By DCist contributor Amy Monroe Today’s column will be about Champagne and sparkling wine. It will resemble Ben Giliberti’s wine column in yesterday’s Washington Post in that “It’s All About the Bubbles.” It will not resemble that column in any other way. If you’re looking for a laundry list of recommendations offset by non-specific tasting notes containing uselessly vague words such as “fresh” and “lively,” stop reading now and take a look at the Post’s…

By DCist contributor Amy Monroe As any D.C. dweller knows, it’s not so easy to buy a sixer, a 750, or a fifth on Sunday within city limits. The District’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Association restricts holders of Class A Licenses — a.k.a. any store that sells wine, beer, and liquor for off-premises consumption — to sales between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. So what of those years, such as…

By DCist contributor Amy Monroe How do you know what’s naughty or nice — in wine, that is? After much swirling and sipping, DCist offers up the following options for all the wine enthusiasts on your holiday gift list. Each selection is truly one of our taste-tested favorites. And if after trying anything listed below you disagree, don’t write. Just bring us the remainder of the unfinished bottle and we’ll happily toast you before we…

By DCist contributor Amy Monroe According to popular lore, D.C. is a town of transients who call somewhere else home. Need support for this common theory? Just look at the mass exodus of residents who will exit the District today in name of spending Thanksgiving in their “real” hometowns. But some D.C. dwellers stay behind. For those who do but who don’t want to have Thanksgiving dinner in a hotel restaurant, the dining options are…

By DCist contributor Amy Monroe Obscenely overpriced Halloween candy? Check. Big bowl by the front door? Check. Congratulations, you’re prepared for potential trick-or-treaters. But what do you do if you reside in one of the D.C. area’s many condo/apartment hybrids — which tend to be occupied by career-minded, child-free 20- and 30-somethings? Without any kids marching from door to door, you’ll be stuck with lots of leftover candy. Indeed, this DCist has called the city…

By DCist contributor Amy Monroe There’s no disputing the fierce and even patriotic love of zinfandel among certain members of the American wine-drinking public. Indeed, Carole Migden, a California state senator from San Francisco, introduced a bill in February to make zinfandel California’s official state wine. But following objections from some of the state’s makers of chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon (all of which earn more sales dollars than zin), lawmakers instead proclaimed zinfandel a…