The Omaha Bar Association still plans to hold its 21st annual wine tasting next month – but the event will have a slight twist.

Normally an in-person gathering, the 2021 wine tasting will be a virtual event due to the coronavirus pandemic, bringing OBA members and their guests together via a Zoom video conference.

“The annual wine tasting has been an increasingly popular member-only event in recent years,” OBA Executive Director Dave Sommers said. “We wanted to make sure to keep the event going in 2021 in some way and show our members how much we appreciate them.”

The wine tasting will be held Friday, Jan. 29, beginning at 7 p.m. and is open to OBA members, who may invite one guest.

Registration costs $5 per member, plus an additional $5 for a guest. Each attendee will receive a “goodie bag” that includes a 375-milliliter bottle of wine, an official OBA Wine Tasting glass and a raffle ticket for prize drawings during the live event. Members who register with a guest will receive a standard bottle of wine and double the other goodies, Sommers said.

“So many attorneys and judges enjoy the opportunity each January to spend an evening with colleagues and their significant others, tasting wine and mingling,” he said. “In the dark and cold middle of winter, the tasting has always been a break from the January blues.”

The Daily Record is again sponsoring this year’s wine tasting. Publisher Jason Huff said the event reminds him of looking up at night sky to watch the stars.

“Whether a good day, a bad day or vacationing overseas, you can always look up and see the same shining rays of hope beaming back at you,” Huff said. “I think that is what this year’s OBA wine tasting is all about. We can still look up, tune in, remember and find the same shining rays of hope we’ve always been able to rely on.”

To ensure safety and social distancing, participants will collect their goodie bags the week of the event at three locations around the metro area. Attendees will be contacted ahead of time to select the wine they want and the location most convenient to pick it up.

If attendees can’t make it to one of those spots – tentatively set for outside the Kutak Rock office downtown, the Regency Shopping Center parking lot and the Goosmann Law parking lot west of Village Pointe – delivery arrangements can be made in the metro area.

“The wine tasting will be different this year because it’ll be held remotely, but we’ll still make sure to come together as a legal community and toast all that we have to be thankful for, and to being together in person soon,” Sommers said.

Register by Jan. 25 at omahabarassociation.com or contact Sommers by calling 402-280-3607 or emailing dave@omahabarassociation.com.