Vine of the times
A taste of high-end wines, spirits, liqueurs and cuisine
Cheers!
The debut Regina Wine & Spirits Gala, being held Oct. 17 and 18 at the Conexus Arts Centre, offers an opportunity to dress to impress and sample some of the finest wines, spirits, liqueurs and cuisine available in Saskatchewan.
“We did it just by price, not picking products for everybody,” explained show promoter Greg Gusway of Impulse Advertising.
So, for example, Crown Royal didn’t make the cut, but Crown Royal Black did, he said.
“We told them, ‘We want your high-end stuff,’ ” Gusway said.
More than 100 fine wines will be available to taste, some of which are priced at $100 or more per bottle, he said. And spirits run as high as $300 per bottle.
“When you come to this show, you walk through the door and the first thing you do is you get your champagne. And you get a photo op,” Gusway said. “Once you’re done your champagne, you put that glass down, and you move into where the wine room is.”
Riedel crystal tasting glasses will be available for purchase. Or, a wine glass will be supplied for the tasting.
Five pairing booths will showcase cuisine by the Conexus Arts Centre’s executive chef, Leo Pantel, paired with fine wines. Recipe cards will be available so people can recreate the cuisine at home.
Products featured will each have a QR code on them, which can be scanned on a smartphone and used to purchase the item at the liquor store.
Local liquor stores are currently featuring shelf talkers, indicating products that will be available at the Regina Wine & Spirits Gala.
The rock room, sponsored by Trinos Menswear, will feature all the hard liquor.
“When you go to that room, you put your wine glass down and get a rock glass,” Gusway explained. “When you come out of there, if you want more wine, you get another wine glass.”
High-end jewelry designer Hillberg & Berk is sponsoring the desserts and diamonds area, which will feature desserts by Le Macaron, as well as liqueurs. Sask Milk will be supplying ice cream to be topped with raspberry liqueur.
Sask Milk will also be doing a wine and cheese seminar “on not your really ridiculously high-end cheeses … but on most of your everyday cheeses that go with wine,” Gusway said.
“You can walk around and taste over 160 different products,” he pointed out. “Whether it’s liqueurs, or spirits, or wines. And get some education to it ― and find out what tastes good with this, or get a menu for this, or just try them and see what you like. No jeans at this event! “It’s a gala. You wear a gown, and your husband wears a tux or suit. You get dressed up,” Gusway said. “You get to go out formally for the evening.
“That was the premise of what we wanted to do,” he explained. “There was nothing really highend in the city. We thought that that’s what we would rather do. There’s a lot of blue jean events. And we just didn’t want that. We wanted more high-end products … It’s just about trying to class it up a bit.”
Gusway was quick to add that he’s not implying that other shows in the city aren’t classy.
“What we’re try to say is we wanted to redefine what we thought was going to be a little bit on the high end.”
Tickets are $125, available for either Thursday or Friday night. There will be 1,500 tickets available for each night from the Conexus Arts Centre box office.
“We think it will be a bit of a sell to build it. Some of the other shows certainly didn’t get to be sold out in half an hour the first year. So we know it’s going to be a slow build for this, too. But it’s something that we’re all looking forward to,” Gusway said.
“Just judging from ticket sales, we’re pretty happy with where it’s going,” he said. “This is the first year.”
The Regina advisers of The Cooperators are event presenters.
The charity supported by the gala is Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan, which receives $20,000.