This is a post by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox:

Nobody enjoys a good wine dinner more than I do, but there are simply too many of them nowadays to post them all here. This one's special, for a couple of reasons.
First, it's at Mateo (109 W. Chapel Hill St., Durham; 919-530-8700; mateotapas.com).

Second, the tasting will pair Mateo's primo tapas with sherries, including a few rarities you won't likely get your hands on otherwise, in a session conducted by world-renowned expert Peter Liem.

The dinner costs $80, and will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday March 30. Call the restaurant for reservations - the sooner the better, given that Mateo's the hottest ticket in Durham even when there isn't a special event going on.

If for some reason you can't make that hour, all is not lost. Just up the street, Liem will be at at Cave Taureau Wines from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for a book signing and tasting of sherries (and maybe a little champagne).

Send restaurant news to Greg at ggcox@bellsouth.net. Be sure to tune in to Greg's radio show at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WPTF.

Cave Taureau, a new wine store in downtown Durham, is set to open the week of Oct. 15.

Owner Noel Sherr managed several notable wine shops in New York City, including Heights Chateau in Brooklyn Heights and Chambers Street Wines in lower Manhattan, before moving to Durham two years ago. Sherr and his wife, Marie, visited Durham in March 2010 and so enjoyed the city that they decided to relocate to open their own wine shop. The store's name means The Bull's Cellar in French.

Sherr is partnering with Wes Rountree and Nathan Vandergrift, wine lovers who both work at Duke University medical school's biostatistics and bioinformatics center. Vandergrift's brother, John, owns Rue Cler and Pop's.

The shop will be located at 339 W. Main St., near Beyu Caffe, Toast and Whiskey. The 1,100-square-foot space will have a selection of about 250 wines made by winemakers or imported by importers with whom Sherr and his partners have longstanding relationships. The store will be open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays.

For information, go to www.facebook.com/cavetaureauwines.