My husband and I recently took a little trip to Elkin wine country and the Yadkin Valley, which is one of our favorite kinds of weekends: pretty drives, local wine, a loose plan, and just enough “where should we go next?” to keep things fun. Like most people, before we decided which wineries to visit, we did what any modern human with a phone and mild decision fatigue does. We looked them up. Website? Sure. Google listing? Of course. But then came the real test...we checked t

We’ve all been there. Someone hands you a glass of wine. Someone else gives it a dramatic swirl. Then a person across the room says they’re getting “wet stone,” “gooseberry,” or “a whisper of forest floor,” and suddenly you’re wondering if you accidentally skipped Wine School Day One. Good news: you did not. Wine tasting is not some secret language reserved for sommeliers, wine pros, or people who own too many decanters. At its core, tasting wine is really about slowing down,

What the evidence actually says about moderate wine, the Mediterranean table, and why a glass with dinner is not the same as a weekend bender. Pick up almost any newspaper lately and you’d think a glass of wine with dinner is basically a taped-up crime scene. Suddenly, wine is being talked about like it’s lurking in the shadows wearing a tiny villain cape. New York City’s health department even launched a new anti-alcohol campaign called “Buzzkill,” (seriously?), warning that

I've always had a thing for food. I mean, I'm Italian—it's practically in my DNA. Not in a casual, “sure, dinner sounds nice” kind of way. I mean cookbooks stacked in the kitchen cabinets, with the pretty ones displayed like decor, photos and menus studied like literature (not that I always prep the dishes, mind you), but I do have a deep appreciation for anything involving browned butter, fresh herbs, or well-timed lemon zest. But it wasn’t until I started learning about win

One whiff of a tomato leaf and I’m back in second grade in New Jersey — no warning, no buildup, just a clean sensory shortcut through time. It’s like my brain has a “Basement” button, and the tomato plant just hit it. My grandparents, who hailed from Sicily and Naples, are downstairs in their Morristown basement doing what they did every late summer: “making sauce”… except it wasn’t sauce yet. We were bottling tomatoes, preserving the whole season for later, like canning, but

Ready for your next food and wine adventure? With the new LocalWineEvents.com app, great plans are easier than ever to find. There’s a certain thrill in stumbling on a plan that feels like a hidden gem — a wine tasting happening just a few miles away, a pairing dinner that instantly gets dropped into the group chat, or a dreamy culinary trip that gives you something delicious to look forward to. The best plans aren’t just dates on a calendar. They turn into the nights you re