This weekend marks the 32nd Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta. In truth, this year’s worldrenowned bacchanal has been under way for a few days, with a tasteful assortment of seminars, tastings, cooking classes, and guest chef luncheons along with related wine dinners in restaurants around town. The largest events are spread throughout a series of tents at Magers Field in Fort Marcy Park on Santa Fe’s north side.

I’m old enough to have been of drinking age for the original festival, a one-afternoon celebration in the parking lot of what is now the New Mexico School for the Arts. It was conceived as a way to bring more business to Santa Fe’s restaurants during a time that was considered dead slow, post-zozobra and pre-albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The mission was accomplished — and then some.

By the numbers

The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta encompasses five late-september days, Wednesday through Sunday, with 60 restaurants and 90 wine producers and importers participating. The restaurants are all local, while the 150-plus wines represented span the globe — although each one has New Mexico distribution and can be purchased here, too. More than 4,000 wine and chile lovers come to the event to experience the jam-packed schedule. The largest single soiree — a party for 2,600 — is Saturday afternoon’s Grand Tasting, referred to by aficionados simply as The Big Event. Tickets to the most popular offerings, such as Wednesday’s Guest Chef Luncheon

& Master Sommelier Throwdown, sold out within minutes after ticket sales opened on July 5.

So, what’s a latecomer to do?

The two biggest events are held this weekend: today’s Chile Friday and Saturday’s Grand Tasting, both at Magers Field. Tickets are scarce but not necessarily impossible to come by. Check the website, santafewineandchile .org, for last-minute availability on the site’s bulletin board of tickets people bought but can’t use (no scalping is allowed). While you’re on the website, sign up for the festival’s mailing list so that you’ll be in the know about next year’s fiesta — and follow the event on social media. Set a reminder on your calendar to check the offerings online around July 1, 2024, and then be ready to buy tickets when ticket sales open on the first business day following the Fourth of July.

Fiesta survival basics

Stay hydrated! Yes, it’s a wine festival, but you need to drink lots of water. At Santa Fe’s lofty 7,000-foot altitude, alcohol hits harder and faster than at sea level.

Wear a hat and sunscreen, even if it’s overcast. Invariably, you’ll see some attendees teetering around on four-inch heels. But know that you’ll be roaming a grass field for several hours — comfortable shoes are a better option. Establish a designated driver, and know that there’s no parking at Magers Field or in its vicinity along Bishops Lodge Road and Old Taos Highway. Shuttles run for the events to and from downtown (check the website for the schedule and locations). The Santa Fe Community Convention Center’s underground parking is an option and is a reasonable walk. Or avoid driving entirely and consider taking rideshare. Know that there’s no chance you’re going to be able to try all the offerings at Chile Friday or the Grand Tasting: There’s just too much. Do some pre-planning, especially before Saturday’s event. Study the map that is available online (or pick up a printed copy upon arrival) and get oriented; locate a handful of restaurants and wineries that really pique your interest, and then see what else is nearby. The pros sample loads of wines by simply sniffing and swirling them in their mouths, then spitting them out. If you find wines you love, enjoy them, but don’t feel you need to guzzle everything that goes into your glass.

Check the fiesta website, too, for last-minute info on Friday afternoon wine seminars and Sunday’s Champagne & Dirty Boots Brunch at Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado and Rosé All Day at Bishop’s Lodge. One other matter: The fiesta brings in some of the spiffiest port-a-potties you will ever encounter. But by about midway through the big events, they are in heavy demand. Get in line before your situation is dire.

The biggest and the best

CHILE FRIDAY

This tasty tribute to our signature crop returns for the second time. I find this event to offer the best bang for the buck but is also simultaneously lively and laid-back. Expect the air to be filled with the aroma of roasting green, courtesy of the Bueno Foods folks. Some 30 restaurants will offer dishes made with green or red, or both. I suggest visiting the Zacatlán and Dr. Field Goods booths to taste whatever their creative chefs are serving this year. Several of my fave dishes from last year are coming back, by popular demand: the Plaza Café’s pumpkin posole and the Santa Fe School of Cooking’s carne adovada and green chile mac-and-cheese. The cooking school also oversees a book tent, offering autographed cookbooks by authors appearing at the festival.