Wine dinners and more

Chef Cassie Parsons of Grateful Growers will guest-chef June 3 at Monticello in the Dunhill Hotel uptown, using her farm's pork and other local foods paired with Italian wines. Proceeds from a silent auction then are aimed at helping pay for area farmers, educators and food artisans to attend Slow Food's biennial Terra Madre gathering in Turin, Italy. The dinner is $65; call or e-mail about reservations: 704-342-1193 or astrickland@shgltd.com.


Morton’s The Steakhouse hosts a beer tasting June 11 that will offer "the off-center and full flavors" (you get some of the idea with the label at right, from www.chriszach.com) of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, with cheeses, petite filet mignon sandwiches and more. $45, with $5 of each ticket going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. 227 W. Trade St.; 704-333-2602.

The Wine Shop at Foxcroft hosts a Tuscan wine dinner July 8 with Riccardo and Jenny Campinoti, owners of Le Ragnaie, an agriturismo (the Italian term for a sort of tourist-accessible farm) near Montalcino. Le Ragnaie produces Brunello di Montalcino, along with other wines and olive oil, with organic agriculture. The dinner, says the Wine Shop's Conrad Hunter, "will undoubtedly be the best dinner of the Summer." $65; 7824 Fairview Road; 704-365-6550.