The new locale will comfortably accommodate 2,000 attendees at 150 tables of ten ($450 or $45 a person), serving themselves from 60 hotel and restaurant displays. Tickets that include entry into the "VIP lounge" with six upscale, new-to-the-event restaurants are $65 ($650 per table). For Tickets and more information, call 702-943-6910, ext. 1.

UNLVino, the valley's granddaddy and grandest of all wines tastings, takes place from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 10 at Bally's. "Take a sip for scholarship" is the theme of the 25th annual extravaganza sponsored by Southern Wine & Spirits to benefit UNLV's Harrah's College of Hotel Administration. Antinori, Black Opal, Caymus, Chateau St. Jean, Clos Du Val, Domaine Chandon, Estancia, Far Niente, Fess Parker, Georges Duboeuf, Hess Collection, Charles Krug, Krug Champagne, Louis Roederer, Merryvale, Moet & Chandon, Mumm CuvEe Napa, Niebaum-Coppola, Penfold's, Piper Heidseick, Rothschild, Sandman (Ports and Sherries), Sebastiani, Simi, Sterling, Torres, Trefethen and Veuve Clicquot are among the 150 wineries offering tastings of their vintages.

For last year's event, Caesars Palace, Circus Circus, Desert Inn, Excalibur, Luxor, Main Street Station, Monte Carlo, Rio, Sam's Town, Stratosphere, and Station Casinos, plus New York-New York's 11 Fomaio and the Food & Beverage Directors Association were among donors of 1,300 pounds of cheese, 500 pounds of deli meats and sausages, 1,000 loaves of bread, 25 cases of crackers, 500 pounds of vegetables, 20 flats each of strawberries and grapes, and 400 pounds of other fruits. Caviar Royale and Urban Coffee contributed their specialities.

Representing the 10th generation of his family, Georg Riedel is always an important UNLVino exhibitor. Riedel Crystal of Kufstein Austria has attained international prominence in the world of fine wine. As a wine connoisseur/fanatic, Riedel's goal for the elegant glasses crafted by his 247-year-old company is balainced, harmonious taste for the wines served in them. Exposed to so finest wines in the world, his understanding of wine, as well as the groundwork laid by his father, has led him to develop a variety of glass shapes to enhance the flavor of a wide variety of wines and spirits. He recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the seminal series of Sommeller glasses, and the introduction of a classic martini glass, a revolutionary tasting and the second in a series of six - the 1999 Millenium Champagne flute.

Tickets to UNLVino are $25 in advance, $40 at the door. Call Southern Wine & Spirits at 702-876-4500.

The largest distributor in the state, Southern Wine & Spirits also sponsors the winemaker event presented each semester by UNLV Harrah's College senior class culinary students. This semester's is on Thursday, April 22, starting with cocktails at 6p.m. in Beam Hall's Southern Wine & Spirits Lounge, followed by dinner in the adjoining Boyd Dining Room. Call 702-733-5000

April 10 is also the date that Wolfgang Puck and wife Barbara Lazaroff debut their ristorante in the newly opened Mandalay Bay. Featuring both traditional and contemporary cuisine for lunch and dinner, Trattoria del Lupo is their first Italian eatery. Designed by renowned Adam Tihany, the rustic-look trattoria has a 75 seat dining room with a special bar and wine room, and exhibition pizza and antipasto station, a 20-foot communal table and a 75-seat banquet room. Call 702-693-7777.

On Wednesday, April 21, the spectacular $1.2 billion Venetian resort, replicating Venice in all its glory in the location that was the legendary Sands Hotel-Casino, opens the first of its two 35-story, 3,000 suite towers, complete with a five-acre Venetian garden-style pool deck, a 40-foot rock-climbing wall, a Doge's Palace replica, and a reproduction of Venice's Grand Canal and St. Mark's Square with cobbled walkways and a 28,000-square-foot Madame Tussaud's museum, a 120,000-square-foot state-of-the-art casino resembling the interior of a Venetian palace, a 315-foot-high Campanile Tower, the 500,000-square-foot Grand Canal Shoppes mall and the Rialto Bridge, plus the posh Canyon Ranch Spa Club.

And there are world-class restaurants - Delmonico Steakhouse where Emeril Lagasse has re-created his stunning New Orleans' restaurant; New York's famed Lutece with Eberhard Muller's artful light cooking for the Las Vegas counterpart; Pinot Brasserie in which Joachim Splichal has duplicated his acclaimed Los Angeles eatery; Postrio where Wolfgang Puck has replcated his renowned San Francisco bistro; and Valentino where Piero Selva has re-created his Los Angeles ristorante's exquisite regional fare. Canaletto is a by I1 Fomaio's Larry Mindel, featuring the talents of eminent Venice chef Maurizzo Mazzon; Grand Lux Cafe offers 24-hour dining by the popular Cheesecake Factory Royal Star brings California Chinese from Ocean Star to the resort, with Hong Kong chefs combining ancient traditions and modern creativity,: for Star Canyon, Dallas based Stephan Pyles replicates his award-winning "new Texas cuisine," Zeffirino presents Italian cuisine by chef-to-the-stars, Paolo Belloni. Call 702-733-5000