Las Vegas Weekly

April 8, 2010 · 12:22 PM

UNLVino festival is the ultimate wine, champagne and sake party

By Robin Leach

A sampling of some of the wines at UNLVino.

Photo: TVT

It’s a three-day weekend of beverage tasting at its best, and tonight the 36th Annual UNLVino Sip for Scholarship gets underway with the Bubble-Licious champagne tasting at the new Garden of the Gods pools in Caesars Palace.

(Apologies for getting ahead of myself a day early while traveling all day yesterday through four time zones. It’s tomorrow night’s Sake Fever that’s at the Palms Pool and Bungalows.)

For three hours today starting at 7 p.m., sparkling wines and exotic champagne cocktails will be served, and the very best champagnes will be poured as this year’s celebration kicks off at the newly expanded, exotic and luxurious Caesars Palace pools. The Dom Perignon Award of Excellence will be presented to award-winning Caesars Palace pastry chef Francois Payard; Bill McBeath, president and COO of Aria at MGM’s CityCenter; and Blake Sartini, CEO and owner of Golden Gaming.

Tomorrow night, more than 150 premium sakes from Japanese brew masters will be presented, along with the best Asian cuisine of Las Vegas, at the Palms Pool and Bungalows. Then Saturday, it’s the Grand Tasting at Bally’s. The latest wine releases, best vintages, plus organic and biodynamic wines will be poured starting at 2 p.m. This Las Vegas tradition, which began in 1974, is not only Nevada’s oldest but also one of America’s largest wine events.

UNLVino benefits our William F. Harrah Hotel College at UNLV and is sponsored by Southern Wine & Spirits led by entrepreneur and philanthropist Larry Ruvo.

What else can be said except cheers!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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