Talk about taking your taste testing to the teetotaling top.
With over 100 wines set to be sampled in the ninth annual Art of Wine this Saturday night (7-10 p.m.), your taste buds — and not your gullet — will be tempted with an array of wines from 19 wineries at the Colombo Lodge.
It’s a wine tasting marathon, the full-bodied art of wine painted on the palette of your palate, with proceeds going to the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital’s pediatric ward.
A full roster of international and B.C.-bred wines — including Trail’s Columbia Gardens and Creston’s Skimmerhorn — will be stocking the cellar at Colombo Lodge for the semi-formal event that is at the top of the not-to-be-missed cultural calendar for Greater Trail.
Started by Dr. Ken LeRose nine years ago, the gentlemen at Colombo Lodge have taken up the mantle of the event, carrying through on an issue that is near and dear to their hearts.
The benevolent Societa M.S. Cristoforo Colombo has been a patron of the pediatric ward for years, said its president, Larry Martin. Since its inception in 1905, the society has been helping people in the area and adding in the ward, and the Art of Wine, to their purview made sense.
“So now all people have to do is show up and taste a lot of really great wines,” said Martin.
“It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.”
The society has raised over $130,000 for the ward — and over $15,000 last year — helping buy advanced equipment that could not otherwise be purchased for the hospital.
“Our children benefit directly as a result,” said Martin.
Winery representatives will be on hand at tables set up with the various styles of wine, with receptacles for the “sampled” fermented fruit to be discarded in.
In the midst of the sampling smorgasbord, people will also be able to view a select group of Kootenay artists — who will donate 20 per cent of their sales to the pediatric ward — and partake in a feast of appetizers.
In the afternoon the Art of Wine will host a trade-testing event (2:30-4:30 p.m.) in the hall as local beer and wine stores search for a selection of the best wines to suit their needs.
A $50 ticket to the Art of Wine also puts you in line for thousands of dollars worth of door prizes, including several trips for two.
Tickets are available at Totem Travel, Star Grocery, Bear Country Kitchen in Rossland, Fruitvale Pharmacy, Bubblees in Castlegar and Frosty’s Cold Beer and Wine Shoppe in Trail.