One of the more embarrassing chapters in our culinary education happened in what we like to call wino season, when restaurateurs and wine merchants conspire to raise our consciousness (and open our wallets) with tastings, feasts and soirees. It's always January and February, when we would do well to stay home and make a small salad. Anyway, we showed up sober at the Seattle Wine and Food Experience last year and left in quite another state, having failed to spit out any of the wine we tasted. Hopefully, the Big Winter Reds tasting Jan. 22 at Pour at Four will be a more refined affair for us, featuring big, bold and rich reds displaying beautiful fullness and finesse. Yea, there will be no spitting again.

BIG WINTER REDS, 5:30-8 p.m., Pour At Four, 3814 N. 26th St., Tacoma, complimentary tastings, 253.761.8015