DESERT AIRE - The Royal Register has sweetened the pot a little for the 2nd annual Taste the Wahluke Slope wine festival this Saturday evening, June 22.

To a growing collection of raffle prizes, the Register has added a St. Joe River Cruise. The excursion for two adults will start at the Coeur d'Alene Resort aboard a Lake Coeur d'Alene Cruise boat.

The Register has donated a round of golf for two, with cart, at The Links at Moses Pointe. It has put up two 2014-2015 season passes for the Central Basin Community Concert Association concert series and a Columbia Basin pictorial history coffee table book

"We'll also donate a bottle of wine from each represented winery," Publisher Tom Hinde said.

Other interesting raffle items included retro wine signs such as: "He was two drinks away from proving his mother right."

The Mattawa Area Multi-Cultural Chamber of Commerce the Taste the Wahluke Slope, which will be celebrated at the Desert Aire Golf Course clubhouse from 5-8 p.m.

Six wineries (Desert Wind, Gilbert Cellars, Ginkgo Forest, Milbrandt, Palencia and Tagaris) are set to share some of their wines. All are made from grapes grown on the Wahluke Slope.

Tasting tickets are $25 per person or $45 for a couple. Tickets allow holders to taste 10 wines and keep a souvenir glass. Each winery will have either chocolate or cheese to pair with one of their wines.

This year's event will start an hour earlier, at 5 p.m., so that visitors may have an opportunity to also enjoy a chicken dinner grilled by Jack and Dana Fox. Dinner tickets, at $10 each, will be sold separately from the tasting tickets.

Taste and dinner tickets are on sale at Columbia Bank in Mattawa, Ginkgo Forest Winery and the John L Scott Real Estate office in Desert Aire.

Columbia Bank is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Ginkgo Winery is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. John L. Scott is open Wednesday through Saturday 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 p.m.-3 p.m.

Every winery will have extra bottles of wine for visitors to purchase and take home.

Taste the Wahluke Slope is the Chamber's largest fund-raising event. Funds generated will help the Chamber conduct other activities to promote the businesses of the Mattawa area.

For more information, contact Chamber President Lois Thiede at 509-831-6431.