SUZY STUMP: SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR >>>

Turkey Day is right around the corner. And it’s always around this time when I start to ponder: which calorie-laden delight will I gorge on first? At the Stump house, we load up on the traditional bread stuffing spiked with country sausage, roast turkey and tart homemade cranberry sauce, but also the less traditional: Dad’s famous spicy pork barbecue and salty, soft butter peas. Yes, we’re a gluttonous bunch, and then we add wine on top of all that. I imagine the excess and I feel fat just thinking about it. But excited, too â€" I love Thanksgiving.

The holiday is the pinnacle of gluttony, a food bacchanal, an excuse to eat 20 pounds of bird. And a fabulous excuse to open a bottle after bottle of wine.

I suggest you start tasting what wines you’ll be serving this Thanksgiving.  Here are a few wine happenings this week in the South Sound:

• Thursday, Nov. 13: Lange Estate Winery tasting, 5:30-8 p.m., $5, Pour At Four, 3814 N. 26th St., Tacoma, 253.761.8015.
• Thursday, Nov. 13: Walla Walla Waterbrook Winery Dinner, 7 p.m., $89.99, Salty’s at Redondo Beach, 28201 Redondo Beach Dr. S., Des Moines, 253.946.0636.
• Thursdays: Wine tastings, 5-7 p.m., complimentary, Cork!, 3012 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.212.1492.
• Friday, Nov. 14: Spanish Wines and Tapas Dinner, 6:30 p.m., $50, Affairs Café & Bakery, 2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.565.8604.
• Friday, Nov. 14: Tacoma French Club celebrates Beaujolais Nouveau, 7-9 p.m., $7, Mad Hat Tea Company, 1130 Commerce St., Tacoma, info@tacomafrenchclub.org.
• Mondays: $5 Wine Mondays, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., $5 glass of wines, Rosewood Café, 3323 N. 26th St., Tacoma, 253.752.7999.
• Tuesday, Nov. 18: Bonterra Wine Dinner, 6 p.m., $80, Duke’s Chowder House, 3327 Ruston Way, Tacoma, 253.752.5444.
• Wednesday, Nov. 19: Wines For Your Thanksgiving Dinner tasting, 5:30-8 p.m., complimentary, Pour At Four, 3814 N. 26th St., Tacoma, 253.761.8015.

Food and drink stories in this week’s Volcano

PIZZA CASA: 50 candles on the pizza pie

JIMMY JOHNS: Add the franchise with two first names to your lunch rotation

SANDEE GLIB: a good spore

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide