Park City Food And Wine Classic: July 7 — 10, 2011

One magnificent part of the Park City Food and Wine Classic is just how focused it is on the education of all its attendees. Other great parts? How easily it embraces the great outdoors, the lack of pretension, and the list of vendors and personalities who pack the schedule each year. Case in point: sommelier courses to educate, Mud, Sweat, and Cheers event that combines mountain biking and wine, and Shabu, Sushi, and Sake, which is a class on sushi-making and tasting.

From the first night's Wine of the Mountain kickoff dinner at the St. Regis Deer Valley to Sunday's final High West Beerunch at the High West Distillery, each day of the Park City fest takes a close look at what local producers have been working on since last year. (Photo courtesy of Flickr/BenSpark)

On Friday, sign up for the Savory Sundowners and Iron Pots (focused on African "sundowners" and cooking with iron pots) or opt for something a bit more relaxing like Vino and a Viewing (wine paired with Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Come Saturday, learn about Super Summer Salads or the Science of Wine Blending before attending the much-loved Toast of Park City Grand Tasting, which is where all those vendors and artisans come together for an impressive outdoor tasting of their finest fare.

That's what's so great about this festival — it's more than just food and wine, because to really taste Park City is to get out and experience it with all five senses. Plus, nothing works up an appetite quite like mountain biking.