Just don’t expect to find a run-of-the-mill tasting. Part premier and part art gallery, the event is a key fundraiser for People Helping People, a Santa Ynez Valley-based nonprofit that uses 100 percent of the proceeds from the wine sale to provide food and other necessities to needy farm workers.
For wine and art enthusiasts, the event offers a rare opportunity to stock up on limited-release wines (some of which are made solely for the event), and to support local artists, whose original works are used for the wine labels, and will be up for auction.
Dean Palius, executive director of People Helping People, said all of the wine — 10 cases from each winery — is donated, as is 50 percent of the proceeds from the art auction, with the other half going to the artists. He said the wine label design, printing, wine storage and food for the event is also donated.
“We’ve been blessed, there’s no doubt about it,” Palius said. “It’s a fun event, the food is great, we have music all day.”
Palius, who has been involved with People Helping People for 16 years, said he’d long wanted to involve the wine community in the organization’s mission of helping people in need, but nothing ever gained traction.
Then, in 2007, Palius said he heard about a fundraiser in San Luis Obispo County in which wineries donated grapes for wine that was sold for charity.
After consulting with Rick Longoria, owner of Longoria Wines and a People Helping People supporter, the two decided that rather than soliciting grapes, they should ask individual wineries to donate wine. This way, Palius explained, more varietals would be available for various prices.
“We thought having different wines at different price points would appeal to a lot more people,” he said. “That was the concept behind it.”
This year, Palius said wines range in price from a $13 sauvignon blanc to a $38 pinot noir.
“There’s something for everyone’s taste and something for everyone’s pocket book,” he said.
Once the wine question was settled, Palius said Karina Puente, a local artist, offered to paint a label. She also found other local artists to participate.
All 12 wines sport a unique label. And with only 120 bottles of each wine available, they become instantly rare when the event concludes.
“The labels, I think, are astonishingly beautiful,” Palius said. “They are in essence collectors’ items.”
Last year’s event raised $28,000, which Palius said provided emergency sources of food, rent and kept the electricity and gas on for 480 individuals and families.
In all, Palius said 40 percent of those who partake in the organization’s food program are local farm workers.
Although Vino de Suenos, which translates to “wine of dreams,” specifically focuses on benefiting farm workers, People Helping People provides services to anyone in need in the Santa Ynez, Lompoc and Los Alamos Valleys. Last year, Palius said the organization’s total budget was $260,000.
Participating wineries are: Alma Rosa, Au Bon Climat, Buttonwood, Cold Heaven Cellars, D’Alfonso-Curran, Fiddlehead Cellars, Foxen, Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post, Kalyra, Makor, Longoria and Vogelzang.
Artists include: Kari Crist, Darby Holden, Christianno Hunnicutt, Christina Locascio, Alissa Massey, Zoe Nathan, Karina Puente, Luis Ramirez, Joel Serrato, Suzi Trubitz, Nancy Yaki and Seyburn Zorthian.
Tickets for the tasting are $40. The price includes a 14-ounce wine glass and appetizers will also be served.
The event runs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott, 555 McMurray Rd. in Buellton. Additional information is available at www.vinodesuenos.com.