Antioch to host wine-tasting event

An afternoon of wine tasting at locations throughout downtown Antioch is a proposed new event for January 2010.

Winter Wine Walk is planned for 1 to 5 pm on Saturday, Jan. 23. "I have been working on this for about a year," said special events supervisor Shawn Roby, who was inspired by Libertyville's annual downtown winter wine tasting.

Participants will pay a fee between $20 and $30 to walk around the downtown to taste a variety of wines. The fee will include a commemorative wine glass and a bottle of wine.

A special liquor license to cover the unlicensed participating businesses will be required. Roby anticipates seven businesses will participate. Twenty-eight to 35 different wines will be sampled, and each location would serve four to five wines, Roby said.

The event will begin at PM&L Theatre, where registered participants will receive a quick lesson in wine history and production. Each participant will be issued a wristband and receive a menu listing locations, wines and descriptions of each so they can rate the wines during the event.

"All will be encouraged to spend a modest amount of time at each location, but all participants will move at their own pace," Roby said.

Roby wants to cut off registration for the first event at 150 people, "but I see this becoming a quarterly event to help spread out our special events throughout the year. We want to generate and gauge interest with this first event."

Typically the equivalent of two glasses of wine per person will be consumed over the four-hour tasting, said Roby. "We will encourage designated drivers, but this will be held over a four- hour period, and at the most participants will drink about two glasses of wine.

"I can't see it as any different from the way we handle the serving of liquor at FallFest," Roby said.

All wines will be purchased from Antioch Fine Wines. "I chose Antioch Fine Wines and Liquors because they are local, they have expertise in wines and they already have a license to sell liquor."

Other businesses interested in the event include David's Bistro, Rugans, PM&L Theatre, Infini-Tea, Suzanne's Picture Framing and A Book Store, the Fine Arts Foundation and Four Squires.