Guests enjoy food and drink — and selfies — at the first Salt City Wine & Dine event.
A chance to mingle, look at peacocks, and sample from dozens of Utah food and beverage makers.
(Daniel Rubio | The Salt Lake Tribune) Attendees at the Salt City Wine & Dine event, presented by The Salt Lake Tribune at La Caille restaurant in Sandy, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.
A crowd dressed in a variety of summer attire — from Hawaiian shirts to chiffon dresses, from sandals to high heels — enjoyed a Saturday evening of good food and beverages at the first Salt City Wine & Dine.
The group wearing the heart-shaped sunglasses — and an array of fascinators that would do the British royals proud — were a standout, though.
“We’re here with a bachelorette party of 13 people,” said Kimberly Foster, who planned the outing for her friends, many of whom traveled from out of town to attend the event Saturday at La Caille restaurant in Sandy.
“This was the perfect event, for wine tasting and food,” Foster said. “We loved getting together with all of our friends, and having everyone come to town. The scenery has been amazing. We got a private winery tour. The drinks are amazing. The food is unexplainable, so delicious, so wonderful.”
The inaugural event — presented by Salt City Socials and The Salt Lake Tribune, in conjunction with the Utah Restaurant Association and Taste Utah — allowed attendees to sample the products of dozens of Utah food and beverage vendors amid the French-style luxury of the La Caille grounds. For each ticket purchased, $25 went to support the local journalism of The Salt Lake Tribune.
(Daniel Rubio | The Salt Lake Tribune) A vendor serves samples of Boar’s Head deli meats at the Salt City Wine & Dine event presented by The Salt Lake Tribune at La Caille restaurant in Sandy, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.
Guests sampled multiple wines, local craft brews and spirits, plus kombucha and non-alcoholic wine and cocktails. Food samples covered a range of tastes: barbecue, seafood, gourmet cookies, tacos, sushi, ramen, meats and cheeses, donuts and gelato. As they walked the grounds, guests had vendors mark the bingo cards on their lanyard, which were dropped in a glass jar for a drawing later that night.
At one tent, Kurt Barlow of Chateau La Caille served five house-made wines, including merlot, a white, a rose and a pinot noir. The wines were produced from grapes grown on the restaurant’s own vineyard — which was a favorite spot for taking selfies and group photos, particularly if one of the resident peacocks walked into range.
“Because of the weather, people have been preferring lighter wines, like the rose,” Barlow said. “But the merlot has also been very popular. Those are my two personal favorites. The 2020 rose is very exquisite.”
The event was built for mingling. Vendors were stationed all around the La Caille estate at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, with some facing the pond and vineyards, others clustered around the main music stage, and others placed along tree-lined pathways near the creek. Tasting plates came with a built-in slot to hold a wine glass, avoiding the awkwardness of juggling both.
Entertainment was plentiful throughout the event. The early VIP arrivals heard alt-country tunes from the Blaine Long Trio and pop hits from Chris Clause — who returned to perform at the close of the evening. In between, saxophone player Kenny Fong and magician Rodney Reyes performed, and Eli the DJ spun records.
(Daniel Rubio | The Salt Lake Tribune) Seating for the Salt City Wine & Dine event, presented by The Salt Lake Tribune at La Caille restaurant in Sandy, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.
Along the event’s art walk, near a pond facing the chateau, guests encountered Tessa Lynn Shurtleff, a live-event painter who was capturing the evening on canvas while everyone watched. She chatted while applying brushstrokes, swishing her brush in a glass jar between color changes.
“This is more of a southern thing,” Shurtleff explained to a couple who stopped to ask about her work. “People don’t really know it here. I may be the only live painter in Utah.”
Shurtleff said she usually works weddings, partly as entertainment and partly to create an idealized portrait of the couple. People sometimes request she add images of departed family members, or pets who couldn’t attend the ceremony.
“You can make it exactly how you want it,” Shurtleff said. “If there’s a big storm that comes in, I can paint it as if it was sunny. I had another person who wanted me to paint a full moon in the sky.”
Shurtleff’s finished painting went up for auction, along with fine art prints of Tribune photographers’ images and a print from The Tribune’s longtime political cartoonist Pat Bagley — a cartoon that celebrated the paper’s 150th anniversary last year.
Further down the path, tarot reader Will Millar set down cards for curious people. The line at his table was long all night, though not everyone craved a peek into the future. “Don’t want to know!,” joked one woman passing by — an understandable attitude when surrounded, temporarily, by the atmosphere of an old French chateau.
This article has been updated from an earlier version that stated the event was sponsored by Salt Lake Socials, rather than Salt City Socials.
(Daniel Rubio | The Salt Lake Tribune) Signage at the Salt City Wine & Dine event, presented by The Salt Lake Tribune at La Caille restaurant in Sandy, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.
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