Wine Tastings at Fermented Grapes

on Vanderbilt at Prospect Place offers terrific free wine tastings every Saturday, 5-7pm, as well as the occasional weekday. Usually, they pour a flight of four wines. You can buy a bottle of whatever you like at a 10% discount on the night of the tasting.

Often the importer or someone related to the wine's distribution is there to explain what you're drinking. In any case, I've always found whoever is pouring to be knowledgeable and helpful without being pushy. 

From time to time, those of us who feel the magnetic pull of a sign with the words "free" and "wine" on it,  run into salesman-like hosts who pressure us into buying something. I've never run into such a character at Fermented Grapes. Frequently, I taste, browse a bit, mosey on out without making a purchase and no one bats an eye.

But, sometimes there's a great deal on a wine I wouldn't have discovered on my own, like last night when I bought a Merlot from the Languedoc. I almost never seek out Merlot, but this was a fantastic surprise.

So, go to Fermented Grapes for free wine tastings and find something you like...or don't. There's no pressure.