Harvest time

A selection of fall wine events

Uncorked by Thor Iverson

For wine lovers, fall is the most exciting time of the year. Across the northern hemisphere, vine leaves turn yellow and red and brown as the grapes beneath them swell to perfect ripeness. And at that singular moment, with many a winemaker's nervous eye cast toward the sky and the chilling, damaging autumn rain it might bring, the harvest arrives.

Away from the vineyards, there's a different kind of harvest. Conscientious importers, distributors, and retailers are loath to ship much wine in the severe heat of summer. But as the temperature cools, the floodgates open and a vinous bounty arrives in stores and restaurants. To show off these new arrivals, retailers and restaurateurs pick up the pace of tastings and wine-centered events, making fall a truly wonderful time to dive mouth-first into the world of fermented grapes.

The most low-key wine events are still the weekly tastings held at virtually every notable retailer in the area. The most educational ones, pairing great wines with great discounts on those same wines, are at Brookline Liquor Mart (1354 Comm Ave, Allston, 617-734-7700). For the month of September, BLM is featuring the wines of California, Washington, and Oregon on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. After that, the usual 1-to-5 p.m. schedule resumes, with '96 Burgundies on October 3, Italian wines on the 10th, selections from the outstanding '97 German vintage on the 17th, '96 Bordeaux on the 24th (look for a few top names to be poured), and suggestions for holiday gift wines on the 31st.

BLM's not the only game in town, though. Fine Wine Cellars (7 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, 617-232-1020) is hosting its semi-annual Grand Tasting September 26 from noon to 4 p.m., with more than 30 wines -- and a serious 15 percent discount. The tastings at Martignetti Liquors (1650 Soldiers Field Road, Brighton, 617-782-3700; periodic tastings on Saturday afternoons), Vines (1991 Centre Street, Newton, 617-244-4292; wines open for tasting just about all the time), Federal Wine & Spirits (29 State Street, Boston, 617-367-8605; tastings on Wednesday afternoons), Marty's (576 Washington Street, Newton, 617-332-1230; tastings on Saturday afternoons), and Merchants (6 Water Street, Boston, 617-523-7425; tastings every Thursday from 4 to 6:30 p.m.) are also outstanding and informative. I highly recommend getting on these stores' mailing lists to be sure you get advance notice of in-store tastings.

Stores are not the only place to taste great wine, however. Restaurants -- especially Boston's leading wine bars -- can put on the most spectacular wine and food shows in the area. Pay special attention to announcements at your local retailers (who often cosponsor these events), or check the listings in our sister publication Stuff@Night. These events can run from the simple -- a few glasses poured with or without food -- to elegant multicourse dinners at Boston's top restaurants, and they usually cost money. One of the latter kind of events is happening Wednesday, September 16, at 6:30 p.m. at Boston's Bay Tower Room (60 State Street, 33rd floor, 617-723-1666), overlooking the waterfront. Bob McGinn from California's Ferarri-Carano Vineyards & Winery will be hosting a dinner featuring five outstanding wines paired with Bay Tower's cuisine. The cost will be $48 per person, including tax and gratuity.

Galleria Italiana (177 Tremont Street, 617-423-2092) is hosting an Italian dinner cooked by the dynamic duo of René Michelena and Marisa Iocco on Tuesday, September 22, at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. The four-course dinner, with matched wines, costs $55 per person. And then on Wednesday, October 7, at the same times, it's Opera Night at the Galleria, $65, featuring live music presented in association with the Boston Lyric Opera. And on October 19, chef Ed Doyle of Aura (One Seaport Lane, Boston, 617-385-4300) and other local chefs will prepare a dinner that shows off the region's fall harvest (there's our theme again), paired with appropriate wines. Call for details.

Boston's wine-specialty restaurants also have a rich tradition of presenting everything from line-'em-up, knock-'em-down tastings to full-blown wine dinners. Les Zygomates (129 South Street, Boston, 617-542-5108) specializes in the former, while the Vault (105 Water Street, Boston, 617-292-9966) leans toward the latter. But the most exciting, yet low-key, tastings are at Uva (1418 Comm Ave, Brighton, 617-566-5670), where Chris Campbell hosts the weekly Wednesday Evening Wine Bar between 5 and 10 p.m. Along with 15 to 20 great wines (whatever Chris feels like pouring from his killer cellar), there's always a special set-price flight of wines selected around a theme -- different vintages of the same wine, different wines from the same producer, etc. On September 16 it's four '96 zins from Cline for $11.75; on the 23rd it's three different vintages of Stoney Hill Chardonnay for $15.75; and on the 30th it's four different vintages (going back to 1982) of Baumard's incredible Loire Valley dessert wine Quarts de Chaume for $13.25. October 7 brings '97 DeLoach single-vineyard zins (the subject of a recent column of mine) for $12.75, and on the 14th it's two recent vintages each of Italy's two most famous vino da tavolas, Tignanello and Sassicaia, for $17.75. The 21st shows off three of the impossible-to-find Diamond Creek cabs ('95 vintage) for $17.75, and the 28th is reserved for four of California's top Bordeaux-style blends -- Opus One, Dominus, Phelps Insignia, and Pahlmeyer, all '95s -- for $19.75.

And don't forget that later this fall, "Uncorked" will be hosting another wine tasting; watch this space for details. Our last one was a huge success and a lot of fun, so we can't resist doing it again.

Thor Iverson can be reached at wine[a]phx.com.

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