Kendra Anderson

Elway's -- a great happy hour for wine lovers.

​Happy Place: Elway's Downtown, 1881 Curtis Street, 303-312-3107

The Hours: Daily from 2 to 6 p.m.

The Deals: $5 selected wines by the glass; $7 cocktail of-the-day; $3 draft beers; half-priced selected appetizers

Were We Happy? Flip the page to find out.

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Forget romance: drink lust-worthy wines.

​Romance, shmomance. We've had it up to here with all the laughably predictable recommendations and ill-advised wine pairings that show up like clockwork every year at this time. We're not hatin' on love or anything -- but since when is the notion of celebrating that special someone with a bottle of something rocking reserved exclusively for the fourteenth of February?

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Sutcliffe Vineyards' stunningly delicious dry rosé.

​We recently saw something on a Denver restaurant wine list that made us do a double take: A total of eleven -- you read that right, eleven -- Colorado wines available by the glass. Crazy, right? It gets even crazier: Four of those local wines were from a single producer, and it's one we're betting you've never even heard of: Sutcliffe Vineyards.

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Kendra Anderson

Cellar Wine Bar serves up a killer happy hour.

​Happy Place: Cellar Wine Bar, 2556 15th Street, 303-455-9463

The Hours: Daily from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Deals: $5 select glasses of wine, $5 wine cocktails, $1 off all beer selections

Were We Happy? Flip the page to find out.

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​Just tell the truth, already: you are totally freaked out by Italian wine.

By "freaked out", we mean shaking like a leaf. Shivering in your shorts. Just plain scurrred. Ask a wine retailer which category they find most challenging to sell to less experienced consumers, and you're likely to hear the same despairing reply: Italian.

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Silver Oak -- worth the hype.

​Cult-favorite, pricey and snooty -- three adjectives you may have heard associated with Silver Oak Winery at some point in your life as an oenophile. The first two are true enough: A passionate set of followers obsess over the brand, hoarding prized vintages in cellars for future generations to savor; that its main bottlings typically run upwards of $50 certainly makes it tough to call them frugal buys. Given the paltry sum allotted to our monthly wine habit (and our oft-professed preference for old world style flavor profiles), we'd be lying if we told you that frequent -- okay, make that any -- consumption of this Napa Valley luxury wine takes place in our household. So when we received a recent, random invitation to a special Silver Oak wine dinner, we didn't exactly fall out of our seats with excitement. More than a little skeptical, we decided to take our own advice about making 2012 the year to live the fullest wine lifestyle possible, part of which involves drinking wines that typically fall outside of your comfort zone. Curious to know how the wines of Silver Oak managed to win us over? Read on for the details (and the winery's surprising Colorado connection):

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Kendra Anderson

Pinot...yummy.

​Our wait was finally over. Last night, exactly 365 days after our first, utterly unforgettable evening with eight über-talented winemakers known as the Pinot Posse, we saddled up and ventured into the wilds of the Denver Tech Center for another wine-drenched homage to pinot noir. And believe it when we say that every minute of that wait was worth it, for Colorado wine importer/certified pinot junkie John Salamanski and his band of vino brethren once again threw down one helluva party. We managed to quaff a total of eleven singularly special glasses of pinot, paired masterfully with a hearty, game-heavy menu from Ya Ya's executive chef Aaron Whitcomb -- and lived to tell the tale.

Thirsty yet? Peep the wine- and food-fueled porn from the seventh annual Pinot Posse event:

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Drinking white wines in winter is hot.

​Something's been bugging the hell out of us lately. We can't understand why, come the first frost, people suddenly become allergic to drinking white wines. While you might think it horribly uncool to wear white after Labor Day, there is absolutely zero reason to stop drinking white wines once the days start growing shorter. Don't get us wrong: When it comes to our favorite fermented beverage, we understand that it's as important to drink seasonally as it is to eat seasonally. But as part of the one and only wine resolution we asked you to make for 2012, why not explore the nearly endless assortment of voluptuous, luscious whites that just happen to be tailor-made for pairing with heartier fare? Below, we dismantle three of the most common excuses you might be clinging to -- and explain why you definitely ought to reach for a bottle of white on a chilly winter's night:

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In 2012, make drinking wine a lifestyle.

​Actually, let's stay away from the word "resolution." Because we all know how well those New Year's resolutions tend to work out, don't we? For 2012, we'd like to recommend you take a radical yet stunningly simple approach when it comes to drinking wine: Make it a lifestyle.

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​Over the past four weeks, we've ponied up a list of wines guaranteed to make your Thanksgiving a party, the perfect set of locally sourced, wine-themed gift ideas, and our picks for the twelve most holiday-worthy bottles of 2011. And you know what? We are officially exhausted. And because you're likely feeling just as spent, we've decided to recommend a more sedate brand of New Year's Eve soiree: Poppin' several rock star-quality bottles in the comfort of your own sitting room. After all, what could be better than ringing in 2012 with your boo -- or your besties -- with a handful of these stellar sparklers, safely away from what can only be described as "amateur night" in the city? Without further ado, five of the best bubblies with which to close out your incredible year of drinking better wine:

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