International Wine and Food Festival
Those of you who intend to hit the 7th Annual Washington D.C. Wine & Food Festival this Saturday and Sunday at the Omni Shoreham may want to come up with a strategy before you arrive. With 1,200 wines from more than 280 wineries to sample and chef appearances aplenty, walking in will be like stopping by Target or Wegman’s without a list, just to pick up a few things. If you go in with an exceptionally vague plan, next thing you know you’re too overwhelmed to navigate the rooms or you get so drunk that you’ve forgotten how to get home — which has actually happened to some attendees of previous D.C. Wine & Food Festivals.

The engaging and accessible Mark Oldman, author of The Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine, might be able help with your strategizing. On Saturday and Sunday at 11:30, Oldman will allegedly help “decode wine tasting” so you can determine whether you’re going to sample wines from a particular varietal or vineyard, or whether you’re just going as an excuse to try wines depending on whether the reps and drinkers are interesting, good lookin’, and single.

If you’re really there to learn something (and don’t mind paying a little beyond the ticket price) take a seminar led by Wine Spectator’s Director of Education for Wine Pairing, Gloria Maroti, who will reveal her tips for what kinds of food pairs well with which wines. You could also learn about terroir from Michael Westrick of Sterling Vineyards, or a sign up for a vertical tasting of Montepulciano with Antonio Zaccheo, owner of the Carpineto Estate, who will discuss wine from the Tuscan region between the Orchia and Chiana rivers.

Foodies might want to catch a glimpse of special guests Roberto Donna of Galileo, Katsuya Fukushima of Café Atlantico, and Morou Ouattara — chef of Farrah Olivia, slotted for a September opening in Old Town.