese. We ended up going on Sunday and from others reviews and the lack of lines, I think I picked the right day (Packers were not playing so don’t think I was being lame and missing out on that).
I don’t know how many beers they had, but it was more than I could possibly taste.
Highlights:
Bacon beer — Self explainatory
Bitter cube bar — What better idea than to bring in some kick ass bartenders in to make you whatever drink or shot you want that uses their product from a fully stocked bar. Nice move.
Bud Light — There wasn’t any here.

Fabulous event for local food, wine and beer vendors. Well-​organized and planned, this annual show draws thousands of people to Milwaukee and gives small business owners the opportunity to get the word out about their businesses. My experience at this 2-​day event was overwhelmingly positive; most of the other exhibitors felt the same way.

2011
This event was fantastic! For $ 39, from 11am-​5pm, you get unlimited samples (and some were more than samples) of a huge variety of beer and wine. There was also local food sampling, small portions. Lots and lots of cheese sampling. Cheese lines got long as the day went on – Wine and Dine organizers listen up: please fix this for next year! It would make so much more sense to have a variety of lines forming up to the specific producer rather than wrapping around the long tables and doing it production line style. I felt so rushed and couldn’t enjoy the samples.
Why didn’t this event get 5 stars? There was a lot more «wine» than «dine», and from the ads I thought there would be many more local food vendors than there were at the event. The major «dine» providers had massive lines.
I also heard that 5000 people show up, but I didn’t feel that crowded. Other than the cheese lines, the crowd was incredibly manageable.
Awesome things:
Alterra coffee — brought their espresso machine and made specialty drinks on the spot
Cheese sampling — wide variety of Wisconsin cheeses. Only downside? People started forming a line, then you would have to wait in line for 20 minutes only to rush through the cheese portion and stuff cheese in your mouth. A better system? Step up for a sample, step back for tasting. I am hoping they learn this next year and avoid lines all together.
Sparkling wine and chocolate pairing with Indulgence chocolates (Julie Waterman) and Cuvee Champagne (Kris Gorski). Interesting talk, awesome wine and chocolate.
Gelato by «Cold Spoons» — wow, sea salt caramel gelato, YUM. Generous sample sizes.
The KNICK — freaking fantastic cocktails. We went for brunch on Sunday based on your yummy samples. Brunch? Great.
Huge variety of wine and beer. A lot of new specialty beers.
I am marking this on my calendar for next year!

After about a month of build up to what I was expecting to be a great day of food and wine samples the actual experience left me feeling very ripped off. Very long lines, which is forgivable if the wait was worth it, 99 percent of the time is was not. The samples I had been led to believe were supposed to be a two or three bite experience of menu offerings. instead what you received was the smallest possible portion on a tortilla chip. What a joke! One of the local steak joints offering was a half inch of watered down pumpkin soup in a small paper nut cup, pathetic, the other steak joint offered… now wait for it… breath mints! All in all a horrible food experience, not at all what I was led to believe that this was going to be and totally not worth the hype.

Events like this assure me that Milwaukee will, sadly, never be a world-​class city. Events like this could lift this city out of it’s «cheese n’ beer» image. However. .. this didn’t.
Long lines, stingy portions. Cheap wine. A demonstration on the Chef Stage was. .. risotto. Really?! Something that simple does not scream «high end dining’ to me.
Oh well, Better luck next time, Milwaukee.