You don’t have to be a gentleman to enjoy a Gentleman Jack Frost at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek.

The new $10.95 holiday cocktail is a warming blend of bourbon, hard cider and cinnamon. It’s available through the end of the year.

Sent Sovi restaurant in Saratoga will team with its neighbor, Uncorked! wine shop, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6 for the second annual “Wine and Dine” event.

The soiree, held at the wine shop, will offer a chance to sip some fine wines and sample gourmet eats such as Dungeness crab and compressed apple eclairs with 2007 Ceja Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Coast. The shop also will be offering some good deals on wine for holiday gift giving.

Tickets to the event are $65 and must be reserved ahead of time by calling (408) 867-3110.

More wine deals can be had at Brix in Yountville. Throughout December, the restaurant will slash prices half-off every bottle of wine at brunch, lunch and dinner. Who wouldn’t want to drink to that?

Dec. 14 at Coi restaurant in San Francisco, meet one of the most colorful and pioneering figures in wine, Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard.

Grahm will read from his new book, “Been Doon So Long” (University of California Press), as guests enjoy passed hors d’oeuvres. A four-course dinner prepared by Chef Daniel Patterson will follow, which will be paired with Bonny Doon wines.

Price is $175 per person, which includes a signed copy of Grahm’s book.

Tea-totalers are in for a treat Dec. 4 when the Old Mint Building in San Francisco hosts a holiday high tea.

Seatings are available between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at this national historic landmark that was once home to one-third of the nation’s gold reserves.

Enjoy tea, coffee, finger sandwiches and precious sweets in this awe-inspiring setting.

Tickets are $75 per person for members of the San Francisco Museum & Historical Society; $85 for non-members; and $45 for children. For reservations, call 415-537-1105 x100.

If you’re one of the many foodies who fell in love with the flick, “Julie & Julia,” you can now own it on DVD ($28.96) or Blu-ray ($39.95).

Special features on both include commentary by writer-director Nora Ephron, as well as interviews with the cast and crew.

The Blu-ray version also comes with a tour of Julia Child’s kitchen now at the Smithsonian, and cooking lessons with Child, Jacques Pepin, Mark Peel, Suzanne Goin and others.

Baker & Banker has opened in the old Quince restaurant site in San Francisco by the couple, Chef Jeff Banker and Pastry Chef Lori Baker (hence the name).

Settle into a comfy espresso leather banquette to enjoy grilled hangar steak with red wine-marrow butter, cast iron potato gratin and sauteed spinach; dayboat scallops with caramelized sun choke puree; and pumpkin cobbler with cinnamon brittle ice cream.

Bottega in Yountville celebrates its one-year anniversary in posh style with a week of white truffle dinners, Dec. 7-13.

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Did you know the iconic cocktail, the Bloody Mary, is 75 years old this year?

Drink a toast to that milestone at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco to commemorate the drink’s invention 75 years ago at the St. Regis New York.

In 1934, bartender Fernand Petiot introduced the cocktail at the King Cole Bar in The St. Regis New York. It was created when Serge Obolensky, a well known man about town whose penchant for vodka was in keeping with his aristocratic Russian background, asked Petiot to make the vodka cocktail he had in Paris. The formula was spiced up with salt, pepper, lemon and Worcestershire sauce. But since “Bloody Mary” was deemed too vulgar for the hotel’s elegant King Cole Bar, it was rechristened the “Red Snapper.” While the name may not have caught on in that era, the spicy drink most certainly did.

The San Francisco hotel is now serving a new contemporary version, dubbed the “Golden Gate Mary.” It’s made with tequila and pepper-infused tomato water, and garnished with a dried heirloom tomato chip. The $14 cocktail is available at the lobby bar through the end of the year. For another fun option, a flight of the new Bloody Mary and the traditional Bloody Mary is offered for the same price.

Like the photos of the drink? I have Hiro Sone to thank for them. Yes, the excecutive chef of the esteemed Ame restaurant inside the St. Regis San Francisco snapped these pics. He’s a multi-talented chef if there ever was one.

Restaurants are gearing up for next week’s release of Beaujolais Nouveau. Just after midnight on the third Thursday of every November, villages and towns in France race to be the first to serve this new wine of the current harvest.

Campbell’s Twist Bistro gets in on the act Nov. 19 with a three-course prix-fixe for $32. A glass of the Beaujolais Nouveau is $8; a bottle is $30.

Left Bank restaurants will do the same with a la carte specials at its locations in Menlo Park. San Jose’s Santana Row, and Larkspur.

Depending upon the location, look for dishes such as house-made pork sausages with red wine-braised lentils, and pear poached in Beaujolais.

For a different twist, Arlequin Wine Merchant in San Francisco will host “No More Nouveau” on 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 19.

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