Over the winter,  a friend turned me on to Through the Grapevine in Eliot (21 Cedar Rd, a frontage road parallel to Rte 236). This caterer/deli/wine shop is a local treasure. Besides having the most awesome salmon-laden sandwich I have ever eaten, every third Thursday from 5 to 7pm they host a wine tasting--June 18th is the next.

After attending a few TTGV wine tastings myself, I mentioned it to a couple friends. Even though these friends were intrigued by wine, they clearly weren't quite sure what a wine tasting was all about. In other words, is it rude to just drink their wine and not buy anything?

"No" is the answer to that question. Of course, the host hopes you will purchase a bottle of something you tasted that you really liked. But if not, they are betting that after a memorable and educational experience, when you are ready to purchase a bottle of wine you will think of them.

For those who would like to become more adventuresome about wine, tastings are like a workshop. Typically a wine distributor provides the wine for the tasting and many times even sends a representative to explain the selections; or the presentation is done by the shop personnel. Through the Grapevine keeps it very informal--you arrive when you can and taste as you are ready. The presenters have not seemed offended by having to repeat their spiel several times over a couple hours as they pour the Malbec to several different groups of people.

The wines at a tasting are usually chosen given some theme--seasonal, holiday, or, if you are tasting at the vintners themselves, their own selection of course. Often there is a white or two, a red or two, a sparkling wine, a dessert wine, and one or two choices more unusual than your typical cabernet or chardonnay--after all, tastings are all about becoming more informed and adventuresome than what you might normally select off the shelf!

Wine tastings are a marketing technique--and a good one at that. What could be better than helping customers and potential customers become more savvy about what you sell? And Through the Grapevine has a nice wine selection that is displayed in an attractive, roomy area that is ripe for browsing and deciding.

 As for the drinking part, tastings are just that--tastes. You sip one wine, rinse your glass or trade for a fresh one, and sip the next. Believe me, it's easy!

You would unlikely consume enough wine at a wine tasting to feel more than slightly tipsy. The wine samples are accompanied by descriptions of the vintner, perhaps some trivia about how they got started in the business, what kind of grapes are used, the process, some definitions explained (oaked, bouquet, legs, that kind of thing). One tasting I went to included a wine that was grown in desert conditions, bringing a whole new flavor to the grapes--something I would never have thought about! So in the future, if I liked that wine (and I did!), I could be on the lookout for wines made from grapes grown in arid climates. Besides climate, also talked about would be soils, bottling,  and corks--traditional wood, plastic, or the new more extensive use of screwtops that are no longer just for those bottles of wine that you might buy with the spare change under your car seat with names you recall from your college days. These informational tidbits are intended to up your current level of connoisseurship.

  And yes, the bottom line is that they are intended to entice you to become a customer--and to get you to refer others to the establishment. In most cases, this enticement is directed not only toward the wine but everything else the shop has to offer. Wine tastings are the ultimate in marketing--it's hard to leave a wine tasting without a warm fuzzy feeling. After such a positive experience--free wine, some cheese and crackers, some knowledge--who wouldn't remember Through the Grapevine when you next need a good wine for a host gift or you need a caterer  or even just a good salmon panini for lunch?

Several other local shops do wine tastings as well. Fiddlehead Farms on the Miracle Mile in Dover advertises wine tastings on many Friday evenings. And there's lots of reasons to stop at Fiddlehead's anyway, so why not on a Friday from 4 to 6:30 to try a couple wines? Flagg Hill Winery in Lee (www.flagghillwinery.com) has a tasting room--and you can arrange group tours/tastings for a fun outing with friends. 

Candia Vineyards (www.candiavineyards.com), a boutique vineyard in southern NH, joined the New Hampshire Farm Museum (where I work part time) last November  for the Museum's annual wine and cheese event. Candia Vineyards owner Bob Dabrowski gave a fun and knowledge-packed talk on winemaking.  As a fundraiser for a nonprofit, there was a cost attached to this wine tasting. However unless it is a fundraiser, most tastings cost nothing.; the establishment hopes you will remember them kindly when in need of what they sell, wine or otherwise.

And besides, wine is fun! A $20-30 bottle of wine wrapped in a handmade wine bag makes a lovely wedding shower, birthday, holiday, thank-you, or general gift of any kind.

So don't be shy about going to tastings. For your own table, wine can be an expensive purchase to experiment with without knowing whether you will like it or not. Tastings can help you learn how to read the label to decide on whether the wine is the type you lean toward. And while many of the wines are not local, much of the other items offered at these shops are locally made with local ingredients.

You can learn about wine in general by reading periodicals like the Wine Spectator (www.winespectator.com). You can certainly learn a lot by patronizing wine-specific shops like Ceres Street Wine Merchants (www.cereswine.com) in Portsmouth or Dover Wine Company on Central Ave (www.doverwine.com --check the site for their tasting schedule) and talking to their proprietors.

But nothing beats attending a wine tasting. It's a great grassroots way to support these local businesses and their extra efforts to distinguish themselves from the big retailers.

Photo:  Grapevines early in the season  (Cheryl Kimball photo)

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