Giant wine tasting fundraiser to feature 80 wineries, big names
The fourth annual The Taste of Vino fundraiser at Save Mart Center features more wine than you could possibly taste and some big names in the wine world.
About 80 wineries will have wine for tasting. Bo Barrett of Napa Valley winery Chateau Montelena — who was portrayed in the movie “Bottle Shock” by Chris Pine — will be part of the event.
The event runs from 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9. Tickets cost $79 in advance, $89 at door, and are available online at thetasteofvino.com, at Vino & Friends and the V.E. Petrucci Library at Fresno State.
This year, The Taste of Vino is a fundraiser for the V.E. Petrucci Library. The library is named after professor emeritus Vincent Petrucci, founder of the college’s viticulture and enology programs.
Petrucci will be at the event, too.
Other than wine, the fundraiser will have food tasting from six restaurants: SchoolHouse Restaurant, Fleming’s Steakhouse, Sequoia, Lela’s, Starving Artist Bistro and Vino & Friends, which organizes the event.
Breweries Lagunitas, Ballast Point and the brewing arm of the Sequoia Brewing Company restaurant will be there, too.
A full list of participating wineries is at thetasteofvino.com.
The event will include live music, too.
Organizers are expecting about 800 people. Each event in the past has raised tens of thousands dollars.
People who buy one of 25 VIP tickets for $200 can do a private tasting with Barrett and get a signed bottle of Chateau Montelena Chardonnay or Cabernet. He will also pour during the main event.
Barrett is a Fresno State graduate who took classes from Petrucci, says Vino & Friends owner Chuck Van Fleet.
And even though Barrett is the one with the movie made about him, Petrucci deserves a lot of credit for his role in Fresno State’s winemaking program, he says.
He’s the one that started the whole winery. He’s the one that started the whole department.
Chuck Van Fleet on Vincent Petrucci
The program has produced many talented winemakers now working at the wineries participating in the event, Van Fleet says.
“If it wasn’t for Vincent, Fresno wouldn’t be the place for all the wineries to recruit from,” he says. “He has done so much for the business.”
Bethany Clough: 559-441-6431, @BethanyClough
This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 4:06 AM with the headline "Giant wine tasting fundraiser to feature 80 wineries, big names."