BELLAIRE — This December the Sons of Italy will share and celebrate a beloved element of the culture that has made its way to the United States. On 6 p.m. Dec. 15 the Sons of Italy Cultural Committee will be holding a special holiday Wine Tasting Festival.

“What’s unique about this time, is that for the first time the lodge will be partnering with Vino di Piccin Winery of Lansing, Ohio,” committee member Judge Frank Fregiato said.

He said the wine tasting will also feature interesting tidbits of information about the wines themselves.

“We have the wine tasting function every year, but it’s going to be very different this year because we’re having a local winery provide all the wines. In addition to that, Mr. John Piccin, the president of Piccin Winery, will be present, and what he’s going to be doing is explaining the different wines,” Fregiato said. “We are going to have red wines, white wines and rose wines.”

He added the event will feature an upscale selection of Marcello’s Reserve, named after Marshall Piccin, a lodge member who died in 2011. The wine tasting will also feature hors d’oeuvres.

“It’s an Italian family, and a lot of the wines are Italian based, but there’s going to be a wide variety of wines and we wanted to keep our money locally and Vino di Piccin’s provides excellent wine at an excellent price,” Fregiato said. “The night will be capped off with a very special hot spiced wine.”

Tickets are available at a reduced price for Sons of Italy members, but non-members are also welcome and encouraged to attend. No more than 100 tickets will be sold.

“We don’t know if we’ll get that many,” Fregiato said. “The cultural committee’s stated purpose is to preserve the Italian American culture.”

Tickets may be purchased at the lodge or by calling 740-359-3535.