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Wine tasting a warmup to fest

Before the Festival of the Arts next month, a fundraiser will have wines from smaller vineyards plus jazz and appetizers.

By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published October 24, 2006

INVERNESS - A wine tasting that features samples from boutique vineyards and a chance to win a work of art are both part of the warmup to the Inverness Festival of the Arts Nov. 4-5.

The wine tasting and silent auction will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum on Courthouse Square. There also will be appetizers and jazz music.

Catering the wine tasting will be Time For Wine, a Tampa company specializing in wine tastings. Time for Wine focuses on vineyards that do not produce sufficient quantities to make it into the mass market, said company co-owner Cheryl Visalli.

"All of the wines we carry come from vineyards that export 1,000 to 1,500 cases a year," she said." That's not a lot, and they sell out quickly.

"We've been in business for 26 years, with an emphasis on finding these labels and we have our favorites."

There will be about eight or nine wines available for tasting, Visalli said. Among these are a Michael Schafer riesling from Germany.

"And a Guglielmo from California that's an almond-flavored sparkling wine," she said.

People who like a wine can also purchase wine with personalized labels, such as their company logo, or wedding photo, and have the case of wine delivered in a week.

Wine orders with regular labels can also be placed at the wine tasting.

In addition to the tasting, appetizers by Z Chef restaurant, Joe's Deli and Wal-Mart will be available.

The Still Waters Jazz Trio will perform. The second floor of the courthouse museum is an intimate venue for live music and receptions.

The festival is a fundraiser for the United Way and the Festival of the Arts committee scholarship program.

Tickets for the wine tasting and silent auction are $25 each available at Inverness Parks and Recreation at Whispering Pines Park. Call 726-3913.

Another fundraiser is a chance to win a two-dimensional art work from Inverness painter Lyn Novak Hise.

Hise works on copper or brass canvases, which she acid washes to create an abstract background. Then they are sealed with polyurethane. She then paints leaves and branches on them with acrylics and pastels.

The paintings are triple matted and ornately framed. In her works, some of the leaves are embedded into the mat, producing a two-dimensional image.

The painting that will be given away during the festival of the arts can be seen at the Inverness Government Center.

Hise is a full-time artist who exhibits at 12 to 15 art shows a year, she said. She recently won Best of Show at the Lakeridge Winery Competition and her artwork was reproduced as a label for select Lakeridge wines.

Tickets for the Hise artwork are $1 each or six for $5 and can be purchased at the wine tasting or at the Citrus County Art League booth during the Festival of the Arts. The drawing will be Nov. 5

Jorge Sanchez covers arts and entertainment in Citrus. Contact him at sanchez@sptimes.com or 860-7313 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505 ext. 7313.

[Last modified October 23, 2006, 22:25:25]