The wineries on Whidbey Island are gearing up for their busiest event of the year: February’s annual Red Wine and Chocolate Tour sponsored by the Whidbey Island Vintners Association.

Each February the wineries, including Comforts of Whidbey, Ott & Murphy Wines, Spoiled Dog Winery, Blooms Winery, Holmes Harbor Cellars and Greenbank Cellars (via Greenbank Farm), find their favorite wines to pair with locally created chocolate treats.

This year the event will take place over two weekends, Feb. 11 and 12 and also Feb. 18 through 20. The six tasting rooms will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants can visit each of the tasting rooms with a souvenir glass in hand and tour vineyards at some wineries, such as Comforts of Whidbey’s vineyard and farm, Spoiled Dog Winery’s farm and vineyard with their new tasting room, and the Italian Villa style winery and tasting room at Holmes Harbor Cellars.

Others are offsite tasting rooms, like Ott & Murphy Wines’ quaint tasting room on the waterfront in downtown Langley or Blooms Winery’s Taste for Wine at the Historic Bayview Corner Cash store with an art gallery and live music in the afternoon.

The historic Greenbank Farm Wine Shop offers samples of several of the local wines along with its Loganberry Wine, and offers a place to sample Greenbank Cellars’ wines, which is closed for the winter.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the venues or via brownpapertickets.com. The cost for advance purchase is $20 and tickets purchased during the tour will be $25.

For information and links to the individual wineries, visit www.whidbeyislandvintners.org.