Wine, chocolate return to SV

Winemakers and chocolatiers will congregate in the Scotts Valley Community Center next weekend for the second-year Chocolate and Wine tasting festival.
Even in its second year, the festival is the largest of its kind in Santa Cruz County, surmised senior center president Ferd Bergholz, as eight wineries and eight chocolatiers set up shop for tasting.
“(It’s a) friendly atmosphere,” Bergholz said about his favorite aspect of last year’s event. “The vendors were really happy and enjoyed meeting people. It was just a friendly thing.”
The festival runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 361 Kings Village Road, immediately following the Saturday Scotts Valley Farmers Market.
Tickets are $18 in advance or $20 at the door and include a wine glass, three wine tastings and three chocolate tastings. Individual wine tastings are $3, and single chocolate tastings are $2 each.
“Last year it was wonderful,” Lindy Martin of Chocolate Visions in Scotts Valley said. “To be honest, it was the best event we had done.”
This year, Chocolate Visions will sample pumpkin and lemon chocolates and its new chocolate bars, including the My Goodness bar, with honey-roasted peanuts and roasted coconut.
Leo’s U-Save Scotts Valley Liquors will donate ice for the event, and proceeds will go toward activities at the senior center.
For information: 438-8666.
Wine
Roudon-Smith Winery
Hunter Hill Wines
Hallcrest Vineyards
Bargetto Winery
Mint
Heart O The Mountain
Sones Cellars
Poetic Cellars
Chocolate
Chocolate Visions
Segovias Sweets
The Healthy Chocolate
Luis Moro Chocolate
Truffles in Paradise
Trader Joe’s
Starz Cupcakes
Lula’s Chocolates