Perhaps you’ve been to Balistreri Vineyards’ 17-year-old north Denver tasting room for glasses of Colorado-sourced wine or an Italian-inspired lunch. But you may not know about its outstanding seasonal wine dinners, which owner and winemaker John Balistreri launched 13 years ago.

You can experience one for yourself at the family-owned winery’s lush garden this Friday, August 4. The Showcase Wine Dinner promises six courses from chefs Ariana Pope and Chris Teigland, veterans of Blackbelly Market and Honor Society Hand-Crafted Eatery, respectively. They’ll be preparing summery dishes such as tuna carpaccio, Talbott Farm peach caprese, a play on surf and turf involving Snake River Farms wagyu beef and butter-poached lobster, and a sweet Olathe corn custard. All will be served on grandson John Domenico’s ceramic plateware, baked in a 30-foot Japanese kiln a few hundred yards away from the winery.

Balistreri Vineyards
Winemaker and founder John Balistreri addresses his guests at a recent Balistreri Vineyards dinner. Photo courtesy of Claire Cleveland
Balistreri Vineyards
Hamachi crudo rests on John Domenico’s ceramic plateware, which is baked in a kiln near the winery. Photo courtesy of Claire Cleveland

Of course, there will be wine, and lots of it. Balistreri plans to break out library wines as well as a never-before-released orange-style wine, which gets its color from the skins of white grapes that are left on during the fermentation process. At a recent spring barrel-tasting supper, my fiancé and I (and 108 others guests) were wowed by Balistreri’s fruit-forward 2016 Colorado Syrah, the green pepper notes of the 2016 Colorado Cabernet Franc, and the bold, oaky-vanilla flavors of the 2016 Colorado Cabernet Sauvignon. All are made with grapes sourced from Palisade vineyards and will be available in the tasting room this fall. Between the delicious food, familial hospitality, and award-winning wines, it was an experience that I look forward to repeating.

Tickets can be purchased at balistrerivineyards.com for $120 a person. Can’t attend the Showcase dinner? Check out the lineup of upcoming events here.

Showcase Wine Dinner, Friday, August 4, 6:30 p.m.

1946 E. 66th Ave., 303-287-5156