Utah wine lovers know that the biggest bash of the year is the Park City Food & Wine Classic, which runs this year July 9-13. However, the classic isn’t only about wine. Indeed, this year’s lineup of seminars, dinners and outdoor adventures runs the gamut from paddle boarding and fly-fishing outings to whiskey, sake and beer tastings. There is something for everyone, whether you enjoy horses, golf, biking, hiking or getting your kicks shooting guns.
Yes, guns. I have to admit, I’ve never attended a wine festival where shooting not only is OK, but is encouraged. I was brought up believing that guns and alcohol don’t mix, but at the Guns & Rosés event at Victory Ranch, attendees will enjoy an outdoor lunch with an array of Cakebread Cellars wines (not just Rosé), and an opportunity to tour the Double Barrel shooting facility at Victory Ranch and shoot at clay targets.
Hopefully, no one from the shooting range will wind up at the Park City People’s Health Clinic. But if it happens, they can take solace knowing that a portion of the proceeds from Food & Wine Classic ticket sales go to the nonprofit clinic, which provides health care to uninsured individuals and families in Utah’s Summit and Wasatch counties. Last year, the event raised more than $40,000 for the clinic.
The classic kicks off July 9 with a Farm to Barn five-course wine dinner at Blue Sky Ranch, featuring the culinary talents of chefs from Montage, The St. Regis and High West Distillery. Master sommeliers will select wines to accompany each dish and a live auction will be held to benefit the clinic.
For golfers, two July 11 events have hole appeal. Wine & Nine, as you might surmise, combines nine holes of golf at the scenic Victory Ranch golf course, followed by a lunch and wine tasting at the 19th hole with Jack Gregor of Francis Ford Coppola Winery. A special golf outing for women—Ladies & the Links—will also take place at Victory Ranch, with lunch and a wine tasting to follow.
Horse enthusiasts will gallop to The Ranch at White Pine Canyon for an afternoon of horseback riding through the pines and peaks of Canyons Resort and a lunch from the grill during the Gallop & Grill outing. Lunch will include wine pairings from Waldorf Astoria Park City’s sommeliers.
My favorite Food & Wine Classic event is the Stroll of Park City, which takes place this year July 11 from 4 to 7 p.m. Ticket holders get to meander historic Main Street visiting restaurants, shops, art galleries and the 14 stroll stops along the way to sample wine, beer, whiskey, food and more. Stroll stops this year include Rock & Reilly’s, Mustang, Zoom, High West Distillery, The Riverhorse, Sky Lodge and many more.
I hate to be a tease, but the aforementioned barely scratches the surface of the Park City Food & Wine Classic for 2014. There are many more events to entice both wine lovers and civilians. Park City Food & Wine Classic tickets run from $75 for certain seminars and tastings to $375 for the Casts & Cabs outing, where participants will join Dennis Cakebread of Cakebread Cellars for lunch, a wine tasting and a chance to try your hand hooking the big one while fly fishing on the Upper Provo River.
For a complete schedule, details and to purchase tickets, visit ParkCityFoodandWineClassic.com.
Twitter: @Critic1
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