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Pourtal, the Santa Monica wine bar with those fancy-schmancy Enomatic wine dispensers, is offering a month-long in January “wine tour” featuring Malibu-made wines. The best part is you don’t have to actually trek to Malibu to taste the wines because Pourtal will have them all in one place for you. Even better? A free launch party tomorrow night, Jan. 6, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., to kick off the tour. Admission is free, but you do have to buy a $15 tasting card, which gives you access to all 10 of the featured Malibu wines and additional hand pourings from off-list wines by representatives of the wineries (there will also be free appetizers).

Here’s the list of the 10 wines that will be available any time for a “tour” throughout January, as well as during the launch party:

2006 Hoyt Family Vineyards Chardonnay
2008 Republic of Malibu Pink Lady Rosé
2007 Cielo Malibu Rouge
2001 Semler Cabernet Sauvignon Library Release
2005 Semler Syrah
2005 Rosenthal Malibu Newton Canyon Merlot
2004 Rosenthal Surfrider Red
2007 Griffin Family Vineyard Malbec
2007 Malibu Vineyards “Vortex” Sangiovese
2008 Malibu Sanity Pinot Noir, Schetter Malibu Vineyard

Here’s the schedule of additional hand-poured tastings from individual wineries:

Jan. 13, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Semler and Saddlerock
Jan. 20, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Cielo
Jan. 21, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Rosenthal
Jan. 27, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Hoyt and Malibu Sanity
Jan. 28, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Malibu Vineyards and Griffin Family Vineyards

I’m not a big wine drinker, but I’ve had the Semler Cabernet Sauvignon (I can’t remember the exact year), and it was amazing. So $15 for access to 10+ Malibu wines sounds like a great deal.

I must have walked by Morels at The Grove countless times and barely gave it a second look. I mean, just look at its name: Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro. It just sounds so hoity toity and not exactly my cup of tea. So when Morels invited a bunch of food bloggers (including Esther of e*starLA and Matt of Dig Lounge) and writers for a tasting meal, I figured I might as well try it since I haven’t been in the seven or so years since The Grove opened. And I was right; the restaurant is fancy but not prohibitively so, though some of the prices are pretty high.

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Grapes in Napa...taken from a shuttle window

Earlier this month, I trekked up to Napa (via Sacramento) for a weekend of good ol’ bachelorette party fun. No, male strippers were not involved (because I planned the trip for my best friend, I spared her the embarrassment). But there was a lot of drinking and eating, and that’s what you want to hear about anyway, right? So here’s a rundown of my food-and-drink adventures, with a little info on the hotel thrown in for good measure. (I’m sorry I didn’t take better pics — as the maid of honor, I was in charge of everything, so I didn’t always remember to take good establishing shots. Bad blogger!)

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Sliders at Rowdy Red Wine & Burger Bar

The folks over at Rowdy Red Wine & Burger Bar invited a group of food bloggers (many of the foodies in my blogroll, and then some) to have dinner with its newly introduced wine, which was added to the menu a couple of weeks ago and finally made the restaurant’s name make sense. Rowdy Red, which is named after a type of heirloom tomato, is located in the underground food court of City National Plaza in downtown L.A. But just because it has a name with fancy roots and serves wine doesn’t mean its menu will deplete your wallet; it’s really an American diner at heart.

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Doughnuts at Grace Restaurant. From petitgateau (Flickr).

In addition to Krispy Kreme handing out free doughnuts (one per person), Grace Restaurant is serving a doughnut and wine tasting menu on Friday, June 5. That’s three courses of doughy goodness, folks. You’ll start with a salted caramel doughnut with bourbon-pecan ice cream and strawberries. Then comes a pistachio doughnut with chocolate buttermilk marble ice cream and dried cherries. And finally, buttermilk brown butter glazed doughnuts with warm rum-spiced milk. And if you want to turn it up a notch, you can get your doughtnuts paired with wines from Piedmont, Portugal and Bordeaux. Doughnuts only, $18. Wine pairings are another $15. From UrbanDaddy.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to partake because I’ll be in Napa for my best friend’s bachelorette party this weekend. And of course I’ll be blogging about all the food and wine!