Marianne Hunnel – The driving force behind the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is Marianne Hunnel. Planning and development for the seven week festival takes the entire year. Securing the sponsorships, culinary and beverage participation, and scheduling the presentations of nearly 300 celebrity, theme park and resort chefs all rests on Marianne. She scouts global trends to make sure the festival is relevant, exciting, interesting and most importantly educational. In 2012 she added the Florida Fresh Marketplace that showcases the ingredients that come from our beautiful sunshine state (#Sunshineplate), and in 2013 she added the Food & Beverage Kiosks at the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. In an interview with Orlando Business Journal last year, Marianne stated that the main reasons for success is a strong team that she doesn’t have to micro-manage, a deep sense of hospitality, seeking input to make the next year’s festival even better, organization and most importantly loving what you do. The next time you’re at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, if you find yourself drinking around the world, raise a toast to Marianne, your good time is going smoothly due to her hard work & dedication.

There are definitely more people in Orlando working hard to solidify our wine scene and new places popping up that “get it” all the time – too many to name in just one article – and we’ll uncover them together. If you have a favorite place that you feel doesn’t get enough attention for its wine program, please share it with us. We all love finding a new place with great wine!