Since It Is the Harvest Season...

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 25, 2006 3:00PM

This week is National Wine Week. For those of us who refuse to heed the sage wisdom of George Thorogood and drink alone, here are some ways to enjoy a bottle of wine around town, guaranteed to fall within any budget and get you out exploring the city:

• In honor of National Wine Week, each day Smith & Wollensky is offering a tasting of ten wines for ten dollars, along with the price of lunch.
• Uptown's The Spot is offering a tasting on Tuesday. Sample from five fall and winter reds, and get a glass of your favorite for $10. The tasting starts at 7:30.
• UnCork It in River East/Streeterville is hosting a white wine seminar at 7 p.m. Wednesday. "The best BANG for your blanc" will help you find the perfect white wine, without taking out a personal loan. The cost of the seminar is $35, and reservations are required.
• Bucktown's Cafe Matou is hosting it's regular end-of-month "cellar raid" on Wednesday. Chef Charlie Socher and his staff have picked out twenty wines from Matou's extensive cellar and are selling them for $17 (with dinner).
• The Chopping Block's "Wine Goddess", Diana Hamann, will be teaching a red wine course Thursday at Merchandise Mart and Friday in Lincoln Square. The focus will be on six of the more popular red wine grapes: merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, tempranillo, syrah, and sangiovese. The cost is $55.