The annual Boston Wine Expo, held Feb. 15 and 16, attracted wineries from all over the world this year. It is estimated that more than 8,000 visitors will patronize Seaport World Trade Center for the event. Apart from wine tasting, attendees also enjoyed food samples, won free gifts, and watched live cooking demonstrations from celebrity chefs including Ming Tsai. Above, Alexandria Sarovich, left, of Lombard, Ill., and Rachel Mathiau, of Hebron, Conn., thought the wine traders should have had an extra day to taste and examine the wines. “We are kind of bombarded as soon as the general public started coming in,’’ Mathiau, who works in the wine industry, said. “I wish they could separate the crowd and leave some extra time for us distributors so we could have more one-on-one time with the wineries.’’

Jeremy Harold, left, of Jamaica Plain, and Tony Schderi, of Boston, thought this year’s wine expo was the best one since the 2008 recession. “This is the first year that they start to break down the wine by countries (after 2008) again,’’ Harold said. “It always gets a little overwhelming in here, but you can still enjoy yourself.’’

Attendees quickly filled up the seats and waited for Chef Ming Tsai to show up. Tsai also chatted with Boston.com readers earlier this week. Read the transcript here.

Lisa and David Wilson, of Mystic, Conn., said the Boston Wine Expo is much more oganized than the Wine Fest at Mohegan Sun last month. “I would say given the amount of visitors today, things are flowing pretty well,’’ Lisa Wilson said.

Andrea Talis, left, of Needham, and Pat D’Amore, of Newton, thought the long lines were a little overwhelming. “We will definitely come up with a strategy next year. We would probably figure out where our favorite wines are ahead of time, instead of just waiting for the shortest lines,’’ D’Amore said. “That would have been smarter.’’

Jess Margolis-Pieno presented Rioja wine to Sebastian Pachicco (center) and Armando Zapata (right), of Arlington.

Nathan Gould, executive chef at Martha’s Vineyard’s Harbor View Hotel, demonstrated how to make his signature dish — Crispy Honeysuckle Oyster.

From left: Jen London, of Concord, Madison Milowsky, of Boston, Molly Brerley, of Lynnfield, Sarah Lefeber, of Branforc, Conn., Whitney Wallingford, of Melbourne, Fla., Sam Mastrogiacomo of Bedford, N.H., and Megan Bailly, of Newburyport. The group celebrated for Wallingford, the bride-to-be.

From left: Sarah Isham, Elena Henley, Jessica Plimpton, all of Burlington, Vt., tasted wine from Merriam Vineyards.

From left: Katie Culley, of Foxborough, Eduardo Dorado, of Beltsville, Md., Missy Shevlin, of Boston, Brittany Tepper, of Foxborough, and Britny Kirsner and Natalie Clement, both of Boston, were on a “girl’s trip.’’ “There are so many wines from so many different countries. I feel like I just traveled around the world,’’ Tepper said.

Dennis, on left, and Peter Franchi, in middle, both of Medford, enjoyed their wine-tasting experience.

James DiMartino, center, and Todd Grubb, right, both of Boston, tasted wine from Finger Lakes Wine Country.

Katie and Todd Bean, both of Duxbury, stopped to pose at the Expo.

Staff from Petit Robert Bistro gave out samples.

From left: Ann Spurr and Linda Salalakyo, both of Peabody, and Jaclyn Grundy, of Whitman, who work at GrubHub, were doing marketing research at the Expo.

Diana Nickerson, left, and Joan Kleger, both of Boston, tasted cheese from Yancey’s Fancy, a producer of artisan cheeses based in Corfu, N.Y.

Tony Cox and Carol Kelley, of Portland, Maine, thought the VIP check-in process could have been faster. “It was really cold out,’’ Kelley said. “But so far everyone has been very friendly.’’

Todd Tweedie and Allie Sylvester, both of Boston, said Italian wines are their favorite.

Kelsey Kanes, of Long Island, N.Y., and John Swadba, of Bernardsville, N.J., smiled.

From left: Kelly Forster, of Somerville, Amy Goodridge, of Merrimack, N.H., Kellie Goodridge, of Somerville, and Karen Forster, of Merrimack, N.H., attended their fourth Wine Expo.

Melissa Calhoun (left), and Emily Ryan, both of Yarmouth Port, stopped to pose. This was Ryan’s second time attending the Expo.

From left: Joe Condon, of Framingham, with Brian Donovan, of Andover, and Erica Aiello, of Billerica, said he would give this year’s Expo a high rating.

Michael Scalzo, left, of Syracuse, N.Y., and Eric Rietveld, of Boston, said their favorite wine is from Spain.