WSU students and staff are helping the visiting mothers let loose this weekend with several wine tasting events.

WSU’s 31^st annual Winefest, hosted by Eta Sigma Delta, is better than ever this year with excellent wines, food and live music, said Director of Events Adrien Goucher, a senior hospitality and business major.

“(Eta Sigma Delta’s Winefest) is the oldest hosted event of Mom’s Weekend. We’ve made a name for our event,” she said. “Our food sells us. This year we get to have food from Birch and Barley, a well-known restaurant that serves surf and turf with a Cajun twist.”

Winefest kicks off Mom’s Weekend this Friday with a sold out session from 5 – 7 p.m. and space still available from 8 – 10 p.m. at the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) Event Center.

The weekend will see Crimson & Chardonnay, Taste of WSU, Winefest, and the WSU Visitor Center’s wine tasting — all wine tasting events that offer a relaxing atmosphere for moms and students of all ages.

WSU Alumni Association Strategic Events Manager Carrie Neppel said that while wine tastings have become a popular event for Mom’s Weekend, the Alumni Association has been putting on its Crimson and Chardonnay event for about 12 years.

“It started as a way to raise money for the club, but it’s become a really fun way to highlight regional wineries, and cougar-connected wines,” Neppel said. “We’ve heard our event is more intimate than some of the others. Our building is only so big, and I think it creates a festive and inviting atmosphere.”

Crimson & Chardonnay will host six wineries Saturday from 6 – 8 p.m. in the Lewis Alumni Centre. The event costs $40 for those 21 and over, and $20 for minors. Space for this event is still available; visit www.alumni.wsu.edu for more information.

The WSU Viticulture and Enology Club will bring professionalism and passion to its Taste of WSU event, said WSU Viticulture and Enology Club president and junior viticulture major Kaelin Campbell.

“This is a great opportunity to share what we’ve been learning and to taste and talk about wine,” she said. “This is our profession. It’s not just for fun. Our future career focuses on the wine industry. We’re all passionate about wine and we have answers to questions people might have.”

Taste of WSU will take place Saturday from 1 – 5 p.m. at Ensminger Pavilion and is open to people of all ages. Tickets for the wine tasting cost $25.

When people think of the WSU Visitor’s Center they don’t often think of wine, but marketing promotions coordinator for WSU’s Visitor’s Center Amberly Boone said she hopes to change this idea with the Visitor Center’s wine tasting event this weekend.

“Most people don’t realize that we have 120 different wines for sale all the time. This is an opportunity to showcase a small portion of those that we do sell,” Boone said. “We mostly feature wines that alumna have gone on to make as the actual winemaker or owner of a winery.”

The event will feature six wines, including wines from several regionally-recognized wineries. The Visitor’s Center will be open Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the event, and tasting tickets are available for $10.