30th annual Wine Tasting returns after two years

Ashley Parkinson, The Record-Times | Last updated May 14, 2022 11:37am0

Ashley Parkinson | The Record-Times count

Auction items on display at the 30 annual Wine Tasting event organized by the Odessa Healthcare Foundation.

ODESSA- The annual wine tasting, micro brew sampling, live auction and silent auction returned to in-person gathering after two years of being online.

The Odessa Healthcare Foundation organized the wine tasting that took place Friday, May 6.

With many different wines up for sampling a couple stood out. Gard Vinters Chardonnay tasted crisp with a hint of apple, honey and citrus. Alki had a Merlot that was smooth, not too dry and full of flavor.

Rocky Coulee Brewing company donated all of the microbrew that was sampled at the event.

Odessa's local brewery has been owned and operated by Tom and Lonnie Schafer since June 2002.

Their son Zach Schafer also joined the family business. They served their three most popular microbrews which included Dunkel, Rocky Coulee Red and Hop Farmers Daughter IPA.

The Odessa FBLA helped prepare the appetizers for the event.

Odessa Foods provided the soda and water.

Localtel provided internet service to help with the online bids.

Over 100 items were up for bid. There were many handcrafted items and gift cards donated.The bidding took place after the wine tasting, micro-brew sampling and silent auction.

Bakers from Odessa donated to the dessert auction some of those items included a blueberry cheesecake, an ombré brownie cake, german chocolate cake, limoncello cheesecake and a pineapple upside down cake. There were 11 desserts in total.

The Live Auction had many great donations; a few of these included a two night stay in the Adults-Only Glacier Lodge, a date night on the lake, family biking adventures and a brick mailbox that was donated by the Odessa Fire Department. There was a Nintendo Switch donated by Jace Angelly.

A hot air balloon ride for two was another highly anticipated bid.

Some of the Silent Auction items included Grannie BarBar Goodies, Faith Family Baseball Friends mugs, Papa John's gift card, Weekend Biergarten Passes (Deutschestfest), 15 pounds of hamburger and a vintage porcelain doll that was donated anonymously.