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Cornucopia offers vast menu of events

It’s all tasty, but not everything is to everyone’s taste

Whistler’s biggest food and wine festival, Cornucopia, is finally here Wednesday, Nov. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 13, and along with it some big decisions.

The elegant Bubbles, Jazz and the Deep Blue Sea soiree at Araxi or the debaucherous wild-child of the festival MasqueRave?

Do you watch the sexes battle it out over the emotional merit of a Pinot Noir or get the insider insight on what wines best suit your favourite Indian curry?

Ready to splurge on a winemaker dinner at Quattro for $230, or does the shoulder season dictate the girth of your wallet, leaving you browsing ARTrageous, House Party or maybe Women, Books and Wine?

Whatever questions you face as banners around town, newspaper advertisements and even B.C.-wide television coverage of the nine-year-old event spurs that moment of I-should-really-get-organized-and-get-tickets thoughts, act on them now. Because whatever your preferred palate –education, food and wine tastings, farm adventures, parties, concerts or even a male burlesque show – the Cornucopia event list is as plentiful as the numerous wines showcased. And tickets, ranging from $25 to $250, are already sold out in some venues.

So where do you start with so many events to chose from?

Sitting down with Michelle Payette, manager of events for Tourism Whistler, she suggested a formula she used when choosing tickets for her father.

"Realistically, you can’t hit everything," Payette said. "There’s enough diversity for everyone to come back year after year and hit different events, but picking out a social event, seminar, signature event, winemaker dinner and after party will give you a real variety (of the Cornucopia experience)."

Based on the mayhem-minimizing formula, some events to add to your social calendar may include ARTrageous, House Party, Fornacoppia, and Women, Wine and Books. All events are paycheque-friendly, ranging from $25 for an evening of live music and wine to $59 for an escape into the romance of Italian wines and literary works.

ARTrageous packs in art, wine and locals day and night with the 10 th Annual Art Bash Thursday, Nov. 10 at the Garibaldi Lift Company (GLC). From 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., art enthusiasts are invited to sample wines from Mission Hill Wineries while browsing the works of Dave "Pepe" Petoko, Chili Thom, Leanna Rathkelly, Greg Eymundson and Vincent and Cheryl Massey, just to name a few. Free event.

The stars come out at 8 p.m. with psychedelic grooves and tribal beats from the Wassabi Collective. The social-message-driven music spans African and Latin beats, reggae, house and trip hop grooves. The Nelson-based band has shared stages with Hot Hot Heat, Garaj Mahal, and Michael Franti and Spearhead, just to name a few.

The $25 concert ticket includes two drinks from the Mark Anthony Group. The Whistler Arts Council, Whistler’s patron of the arts, is the charity recipient of this year’s festival.

Also new to the festival calendar this year, Women, Wine and Books: An Evening of Italian Renaissance Intrigue opens a new chapter on wine, live Renaissance music, hors d’oeuvres and a reading by award-winning author Pauline Holdstock from her Renaissance tale Beyond Measure Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at a Whistler mansion. Poking fun at the MasqueRave’s body-painted nude models, male models air brushed as Renaissance statues will wait on the all-lady event.

Tickets are $59.

Men seem to steal the spotlight from the Bearfoot Bistro’s naughty women this year. Fornacoppia, an event not officially associated with the festival, shakes up bootie, boys and burlesque Wednesday, Nov. 9 at the GLC.

Local hunks will perform burlesque-style dances – which is more about the tease than the full monty – to the best/worst boy band classics.

The ladies-only show runs 10 to 11 p.m. Tickets are $9. Men welcome after 11 p.m. Tickets are $15.

House Party also toasts the social scene Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Telus Conference Centre with a tribute to the film Sideways. Guests cast their vote on the supreme reigning wine: Merlot or Pinot Noir? First timers or connoisseurs can battle it out over award-winning Memphis Blues Barbecue House pulled pork, cold suds and DJ mixes. Tickets are $49.

Moving on from social to seminar, Cornucopia food and wine interactive workshops held at the conference centre will entertain with a wide range of topics for every palate.

Grapes in Heat Friday, Nov. 11 at 11:45 a.m. guides wine pairing with Asian, Indian and Thai dishes; Novice wine drinkers can learn how to sniff and swirl with wine gurus at Grape Beginnings Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9 a.m.; Leave wine selection to the professionals with Wine Guys — Wine Picks Saturday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m.; and forget wine all together by raising a cold one to What’s Brewing Saturday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. and a hot one to the Art of the Latte Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9 a.m.

Is your mind starting to spin yet and you haven’t begun to sample the wine?

The festival’s signature event, Crush! brings all of the festival’s components together in one evening with 75 wineries showcasing more than 300 wines for tasting, food sampling from some of Whistler’s finest restaurants and a relaxed sophisticated atmosphere with music and friends. A new wine store at the event allows guests to buy showcased wines.

The event will also feature the Top 25 Wines unveiled the night before at Serious Tasting for the Serious Set Thursday, Nov. 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the conference centre – no food, no music, just wine tasting for grape aficionados.

Wine fans can further cultivate their wine lists with winemaker dinners scattered throughout Whistler Saturday, Nov. 12.

These special evenings are orchestrated around the wines as winemakers work with chefs to prepare the perfect fixed-course menu; each course designed to showcase a specific wine for an informative and delectable evening.

The dinners at Après, Bearfoot Bistro, Aubergine Grille and Fifty Two 80 Bistro are sold out. However, reservations are still available at Araxi, The Den, The Wildflower, Hy’s Steakhouse, Quattro and Whistler Cooks, ranging from $140 to $325.

No Cornucopia experience would be complete without attending an after party following the Crush! Gala Grand Tasting Friday, Nov. 11 at 10 p.m. at either Araxi or the Bearfoot Bistro.

After-party events are at extreme opposites.

Araxi’s Bubbles, Jazz and the Deep Blue Sea promises an elegant, dazzling evening of champagne, cocktails, fresh seafood and sweet delights. Bubbles will loosen ties as guests move to the swinging beat of the Otto Von Selmer eight-piece jazz band. Classy, up beat, the party brims with sophistication and swing.

MasqueRave swings in an entirely different direction with Andre St. Jacques of the Bearfoot Bistro throwing a debaucherous, rowdy, hang-onto-your-panties circus, expanding to 2,200 guests with the bistro joining Ric’s Grill and Buffalo Bill’s all under one big circus tent. The more than one-quarter million dollar event showcasing another $300,000 of wine and cocktails celebrates the Bistro’s 10th anniversary. Last year’s addition of a mask carries on, leaving partiers free to lose inhibitions behind a hidden identity. If you were outraged by the porn flicks on the wall, naked women airbrushed as wine bottles or chocolate fondue station with chocolate poured over a naked woman to swipe a strawberry across last year, then this is not the party for you – St. Jacque says he is really pushing the envelope this year.

In addition to the side-show scandals, there is plenty of other entertainment, including Phoenix Cirque acrobatic performers, live music in the three venues (10-piece band Famous Players, Joe’s Garage and Blues Trio) and of course, the wine that spans the globe.

Araxi after party tickets are $150. MasqueRave tickets are $200.

For more information or tickets, visit www.whistlercornucopia.com or call 1-888-999-4566.