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The Rotary Club of West Seattle held its first "Premium Wine & Tasting Gala" at Salty's Thursday night as a sort of dry run for another such gala in spring. The event featured local wineries from around the area.

Money raised from the event will support local youth scholarships, the club's 38th annual children's shopping spree and other community and international humanitarianism outreach efforts.

Event activities included:

Premium Wine & Chocolate Tasting
Live & Silent Auctions
Raise The Paddle
Heavy Hors D'Oeuvres
Community Fellowship

***Event Entertainment***

Live jazz & blues music performed by Randall O'Dowd

Wineries represented:

DeLille Cellars, Woodenville
O Wine Company, Woodenville
Hedges Cellars, Benton, WA
Patterson Wines & Spirits
Goedhart Family Estates
Two Brothers
Baron’s V
Hestia Cellars
Fat Cork,
JM Cellars
Rasa

Rotarian Heidi Horwitz, an orthodontist who practices in the Alaska Junction, planned this event.

"I'm proud of all the items in the live and silent auctions, and all the wineries here," she said. "The food at Salty's is fabulous. Theo's chocolate is doing a great job. I'm proud of this club. We're a fun group."

Susan Lindblom is West Seattle Rotary Club President.

"This is really a fun event," she said. "This will be the first of a yearly event. We plan on having another one next spring."

West Seattle icon Ken Olsen is past president of the Rotary Club and current secretary.

"I've had a couple of little samples over here," he said. "It's been great."

Andy Horner, 36, is President-elect of the West Seattle Rotary Club and lives in the Admiral district. He works for Leavitt Machinery in material handling."

"I got involved with Rotary to get involved with the community," he said. "I've been a (Rotary) member for a year and a half. I'm fast-tracking, getting involved with everything. It's really good."

Ann Liberato is District Governor, Rotary Club.

I'm on a major diet and won't drink any wine or eat chocolate tonight," she laughed. "I'm here to support my home club and do what I can. I grew up in the Fauntleroy area and went to Chief Sealth."

Nathan Maas is with Theo Chocolate. They are in Fremont in the old Red Hook Brewery building. Theo took over almost five years ago.

"I started working with wine, and coffee in Central America," he said. "Because we are organic and fair trade I began working with Theo Chocolate. Today we have an ultimate dark chocolate, a blend of Central American and Ecuador beans, salted almond in dark and milk chocolate, and all of our fantasy bars- bread & chocolate, coconut curry, hazelnut crunch, and fig, fennel and almond. Chocolate goes well with wine. Chocolate has its own tannin and terroir."