This year will be the first ever wine event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. A Spring Serata (serata is Italian for "evening" but sounds way fancier in Italian than English) will take place on June 7th at the ISGM. They're setting up tasting stations all over the museum for the grassy, floral, and mineral wines – don't ask us what that means, ask them:

A Spring Serata also puts a unique, creative twist on the art of wine tasting, pairing wines with specific sites in the museum’s exterior and interior gardens and galleries. Sommeliers from Best Cellars will pour a trio of “grassy” wines in the verdant exterior Monk’s Garden; a sampling of “mineral” wines in the stone and tiled Spanish Cloister; and luscious “floral” wines alongside the museum’s blossoming interior courtyard, reminiscent of a Venetian palazzo. All evening, wine experts will be on hand to provide helpful tips on creative pairings for seasoned oenophiles and wine newcomers alike.

The evening, ahem, serata events will run you $75 a ticket, $65 for members. Bostonist got an inside tip that a preview of the event will happen tomorrow afternoon – Saturday, May 26. We'll call it a Spring Pomeriggio (but since we don't know Italian we hope google didn't lie to us and that word does in fact mean afternoon). The free preview runs from 2 - 5pm at Best Cellars Boston-area locations (745 Boylston Street, Back Bay; 1327 Beacon Street, Coolidge Corner). Sommeliers will show off some spring wines (and if you're lucky the grassy ones too). Both events will be a great way to drink in some culture. If you're in it for the Serata, what can be fancier than sipping wine in an art museum? The big event on June 7th runs from 6 – 8 pm, ticket prices include gallery admission, wine, hors d'oeuvres, and live music. Proceeds go directly back into making the Gardner a fine museum.

Image from the ISGM of the fabu courtyard. (Where you'll find the "floral" wines)