Sunshine and Wine set for Saturday

The judging is done, the winners have been crowned; all that's left now is to drink the wine.

Sunshine and Wine, the follow-up to the Washington State Wine Competition earlier this month, brings 40 award-winning wineries together Saturday under one canopy at State Fair Park. Wineries pour vino, local restaurants provide food and the ticket-buying public gets a whirlwind tour of 40 of the best wineries in the state.

"We had 90 in the competition," said Ruth Anglin, the Central Washington State Fair activities manager. "Obviously, we don't have 90 places for them. So we just do the award winners."

In addition to the wine and food, Sunshine and Wine offers live music from Seattle oldies act The Epics and a chance to bid on more than 80 silent-auction items.

For wineries, events like the Washington State Wine Competition and Sunshine and Wine are a showcase, a way to reach new customers. That's particularly important for newer wineries, like Mercer Estates in Prosser. Mercer Estates, a joint project of the renowned Mercer and Hogue winemaking families, has the pedigree but only started producing wine in 2006 and is still a young label.

"We try to enter a fair amount of competitions," said Laura Bainter, a marketing assistant for Mercer Estates. "A lot of that is to get your name out there and get your product out there. ... With over 600 wineries just in Washington, there's so much to choose from."

From the consumer's perspective, Sunshine and Wine is not only a good place to taste a wide variety, it's also a chance in many cases to talk with people involved in a wine's production. For instance, Mercer Estates, which took home this year's Best Merlot award in the competition, will have assistant winemaker Richard Hood at the event pouring wine.

"The average consumer doesn't know everything it takes from the beginning of the winemaking process to the bottle," Bainter said. "More and more people are very interested in that process. So it really helps when you have somebody there who's been hands-on."

This year, for the first time, Sunshine and Wine will also have craft beer available with the addition of Yakima Craft Brewing. That inclusion, which might have been seen as sacrilege a few years ago -- gasp! the contamination of a wine festival with a beverage as undignified as beer! -- represents a shift in the way craft beer is seen, said Yakima Craft owner Jeff Winn.

"It's an acknowledgment that wine isn't the only craft beverage out there," he said. "It's also a way for them to address the 'I want to bring my spouse, and they don't drink wine' problem.'"

The main event, though, remains the wine. Among the wines available Saturday are Best In Show, Best Red and Best Cabernet winner Barnard Griffin 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon; Best Syrah winner Smasne Cellars 2007 Syrah; and Best White winner Chateau Ste. Michelle 2009 Harvest Select Riesling.

"It's a unique event where you can taste all these wonderful, award-winning wines in one place," Anglin said.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.