Every now and then in a restaurant you stumble across a small dish that is simple but flawlessly executed and totally delicious. I was fortunate to experience that twice last week.

Two of the top restaurants within the Lark Creek group are offering wine lovers a great opportunity in June. On selected evenings, Lark Creek Steak and One Market restaurants will be opening single bottles of high-end, hard-to-find, never-sold-by-the-glass wines and will... SELL $10 TASTES.

People are looking for value everywhere today. Wine is no exception. Whether purchasing wine at retail or in restaurants, wine drinkers have a renewed focus on bang for the buck.

Great wine value doesn’t end with the purchase though. Unless you are buying as a collector/speculator, a wine’s real value is only revealed when you drink it. Regardless of how highly rated a wine might be, or how low the price you paid, the wine is a poor value if you don’t enjoy it fully. With that in mind, here are some tips for getting the most out of whatever you may be drinking.

These days, value is crucial. We all want to enjoy ourselves and enjoy good wine. But we also need to be responsible and a bit careful about how we spend our money. So, it’s great when you stumble across a really good deal. We did that today.

Starting on February 17, the Alchemy Market & Cafe in Murphys is going to be hosting winemaker evenings every Tuesday night. Here’s the format. The event starts at 5:30. Attendees order off of the regular Alchemy menu. Each week a different local winemaker will be in attendance. And Alchemy will be pouring one white and one red from that winery for just $5 per glass. (I’m sure they’ll be happy to sell you a bottle if you prefer.)