Overview Austin Food and Wine Festival is a three-day eating and drinking weekend on Auditorium Shores, the lawn across Lady Bird Lake from downtown, where the ticket covers all the food and drink on site and pitmasters cook over open flame at the Fire Pit. It opens on a Friday night at the Long Center and then takes the park for Saturday and Sunday, and it is 21 and over. C3 Presents, the Austin company behind Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza, launched it with Food and Wine magazine in April 2012, and billed the November 2026 edition as the 15th anniversary. Part of the proceeds goes to the Texas Food and Wine Alliance for culinary grants. On site Made In Texas, the Friday opener, runs on the Long Center terrace from 7 to 9:30 p.m. as a tailgate of open-flame cooking and Lone Star favorites. In the park, chef booths from Austin restaurants line the lawn beside the Fire Pit, spirits booths pour cocktails, and two tents run chef demos and guided tastings of wine and spirits. Hands-On Grilling kicks off the Saturday at 11 a.m.: guests share a charcoal grill with a partner and cook their own meal while Tim Love gives pointers. VIP adds Made In Texas and the Mezcal Speakeasy Lounge. Talent and Influencers The 2026 lineup included Andrew Zimmern, a four-time James Beard Award winner; Top Chef winner Richard Blais; Esther Choi of Mokbar; Kevin Lee of MAHT; and Lorena Garcia. Austin's Michelin-starred kitchens cooked too, with Ali Clem of la Barbecue, Augusta Passow of Barley Swine and Ian Lanphear of Isidore, alongside Alexa Mejia of Emmer and Rye and Tom Micklethwait of Micklethwait Barbecue. Anthony Giglio, a contributing editor at Food and Wine, led the wine and spirits side. Track record Ahead of the 2026 edition, Made In Texas and the Saturday ticket went to a waitlist and some passes sold out. Brand presence Drinks brands run the bars and the guided tastings: 2026 partners on the festival site included Campari, Maker's Mark, Deep Eddy, Justin Wines and the tequilas Cazadores, Casa Famosa and Tequila Ocho, with Wyndham and Southwest Airlines on the travel side. Mastercard tied a cash-back offer on the first 500 ticket orders placed with a Mastercard to the 2026 festival. A partner can take a branded lounge or VIP retreat of its own, fitted with its signage, digital screens or a themed build, with passes for its guests.