The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival returns from Dec. 12 to 15, offering a four-day celebration of food and wine across six cities. The event will feature 65 top chefs and renowned wine experts, showcasing the best of the region's culinary scene for both locals and visitors, as reported by FOX29WFLX.

The 17th annual Grand Tasting heralded as the festival’s pièce de résistance, will present a breadth of over 60 participating restaurants and an impressive selection of 115 wines, each earning a nod of approval with a 90+ rating by Wine Spectator, this marquee event promises to be a sensory delight for aficionados and novices alike, and with this year's expansion doubling the festival's size guest will have more to enjoy, including the venue shift from the conventional ballroom to a more spacious downstairs area to accommodate the enlarged scale of the event.

The Chef Throwdown will feature fierce competition as three local chefs battle for a $10,000 prize, with the money going to a local charity, in a statement obtained by WPTV, Chef Lindsay Autry, the festival's co-founder, expressed her thrill for her restaurant Honeybelle's participation, unveiling a tantalizing menu item—a Florida shrimp roll partnered with Old School Bakery’s brioche buns and accented with pork rind gremolata and fresh herbs.

Festival attendees can also anticipate live performances, adding a musical garnish to the festivities with "American Idol" fan-favorite Philip Philips slated to perform hits like "Home" and "Gone, Gone, Gone" according to David Sabin, a festival co-founder, who also underscored the continued support for Els for Autism—a charitable organization that has benefitted from the festival proceeds for the past two years, as reported by WPTV.

For those interested in partaking in this epicurean adventure, additional details are readily accessible on FOX29WFLX for updates and ticketing information.