Free wine tasting at Oby Lee

This Thursday Feb 5 Oby Lee is throwing a free wine tasting from 7-9pm. Wine sampling from Hugues Beaulieu as well as discounted wines by the glass. Oby Lee is one of the few venues around that have self serve wine by the glass machines.

The small family owned shop is also a bakery with crepes, desserts, and great gluten free treats. On Wednesdays, Oby Lee has a deal to get 50% off a sweet crepe when you buy 2 savory crepes.

Northside Social Wine Bar happy hour

Their patio was open during this unusually
warm Janurary night

 Clarendon's best coffee shop Northside Social has redesigned its upstairs wine bar and is offering a new happy hour there. From 5-7pm Monday through Saturday, they have selected 5 of their wines to be available at $5 each.

Wine bar manager and Arlington local Charlotte explained how Northside Social's upstairs bar acts like a separate venue than the familiar downstairs coffee lounge. She has changed the decor and menu to give it a more intimate and comfortable feel, better suited to enjoyed wine, cheese and conversations.


The upstairs wine bar at Northside Social with
wrap around wood couter tops has a warm feel

Charlotte says they are trying an experiment of imposing a no-laptop rule in the wine bar after 5pm to make it more of an escape from work. She also chooses artwork to display on the walls from local artists and photographers and rotates them every few months.

The first floor coffee bar at Northside also servers wine, but it is a completely different menu than the upstairs wine bar. Patrons are also free to bring their wine outside to the Wilson Street patio when the weather is friendly.

Happy Hour at Oby Lee Winery

Oby Lee Winery and Coffee Roastery is a colorful and friendly new establishment off of Washington Blvd. Taking over the the retail space that used to be Quizzno's, it offers Clarendon a different type of venue. It combies a bakery, coffe shop, a self serve wine fountain, and wine shop.

Oby is now offereing happy hour specials Monday through Thursday, 3-6pm. Specials include $12 Sangria pitchers, $5 margaritas and $5 mojitos.

Half Price Wine Bottles at Cava Mezze

Photo via Cavamezze.com

I finally got around to trying out the Clarendon location of Cava Mezze that opened last year. Snuggled between Pinkberry and Restaurant 3 on Clarendon Blvd, it is a cozy little restaurant with lots of warm wood surround the booths and many small tables.

My favorite small plate was the Braised Meatball Sliders, but the best part of the meal was the wine. Every Monday night, Cava offers every bottle of wine on the menu at half price. So I got to sample a $40 Snake Charmer for only $20 that night.

Cava would be better for groups if they had more large tables, as there are plenty of things to talk about and small plates to share that works well with a crowd. Also waiters coming by frequently to light certain dishes on fire next to your table is always good conversation fooder.

Not a surprise that Cava gets four stars on Yelp.

1K Wine Walk in Crystal City

The 1K Wine Walk this weekend is a tasting tour through the interior walkways of Crystal City featuring 30-40 wines at different ‘hydration stations’ along the course. This quirky event will be perfect for a cool February weekend, and offers a great chance for participants to take in the Foto Week finalists as they cruise through the course.

Date: February 26th  & 27th, 2011 from 2 - 6 pm
Tickets: $30

Thanks to Abbey and Laura for the tips and image!

Wine & Chocolate Tasting at One More Page Books

Even more wine and chocolate tastings this weekend! The grand opening of One More Page Books in Arlington (an independent bookstore located at 2200 N. Westmoreland St.near Falls Church.) is on Saturday between 4-6pm.  They'll be doing a wine, champagne & chocolate tasting during those hours, and of course there are always books to look at!

Free Cupcake & Wine Tasting this Saturday

Clarendon residents can't complain about lack of free wine tastings this weekend! One of these is a joint event by Best Cellars and Crumbs Bake Shop. This Saturday Feb 12th from 1 to 4pm they are hosting a free wine and cupcake tasting.

This could be an excellent pre-Valentine's day date, as Best Cellars offers a delicious variety of affordable wines and Crumbs offers great conversation starting cupcakes.

Wine & Chocolate Tasting at Best Cellars

There is only one thing better than a free wine tasting: a free wine and chocolate tasting! Best Cellars on Clarendon Blvd held this delicious and educational event on Tuesday Feb 8. Five wines of various flavors were paired with exotic locally made chocolates. Kingsbury chocolates in Alexandria provided a satisfying array of sweets from bacon infused dark bars to Belgian white chocolate with strawberries.

Best Cellars was also generous enough to give out free mini chocolate cupcakes from neighbor Crumbs, as a prelude to their joint cupcake and wine tasting this Saturday from 1 to 4pm.

Screwtop Wine Bar outdoor seating

I got the chance to try out Screwtop Wine Bar's new outdoor seating on Fillmore Street. While only four small tables, it provides some more much needed sitting space for the unique Clarendon venue. And you won't be seeing a sign with sandwich specials on the sidewalk anytime soon after all the drama lately.

I tried the red wine flight, which offered three small portions of different flavors ranging from fruity to darker and dryer. I always recommend trying the samplers at any venue that offers them (like Lyon Hall's beer flight), just because I'm usually indecisive and its an easy conversation starter.

The grilled cheese sliders where delicious, although slight in portions. Screwtop is great dating venue, has a nice wine and cheese selection, some good appetizers but its not going to be cheap. There menu is a little bit confusing and needs to be streamlined a little. Overall I'm very happy with what Screwtop offers to the local nightlife and hope to go back soon, or to take some of their wine classes once they resume after August.

Thanks to Jason's DC Foodies blog for the image and a very thorough review of Screwtop.

Wine Tasting @ Northside Social tonight

Northside Social and its General Manager and Wine Director, Alison Christ, is hosting a wine tasting tonight, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. with Hillinger's Assistant Winemaker and Sommelier, Michael Hoeffken.

Michael will guide you through the Hillinger portfolio - a fun tasting that will explore some great Austrian wines.

The cost is $35 per person and includes 5 wines and small plate food pairings. For reservations please call or e-mail Alison Christ at 571-283-3144 or alisonmchrist@yahoo.com.

Old Town Wine Festival this weekend

Thirteen restaurants will be participating in the Old Town Wine Festival this Saturday and Sunday, Oct 10-11 11am to 6pm.

Twenty wineries will be contributing their products for tasting at two locations in Alexandria.

Tasting tickets are $35 and general admission is $15.

If you purchase online, use this promo code from the Washington Post to give you $10 off the admission: SG537

Wine Tasting @ Safeway

The newly rebuilt Safeway in Tysons Corner is hosting a free wine tasting today. Stop in to try a variety of flavors on Saturday between 1 and 6pm.

1698 Anderson Rd

McLean, VA 22102

Get Directions

(703) 821-2116

* approximate times

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