Forty-one years since it debuted in a prominent liquor distributor’s warehouse, UNLVino has grown from a wine tasting fundraiser into an epicurean extravaganza. This year’s event begins with the traditional champagne celebration kick-off Bubble-Licious at The Venetian and The Palazzo, heads west to Red Rock Resort the next evening for Sake Fever, then returns to the Strip for the climactic Grand Tasting at Paris Las Vegas. Master chefs Daniel Boulud and Steve Martorano will be honored during UNLVino with the Dom Pérignon Award of Excellence, along with another name well known to UNLV supporters and students.

“This organization and this function, this event, what’s been created over the course of the past 40 years, is incredibly special,” said Donald Snyder, former UNLV president and current presidential advisor. “So having been involved in various ways over the years, to now be the honoree is truly a big deal, and I appreciate them reaching out in this regard.”

UNLVino took root in the late ’60s when Jerry Vallen, then newly hired dean of the hospitality program, began a summer wine-tasting class at the Las Vegas Convention Center. In 1974, he was approached by Larry Ruvo, head of Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada, with the idea of a wine tasting that would benefit the school’s College of Hotel Administration. More than 400 people attended the inaugural UNLVino. Attendance topped 6,500 in 2014.

“The program has substantially grown in terms of not just the number of people that participate, not just the number of days the event takes place over, but what’s it’s done in terms of engaging students in two ways,” said Snyder, who came to Las Vegas 27 years ago to be the dean of the hotel college and became a UNLVino volunteer. “One is providing them with work experience that is directly helpful to them in building their careers. The other area that touches the students is the scholarships that have been developed.”

The call to “take a sip for scholarship” has resulted in millions of dollars being raised to date. The scope of the participating wine suppliers and restaurants is staggering as well. The Bubble-Licious roster includes fare from the kitchens of Boulud, Lagasse and Batali & Bastianich, among others. Sake Fever combines the best of Red Rock Resort with restaurants chosen from points across Vegas, including the city’s revered Chinatown district. The Grand Tasting features favorites from chefs such as Andre Rochat and Hubert Keller, as well as some rising stars in the Vegas culinary scene. Wine and spirits abound at every event.

UNLVino is no longer the only food and wine festival in Vegas, but it can lay claim to being the most enduring. “They invented something very, very special,” said Snyder. “I will tell you that Jerry and Larry, for having the vision and the foresight to do this, to see it develop, they should have a great sense of pride.”

Venues vary, 7 p.m. April 16-18, $100-$150 plus tax and fee. unlvino.com or 877.413.8466