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Drinks abound at Scottsdale Culinary Festival

This week marks the start of the Scottsdale Culinary Festival, one of the Valley's premier dining and drinking events.

All week, chefs, sommeliers, restaurant owners and foodies will gather at wine tastings, awards banquets, picnics and cocktail parties to celebrate the best of the Valley's food scene.

And while most of the events center on fabulous food and fancy chefs, I'm particularly excited about those built around wine and cocktails, in particular the On the Rocks events Wednesday and Thursday, all $40 each.

These cocktail-centric affairs work like particularly well-organized happy hours, where everyone is dressed a little nicer, the drinks are a little better, and the food is a little more elegant. Experts walk guests through drink and food pairings, talking about flavor profiles, beverage origins and how to pull off a similar shindig on your own.

On Wednesday, the Hotel Valley Ho takes the party poolside and gets guests in the mood for summer with Cruzan rum cocktails and Polynesian fare from Trader Vic's.

And on Thursday, the Mondrian Scottsdale hosts a mixologist event focused around creative cocktails, giving you suggestions for what to order when you're ready to move beyond the vodka tonic.

But after talking to food and wine expert Ted Allen, formerly of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, I'm also looking forward to checking out the third annual Robert Mondavi Discover Wine Tour at the Great Arizona Picnic Saturday and Sunday.

These days, Allen hosts the Food Network series "Food Detectives" and "Chopped," and he's also an ambassador for Mondavi wines, frequently hosting the tour as it makes its way through various festivals and picnics each summer.

The Great Arizona Picnic ($10 cover, plus $1 food and drink tickets) serves as a kind of outdoor, casual food court for dozens of Valley restaurants and bars, with an Absolut Bistro sponsored by the vodka company, Camarones Margarita Village sponsored by Patron tequila, and the Southwest Festival of Beers beer garden.

Unlike the other drinking destinations in the picnic, the Mondavi wine area requires no additional ticket and is more about education than just drinking, which explains why my interest was so piqued.

Allen will not be in town for the Valley event this weekend, but he explained that the wine tour is a way for people to experience the magic of Napa, Calif., in their own towns, complete with wine tastings, wine and food pairings, and a kind of intro-to-wine atmosphere.

“It's intended for regular people to sit down and learn about wines, which is something that people are often intimidated by,” he said. “Wine is for everybody, it's not just for people who can afford cellars full of $150 Bordeaux.”

Guests also will learn about how to find great wines at all price points, and how to entertain on a (limited) budget.

Details: Learn more about the entire week's events and dates and buy tickets at scottsdaleculinaryfestival.org.