BLACK CURRANTS AND BELL PEPPER: Cabernet Sauvignon, anyone? Wine tasting alert! For your fiver, you can taste a selection of Cabernet wines--and if you buy a bottle or two to take home, they'll return your tasting fee. We recommend you put on your nice jeans (the clean ones with no holes) and head to Belltown for a swanky but satisfying evening of light, educational indulgence. more ›

With the lights dimmed enough to put you at ease, Twisted Cork in downtown Bellevue is the perfect after-work wine bar. Once inside, you are greeted by some of the friendliest hosts in town. If a table is not open, you may relax at the cobblestone fountain bench and peruse a wine menu of more than 100 wines by bottle and glass. more ›

Seattlest is a bit of a wino. We can't help it, we love the red stuff. Living in Seattle has only fed our addiction, considering Washington State is the second-biggest producer of wine in the country (after California, of course). So recently, we decided to head east to see where that wine comes from, besides a brown paper bag. Walla Walla ho! more ›

A wine judging, like life, is unpredictable: you often wonder how much luck is involved. But when a handful of Northwest wines comes out on top in competition after competition, you can be pretty sure it's because they're more than lucky: they're really, really good. more ›

Last week we guessed that this was going to be a big week for papal comment in the weeklies, and we're glad to see we weren't wrong. We were hoping for some fresh perspectives, or maybe some Seattle angle to the commentary, but maybe that was expecting a lot. Knute Berger in "Mossback" was the first to weigh in on the Catholic boss and the whole "the Vatican isn't a Democracy so why don't we go invade it" joke is tired and not funny, but we were surprised and delighted when he called out the secular right at the end of the column. Thanks, Knute! We forgot there was a secular right! For more comment on Dregs Benedict in this week's Seattle Weekly see "Glory Days" in the arts section. more ›

Sundays usually find us belting out the karaoke at The Twilight Exit, Pabst Blue Ribbon in hand   But this Sunday Seattlest is heading uptown for what’s being billed as “The Ultimate Wine and Food Event”--The Taste of Washington Showcase of Wineries and Restaurants. Seattlest is not going to waste one word nitpicking their grandiose marketing description.  After attending last year’s event, we’ve drunk the kool-aid.  (Repeat after us … “This is an epic tasting event”).  165 wineries,  90 restaurants, 3.5 hours.  more ›