Wine fest offers taste of West Elks

It's not too late to add the fourth annual Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival to your must-do list on Saturday. The festival, which benefits the oncology department at the Delta County Memorial Hospital, is at Orchard Valley Farms in Paonia. The event runs 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. and features 11 wineries from the West Elks AVA and Delta County. Colorado wines have received some good exposure recently, including a booth at the recent Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Denver and a story today in The Denver Post. The Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival offers the opportunity to sample some of western Colorado's best wines in a friendly, unhurried atmosphere (Paonia isn't Aspen, after all) and to talk with the people who nurtured the grapes from seedlings to bottlings. Tickets are $50 each and are tax-deductible. Tickets are available at 874-6411 and via e-mail to cconiglio@deltahospital.org. *Lee Bradley of Orchard Valley Farms and Black Bridge Winery in Paonia will be among the winemakers featured Saturday at the Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival.