Evening tastings kick off art and wine fest

What: Taste of Scotts Valley
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 18
Where: Hilton, 6001 La Madrona Drive, in Scotts Valley
Cost: $35
Info: www.scottsvalleychamber.com
The Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce will host a kick-off party for the city’s annual art and wine festival on Thursday, July 18.
The party, dubbed the Taste of Scotts Valley, will be held at the Hilton, 6001 La Madrona Drive in Scotts Valley as a precursor to the Aug. 10 and 11 Scotts Valley Art and Wine Festival, now in its 14^th year.
At the Taste of Scotts Valley, local restaurants will serve gourmet hors d’oeuvres and attendees will be able to sample tastings from the wineries who will attend the festival. The wineries include 37th Parallel Winery, Bargetto Winery, Chaucer’s Cellars, Bruzzone Family Vineyards, Heart O’ The Mountain, Hallcrest Vineyards, Odonata Wines, Poetic Cellars, Dancing Creek Winery, MYKA Cellars, Wargin Wines and Naumann Vineyards. Attendees will have a chance to meet the vintners and sample their wines.
Art and Wine Festival artists have donated items for a silent auction, including festival poster artist Tom Marlatt who will sign the poster during the evening. The piece on this year’s poster is titled “Wonderland,” and organizers have decided to theme the evening “Wonderland at the Beach.” Attendees are invited to wear fun, tropical clothes to this event as if they were going to a wine and food tasting along the shore. Live music will feature the band Home.
Admission is $35 at the door and includes the first run of the 2013 festival wine glass.