A roster of more than 25 celebrity chefs — including Andrew Zimmern, Scott Conant, Maneet Chauhan, Rocco DiSpirito, and Antonia Lofaso — will anchor Mohegan Sun's 23rd annual Sun Wine & Food Fest (SWFF), a four-day culinary and beverage event running January 21–24, 2027, at the Montville, Connecticut resort. The festival spans 14 discrete ticketed events, up from prior editions, and introduces three new programming additions for the 2027 cycle.
The Format
The event's commercial spine is Grand Tasting Day Two on Saturday, January 23, a five-hour afternoon session running noon to 5:00 p.m. inside the Earth Expo & Convention Center, with VIP early access beginning at 11:00 a.m. Attendees can sample more than 1,000 varieties of wine, beer, and spirits alongside chef-driven dishes and live culinary demonstrations. The format mirrors the festival-within-a-resort model increasingly common among integrated gaming and hospitality operators, where multi-day food and beverage programming drives incremental hotel-room nights and ancillary spend across the property.
The Saturday evening flagship, Celebrity Chef Dine Around, runs 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. in the Uncas Ballroom and features more than 20 participating chefs — among them Jeff Mauro, Amanda Freitag, Marc Murphy, Jet Tila, Dale Talde, Shota Nakajima, and Mohegan Sun's own Chris Santos of Beauty & Essex. Each chef presentation is paired with a wine, beer, or spirit selection. New for 2027, a ticketed pre-event cocktail hour begins at 7:00 p.m., a structural upgrade that adds a premium tier to what was previously a single ticket-level event.
New Events & Expanded Programming
Three programming additions distinguish the 2027 edition. The Rosé and Spritz Soirée, hosted by Chef Shawn Osbey, runs Friday, January 22, at The Cabaret Theatre. Bon Voyage Bites — a Sunday morning-to-evening send-off at Sift Bake Shop on January 24, accessible to any wristband or ticket holder — extends the festival's commercial window into checkout day. The Celebrity Chef Dine Around After Party, held at novelle from 10:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., is a ticketed extension of CCDA, adding late-night F&B revenue potential in a venue segment that gaming resorts have leaned into aggressively since post-pandemic travel recovered.
Returning staples include the Asian Market on Friday evening — sponsored by Suntory Global Spirits and featuring Nakajima, Tila, Talde, and Kevin Lee — plus the Spirits & Cigars experience on both Friday and Saturday nights, anchored by Mohegan Sun's Limited Barrel Select Program. Featured pours include Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Eagle Rare Bourbon, Russell's Reserve, Don Julio Reposado Tequila, and Patrón Añejo Tequila. The USA Wine Team returns for a second consecutive year, leading a Blind Wine Tasting Seminar on Saturday afternoon and an Italian Wine Masterclass on Sunday.
Operator Context
Kim Noto, Chief Marketing Officer for Mohegan Sun, characterized the 23rd edition as a milestone, noting the additions were designed to create new entry points across the weekend schedule and deepen engagement with the existing Celebrity Chef Dine Around audience. A portion of every SWFF ticket sold benefits The Denise D'Ascenzo Foundation, which supports medical advancement and mental-health initiatives in Connecticut.
Tickets are on sale via mohegansun.com and the Mohegan Sun Box Office. Hotel packages are available for the January 23–24 nights, directly tying festival attendance to room-night capture — a metric that has become central to how integrated resort operators justify the production cost of large-scale culinary festivals.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
