March 29: Best Cellars University at Pair of 8's Pair of 8's owner Ron Didner and new Chef Matthew Hamilton (formerly of Prune, Uovo, and Zuni Cafe, pictured at right) pair up with Best Cellars to host the first of this monthly series starting with Wine 101. Wine will be paired with five courses. $70 for a single class and $65 for two or more classes, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Call 212-362-8730 to register. 568......

January 19: Fondue Night at Riverdale Garden It may be cold outside, but it's perfect fondue weather. Riverdale Garden will be serving up classic cheese, hearty herb flavored oil with beef and chicken and, of course, bittersweet chocolate. Complete dinner is $29 including house wine and draft beer, or just drinks and music for $15. Dinner starting at 7PM, music at 8:30PM. Reservations are recommended and can be made on Open Table or by calling......

Just about every animal has been used to market wine these days. Kangaroos, frogs, and goats appear on labels everywhere. But how about a real live dog selling the wine? That’s what you’ll find at Bottlerocket, the new store that opened last month in the Flatiron district. Bottlerocket does everything in its power to deflate the pretentiousness of the wine world. You can’t help but feel comfortable here — even if wine to you means......

Terroir is one of those concepts where if you put 50 wine geeks in a room and let them talk among themselves, you can create a heated discussion around dirt. Add to that equation a blind wine tasting and hold it at Daniel and it’s possible that a cheese puff and caviar food fight may erupt. The potential to see little bites of culinary genus thrown maliciously at Masters of Wine and industry greats was......

August 19 - 26: A Celebration of Corn Zocalo is featuring one of our summer favorites with corn specials throughout the menu for one week: Mexican Popcorn at the bar, corn-on-the-cob with chipotle mayo, lime and queso fresco, quesadilla de huitlacoche, and a blue corn cake with roasted pork, tomatillo salsa and fava beans, among others. Zocalo, 174 E. 82nd St., 212-717-7772. August 22 - 26: Partage Tasting Menus -- Provence & the Cote d'Azur......

August 5: Taco Chulo Opens Hipsters rejoice: Williamsburg's answer to La Esquina is slated to open this weekend (although you may want to call first). We don't think there's a secret handshake involved in this one, but there will be tasty tacos with organic and natural ingredients (did someone say Niman Ranch pork?) topping housemade tortillas, San Fran Mission-style burritos, and Texas breakfast tacos for brunch (and boy are we psyched for their chilaquiles and......

July 30: Sake Seminar & Tasting After reading all about sake, now you can learn about it all up close and personal-like. 4-7 pm, Landmark Wine & Sake, 167 west 23rd Street, $30. Call 212-242-2323 for reservations. July 30 - 31: Gin Weekend A whole weekend of gin-filled goodness. Learn all about gin and taste LeNell's gin selections, including Dutch genever jonge and oulde (we have no idea what those are, but they sound fancy).......

Every morning this week we've opened the window onto our fire escape hoping today would feel like a summer, like a craving for sangria. Then, fighting back tears, we put away our new sandals. Again. Every night this week, though, we've been drinking wines like the foodies eat their mac and cheese. On the recommendation of a currently nomadic friend who will always be a Brooklynite at heart, we visited Total Wine Bar in the......

The Queens County Farm Museum, the only working farm in the city, is planning on starting a vineyard. The Post reports that the Farm would be "bottling Chardonnays, Cabernets and Merlots as early as 2007." It seems that the climate in Queens is better suited for wine production than Long Island. Joshua Wesson, CEO of Best Cellars, gives this optimistic yet guarded quote, "It will be interesting to see if Queens wine can capture the......