Don’t worry, I’m just talking about the Decatur Arts Festival. Geez…get your minds out of the gutter!

On both Saturday and Sunday, my wife and I left the confines of our cool, Decatur home to brave the Arts Festival crowds. And boy were there crowds! Now maybe they weren’t Inman Park Festival size mobs, but for what its worth it seemed a lot more crowded this year than last.

Let’s take the food area on Saturday for instance…

Mad house! You can see the untamable desire for gyros on every patron’s face here.

Crowds were also plentiful by the gazebo/stage, where audience members tried to escape the heat under trees and next to the stage itself.

Walking around the other side of the gazebo, we checked out a few of the “Doors of Decatur”, which there were surprisingly few of this year (though I heard one went for over $1k at the auction)

After surveying a wide array of art (some old and some new), we found ourselves back on the Square and perused Worthmore’s Grand Opening.

Free drinks, A/C and lots of cool/funky jewelry obviously drew a crowd!

Hope your day was also filled with lots of art and cool beverages!

Thanks to the generosity of its owners, Kelly and Deb (prior Decatur residents now living in Avondale), my wife and I headed down the street on Saturday evening to check out Tastings: A Wine Experience, which is located in the 335 W. Ponce condo building, for the wine bar’s “soft opening”.

Upon entering, we were amazed by the transformation that has taken place to convert this space from a Tropical Smoothie Cafe to an upscale wine bar. After getting over our initial shock, we were given the run down about how to navigate the unique set up. In front of us stood an army of reds and whites, all hooked up to a special “Enomatic tasting machine”, which allows patrons to extract a “taste”, half-glass, or full-glass of the wine of their choosing.

In order to partake, all you have to do is go up to the bar and put some denomination of money on a special Tastings card (we went with $30) to use in the machines. At first the shear number of choices can seem daunting, but the good layout (by region and type), individual descriptions, and helpful, friendly staff quickly coach you through your indecision. Once you’ve picked your wine-of-the moment, stick your card in the “tasting machine” and select your “pour”. In the spirit of endless choices, we stuck with the “tasting” pour the entire night.

Our $30 bucks got us about 5 tastings each (for a total of 10). We stuck mostly to reds (though there was also a good selection of chilled whites), and sampled wines from all over the world. Fragrant, mild, peppery, chocolaty, jammy, short-finish, long-finish, we tried them all for a cool $30. There’s even a “cheat-sheet” available, so that you can rattle off these same descriptors to friends.

And that’s what’s cool about Tastings. Instead of always relying on recommendations from friends or the equally vague Wine Spectator score/review at the liquor store, you can just head over to Tastings and let your our own tongue/nose decide!

Then just take a bottle home with you!

Though wine is the obvious star of the show, Tastings also offers a wide array of food selections. Most are appetizer-ish, designed for you to share as a group as you debate the finer points of wine-making. We were served some tasty blue cheese chips, a margarita pizza, some delicious crab cakes and shrimp and chorizo. Each was a good accompaniment to the wines we were drinking, which was most important in our minds.

Though you could tell that the servers were still getting their bearings, each was very friendly and remarkably helpful. In fact, aside from the wine itself, the staff might be this new spot’s best asset.

So, if you’re looking to up your wine game or just have a fun night out on the town with friends, I would recommend letting Tastings entertain you for an evening.