Seattle trend? Non-snooty wine tasting

Start planning your weekend grocery list -- the Larry's Market on Mercer is offering a bargain-priced wine tasting for a nifty $5 this Friday. We spotted the sign while grabbing groceries last night and got a good little chuckle. But, why not go?

We like finding good things in odd places -- taco trucks, rummage sales, Target, etc. As everybody has access to more and more data, getting good things at good places is so easy that it's not cool. That's why we like the undiscovered restaurant so much more than the one 'everybody else' is raving about. Sure, there are other great, regular tastings at some of the neighborhood wine stores. But getting wine at a wine store is sometimes just too, well, obvious.

We prefer having the non sequitur to take some of the snobbish bite off of going to a high falutin' wine tasting in the first place. Strolling through a grocery store while sipping something exotic is the right mix of gutter snobbery. And, while Larry's isn't exactly the perfect symbol of proletariat living, until there are Boone Hill tastings at 7-11, it will have to do.

Uptown Wine Tastings
Thursdays
Seattle Cellars ($3, 2nd Ave)
We're a sucker for the grocery store gimmick but these guys are for real and have built quite a Thursday-night event in Belltown. You should go.

Fridays
Macrina Bakery ($10, our review) and, now, Larry's ($5)

Saturdays
Champion Wine Cellars (Free, Denny Way)
Not a tasting really, but they usually have something to share when you come in