(PD) - The Sunday morning benefit wine auction, held outdoors at tables draped in white cloth, raised about $28,500 for charity, and guests then headed for a soiree around the swimming pool at the upscale MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa in Sonoma.

But this nearly all-male crowd was not your usual Wine Country gathering.

“With this event, we don’t have to be on guard,” said Ian MacWilliams of Walnut Creek. “We don’t have to be looking over our shoulders. We are the majority.”
 
About 600 people from at least 20 states, many from the Bay Area, attended the fifth annual Gay Wine Weekend, the vast majority of them gay men: singles, couples and groups of friends.

Tourism officials and analysts say the spending power of the LGBT community has only recently been recognized, with Sonoma County well positioned to benefit as events like Gay Wine Weekend help market the area as a destination.

“There’s a real camaraderie,” said Larry Kolka, MacWilliams’ partner for 27 years, on Sunday. “You get to meet new people, to share with them the discovery of wines and food.”

There were some heterosexuals in the mix, and MacWilliams said they were welcome.

“If they want to come along, so much the better. We’re on a fun train here,” he said.

The weekend featured multi-course, winemaker-hosted dinners, vineyard tours and a Saturday night dance at Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma, the signature event.

On a hot, sunny afternoon Sunday, the atmosphere around the pool was emphatically casual, with dance music pumping from a DJ’s booth and men sitting in the shade and sunning themselves in the water.