The three-day food-and-wine binge, which includes a series of wine-focused seminars and wine dinners hosted by various Vail Valley restaurants, plus numerous cooking demonstrations, kicks off Thursday afternoon with an après-ski wine tasting and Colorado lamb cook-off (which I'll be judging) in the center of Vail Village and ends with a bang on Saturday night, with a grand tasting and silent wine auction inside the Vail Marriott.
It's a culinary extravaganza that's bereft of the recognizable celebrity chefs that show their mugs around Aspen during the Food & Wine Classic, but it's a terrific precursor to Aspen -- and a whole lot cheaper. A festival pass to the Taste of Vail is $495, but you can also purchase tickets separately to individual events, including the mountaintop picnic ($135); Colorado lamb smackdown and wine tasting ($75); and grand tasting and auction ($175). To purchase tickets, which are selling quickly, go to www.tasteofvail.com/shop/.
