Tampa, Florida: Bern’s Winefest Is Florida’s Premier Wine Tasting Experience

Story by:

James weaver

Travel Editor

New York Trends

Have you eaten a truly great steak lately? Or had a suburb glass of wine? What about a truly memorable dining experience? Sometimes you find the greatest things in unlikely places. Who would have thought that Tampa, Florida, would be home to one of the finest steak restaurants in America? Bern’s Steak House, in my mind, is the very best you’ll find anywhere. But Bern’s may be just as famous for its wine. With a wine cellar of a tens of thousands of bottles, it offers one of the largest and most extensive selection in the world. The wine list is bigger than a old family bible.

Each Spring for the past 13 years, Bern’s has hosted a wine festival to treat its guests to an extensive and remarkable selection of fine wines from across America and the world. The multi-day event draws thousands of guests both wine aficionados and those who simply enjoy an occasional glass of wine with dinner. There are many dozens of wineries presenting their finest vintage and hundreds of exceptional wines to choose from at the tastings and other festival events. The Winefest features several ticketed events including dinners, parties, and grand tasting.

Internationally recognized wine experts explain the qualities of each vintage and describe the range of perceived flavor, aroma and general characteristics. The five basic steps of tasting wine -- color, swirl, smell, taste, and savor are employed. During this process, the guests look for clarity, character, expressiveness, and complexity in each wine. When a wine is well balanced, it is said to have achieved a harmonious fusion. Its music to your palate.

A silent auction is held during Winefest where guests can bid on a fine selection of unusual and often rare wines. The proceeds go to the Bern’s Scholarship Fund. All wines served at the Winefest are available for purchase at Bern’sWine & Spirits, the restaurant’s retail outlet.

Known throughout the country for its extensive wine collection, perfectly aged and prepared steaks and famous dessert room, Bern’s offers its guests a world-class, incomparable dining experience. When Bern Laxer opened the restaurant in 1956, he envisioned Bern’s as Art in Steaks. It still is.

Today, son David Laxer and Chef de Cuisine Habteab Hamde continue Bern’s tradition of excellence with a gastronomic adventure that includes prime steaks cut-to-order, numerous choices of caviar, fresh seafood and organic vegetables grown on the Bern’s farm. The menu also boasts a weekly specials page offering fresh oysters, seasonal delights and entrees with suggested wine pairings.

For oenophiles (wine connoisseurs), the 6,500 label wine collection, a perennial Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, provides ample opportunity for exploration. After dinner, guests can relax and enjoy a Bern’s signature dessert or one of more than a thousand after-dinner spirits, wines, and cordial served in the unique dessert room constructed from old wine barrels. When you dine here be sure to ask for a tour of the kitchen and wine cellar (amazing).

Learn more at www.bernssteakhouse.com

Travelers to Tampa, Florida, should also view www.visittampabay.com