Palm Beach features many of the world’s usual luxury tourism bullet points: 5-star resorts, golf courses, fine dining with oceanfront views. While spectacular, these amenities are hardly unique to the 47 miles of coastline north of Miami.

What sets Palm Beach apart is the small-town spirit at the heart of its big-name events, like The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival, which returned for its 16th iteration Dec. 7-10 with Wine Spectator . High-end vintners, celebrity chefs, gourmet gastronomy, and idyllic settings made the four-day event a mandatory stop for locals and luxury tourists alike.

It is said in Hollywood that a leading man is only as strong as its leading lady. Palm Beach, long fertile ground for billionaires, now has its leading lady in the Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival. It isn’t the largest festival of its kind in Florida — the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February features a slew of corporate sponsors, late-night parties, even yoga classes — but it’s the best. The Palm Beach version is clearly curated for those more interested in food, wine, and the people behind it. It’s smaller, more accessible and the temperament is more casual.

“You can’t compare the two,” said chef Robert Irvine, a headliner among the featured participants. “South Beach Food & Wine, there’s 300,000 people who come in, pay the money, do the Burger Bash, and it’s a great event ― but it’s not like this. This is very special because you’re 1-on-1 with chefs that you know and you see on TV. West Palm Beach is a very unique food and wine festival. Chefs get to play volleyball, they get to meet each other, they get to hang. You don’t do that in South Beach, you don’t do that in Disney, you don’t do that in Aspen.”

To wit: Day 1 featured An Evening with Irvine. The restaurateur, Food Network host, and creator of everything from an eponymous nutrition bar to luxury spirits co-hosted a walk-around tasting at the Okeechobee Prime Event Hall. Naturally, Irvine’s Spirits were prominently featured in Palm Beach.

Day 2 featured a four-course seated lunch with wine pairings at the Avocado Grill. Owner Julien Gremaud is not a national celebrity, but an award-winning local chef who recently opened his third restaurant (Pink Steak) in Palm Beach County. The intimate nature of the Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival allows visiting gourmands to compare notes with local chefs on their home turf.

“The chefs that come here … people keep coming back,” Gremaud said. “Chefs really get to know each other. Every year it’s a party.”

In addition to Irvine, the event’s notable chefs included Daniel Boulud, Antonia Lofaso, Stephanie Izard, Michelle Bernstein, and Maneet Chauhan.

When the food and wine does not take center stage, the venues themselves do. Day 2 also featured a wine tasting event at Savor, a terrace café connected to the spa at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. One of two Forbes 5-Star Luxury Resorts in town, Eau Palm Beach sits as a family-oriented alternative in the lap of luxury. Jonathan Adler designed the rooms for its 2013 rebrand, and his signature sense of upscale whimsy extends to every inch of this beachfront property.

Executive Chef Anthony Sicignano and Master Sommelier Virginia Philip held court that evening with An Evening at The Breakers. The hotels dining collection provided a menu of tasting options at the resorts Beach Club Restaurant with selections from Echo, Flagler Steakhouse, The Italian Restaurant, HMF and Henry’s Palm Beach. On the heels of the resort’s Wine Spectator Grand Award, four prestigious wineries and experts were featured at the event, including Patrick Wil of E Guigal, Pauline Gilbert of AXA Millésimes, Marilisa Allegrini of Allegrini and Chris Carpenter of Cardinale.

Day 3, a Saturday, featured the highlight of the event: “Chillin’ N’ Grillin’” at the Breeze Ocean Kitchen, Eau Palm Beach’s signature restaurant overlooking the Atlantic. Guests and chefs vibed and imbibed to a live DJ. Friends mingled, walking and eating while they reminisced.

New Orleans-based chef Stephen Stryjewski has attended the Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival the last 13 years. He appreciates the rarity of being able to catch up with the same chefs year after year who, even though they might attend the same festivals, won’t get the opportunity to talk between events.

“It’s just a different kind of atmosphere,” he said, “and I enjoy it.”

The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival will return for its 17th year from December 12-15, 2024.