DC Wine Week is the first event of its kind to hit the capital. The week-long celebration is the brainchild of Lisa Byrne of DC Event Junkie, who was inspired by the success of DC Beer Week. Reading all the fun tweets from the festival (while sipping on a glass of vino), she wondered why there wasn’t such an event for wine lovers. The following week, she met with  Pivot Communications president Vanessa French, and the pair drew up a cocktail-napkin plan for an event dedicated to enjoying wine, wine education and support of local wine venues and merchants. The vision became a reality, and the first-ever DC Wine Week will take place October 15–22.

Check out the event schedule, below:

Saturday, Oct 15, 8 PM–midnight
Official Opening Bash: A private, invitation-only event at one of DC’s premier wine bars, Sonoma (request invite via this email address).

Sunday, Oct 16, 4–6 PM; $50
Social Sips on Sunday: Sample select Italian wines paired with light bites at Cleveland Park’s Dino while engaging with Italian wine experts who will be on hand to educate guests about the vintages and grapes of Italy.

Monday, Oct 17, 6–8 PM; PAYG
Twine Up – Tweets and Wine: Come to the tweet up and enjoy select $5 glasses of wine at Urbana or join the conversation remotely by following @dcwineweek or #DCwineweek on twitter.

Tuesday, Oct 18, 7–9 PM; $95
Sensory Champagne Tasting & Pairing: Ruinart – France’s oldest Champagne house – and Georgetown’s Bourbon Steak DC team up to bring you a night of expert food pairings and an interactive sensory game: each guest will receive an aroma kit and whoever identifies the most aromas correctly will win a prize.

Wednesday, Oct 19, 6:30–8:30 PM; Free
Tasting Class with Local Wineries: The Washington Wine Academy will take over the Hamiltonian Gallery to present six reds six whites from area wineries and discuss how these vintages are made.

Thursday, Oct 20, 8–11 PM
Wine Directors Networking Get-Together: This Vinoteca event is exclusively for local wine directors and restaurateurs (request an invite from this email address).  

Friday, Oct 21, 6–7 PM; $35
Chocolate, Cupcakes & Wine: A ticket scores an hour at Co Co Sala with unlimited Prosecco and five different chocolate pairings, followed by wine infused cupcakes from Cupcake Vineyards.

Saturday, Oct 22, 11 AM–1 PM; Free
Health Fitness Wine Time: An actual one-hour workout with MyBootcamp’s Grant Hill, followed by an hour of Wine 101 education and discussion.

Saturday, Oct 22, 6–9 PM; Free apps & PAYG happy hour priced wines
The Wine Down: The official closing event at One Lounge will feature a wine tasting and mingling with the DC Wine Week team.  

More events may be added, so be sure to visit DC Wine Week to keep up with the schedule and get your tickets to the fun.

Background photo via Flickr user IntangibleArts