With a focus on Northwest wines and regional cuisine, the Savor Cannon Beach Wine & Culinary Festival offers a four-day lineup of wine, culinary and arts events, March 9-12, in one of the Pacific Northwest's most popular destinations: Cannon Beach, Oregon. A series of festival events focus on specific themes that showcase the bounty of Northwest wine and cuisine while the town's restaurants, galleries and shops feature a weekend full of tastings, special dinners and cultural events.

Most of the wine tasting events are intimate and are limited to less than 150 participants, though the largest event of the festival, the Saturday wine walk, accommodates several hundred wine tasters who can visit approximately 40 Northwest wineries pouring tastings at Cannon Beach art galleries, restaurants and retail shops, all within easy walking distance in this compact beach community. Participating wineries represent many of the wine growing regions in Oregon and Washington.

Other festival wine-tasting events showcase award-winning or notable wines from the Pacific Northwest and cuisine prepared by talented local chefs. The festival kicks off on Thursday with Best of the Northwest, a wine-tasting "throwdown," where participants taste 12 selected wines representing different wine growing regions of Oregon and Washington, then vote on their favorites to determine the evening's top wines. A menu of light bites designed to pair with the evening's featured wines will be served by three-time Iron Chef Goes Coastal champion Jonathan Hoffman. On Sunday, participants can indulge in Gold Medal Wines & The Battle of the Bites, featuring 12 Gold Medal wines from the SavorNW Wine Awards and "bites" offered by area chefs and restaurants. Participant votes determine which bite wins the battle.

Friday's events include Winemaker's Premium Pours, in which five Northwest wineries each pour three special wines that may include library wines, verticals, horizontals or reserve selections. Friday night's Wine & Gallery Walk will lead participants through several popular Cannon Beach galleries hosting wineries from both Oregon and Washington.

Individual tickets to festival events are $20-40 each and a full Festival Pass good for admission to all festival tasting events is also available for $195. Advance purchase is recommended as events are limited in size and have sold out in past years.

Tickets are available at Savor Cannon Beach

Find more information on-line at www.savorcannonbeach.com or visit Event Details for a schedule of events.

For additional information, call (503) 717-1122.