Looking for a taste of the best wines in the state?

The seventh annual Sunshine and Wine event is coming to State Fair Park on June 21. Wine tasting, food and an auction will accompany the showcasing of results from the only wine competition worldwide that revolves exclusively around Washington wineries.

Fifteen judges will compare 390 wines from 87 Washington wineries this Saturday.

A week later at Sunshine and Wine, guests will get their chance to taste some of the winners firsthand. Fifty-five of the wineries from the competition will be serving up their finest, some sporting double gold, gold, silver and bronze medals.

One local winemaker, 27-year-old Sean Gilbert of Gilbert Cellars, will feature his 2006 chardonnay, 2005 syrah, 2005 cabernet sauvignon and 2005 malbec.

In addition to entering his top wines into the competition, Gilbert said he has been putting the finishing touches on a tasting room and wine bar that will open at Front Street and Yakima Avenue on July 1.

"Our priority is making great wine and hopefully making an economic and social contribution to the Valley, providing people with something to do downtown," Gilbert said.

Gilbert Cellars isn't the only new downtown wine tasting room. Masset Winery, Plaza Sociovale, and the Cascade Wine Co. have all opened in downtown Yakima during the past year. Desert Hills, Donitelia and Kana Winery are the other wineries with tasting rooms downtown.

Local business owners plan to reap some of the benefits from Sunshine and Wine, because hundreds of wine lovers are known to travel to the event each year.

Scott Bouchey, a Cascade Wine Co. employee, said the shop is anticipating spillover business from the competition, calling it a "symbiotic relationship."

Wine experts said the downtown area will regain prominence as a cultural focal point largely based on the success of wine tourism.

"(Wine drinking) is equated on the part of many people as a lifestyle," said Jim Collins, owner of Cascade Wine Co. "It's a symbol of the good life."

He said the wine industry has been doing well despite economic instability because of the unshakable allure of wine.

"If you're making a good product that appeals to people not only in terms of quality but the uniqueness of it, and it's fairly priced, people are going to flock to it," Collins said.

Gilbert, whose family has owned the prominent local tree fruit company Gilbert Orchards since 1897, became aware of this new potential early on.

He said he was studying history at Pomona College in California when he began considering the possibilities within the wine industry.

Gilbert returned home during the summer of 2001 to help his father plant a test vineyard in the Ahtanum Valley west of Yakima. A year later, his family purchased another vineyard in Mattawa.

"That really got our foot in the door," Gilbert said.

At first, he and his brother just sold the grapes to other wineries and made small quantities of wine for friends and family.

After a steady string of successes, however, Gilbert was determined to realize the full potential of this new operation by turning it into a real business.

"(Grapes are) a newer crop, and the climate is well-suited to grape growing here," said Barb Smith Gilbert, Sean's mother. "It provides an opportunity for agri-tourism and draws people to the Yakima Valley from other parts of the state."

In 2004, Sean Gilbert interned at Januik and Novelty Hill wineries in Woodinville to learn how to make wine. He then returned home and became the general manager of Gilbert Cellars.

"(Sean) is very enthusiastic about the future of the Yakima Valley, and I think that's terrific," Barb said of her son.

Gilbert said he decided to open a Gilbert Cellars tasting room in the historic Lund Building at the corner of Front Street and Yakima Avenue because of its elegant stone exterior and wooden floors, which he believes reflect the style of his wine.

Last year, Gilbert won a silver medal for his 2004 claret. This will be his second time participating in the annual competition.

"Washington wines are getting better known all over the world," said Brian Carter, a prominent winemaker who has won multiple awards for his Brian Carter Cellars wine. He will be one of the judges at the competition.

Carter said the competition is significant because Washington wines are beginning to win national and international acclaim.

He attributed the high quality of these wines to a combination of winemaking skills and the distinctive environmental conditions of Central Washington: well-drained soils, plentiful water supplies and a relative lack of rainfall.

"A lot of undefined characteristics just come together to make Washington state a really unique winegrowing area unmatched by any place in the world," Carter said.

Gilbert said he is looking forward to Sunshine and Wine because it will help his wine achieve recognition throughout the community and beyond.

"It is important for the public to be able to see the results (of the competition) so they can make informed decisions about what wines they want to buy," Carter said.

More than 500 people are expected to attend the event, which will run from 2-7 p.m. and costs $75 per person to attend. All profits made from the event will be used to renovate buildings at State Fair Park.

If you go

WHAT: Sunshine & Wine.

WHEN: 2:30-7:30 p.m. June 21.

WHERE: State Fair Park, 1301 S. Fair Ave.

HOW MUCH: $75. Includes food from regional restaurants and chefs, award-winning wines, live music and silent and live auctions. Call 248-7160 or visit www.sunshineandwine.com.