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Some are searching for new customers. Others are looking for a test market for new appetizers or entrees. Others want customer feedback on which new wines to add to the wine list.

Whatever their reasons, more restaurants in the Dayton area are using wine tastings and wine dinners to try to get new, fresh faces to cross their doorsteps.

A decade ago, diners could easily count on one hand the number of restaurants that held regular wine events. Now, the number exceeds a dozen and is growing.

Cena Brazilian/Mediterranean Steakhouse, in front of the Dayton Mall, is one of the most recent to join the trend, launching a late-afternoon tasting on a day not yet taken by any other restaurant: Sundays.

"We decided to do something fun for a Sunday afternoon for little money," Cena owner Eva Christian said of her event that offers tastes of two wines for $10 served with free appetizers. The event allows Cena to introduce wines that are not on its regular wine list, and to test-market new appetizers and wines, Christian said.

In Vandalia, the inaugural wine-and-appetizers event in October at Mr. Lee's Fine Dining was a smashing success, with the restaurant serving up 15 appetizers accompanied by four wines to a crowd of more than 40 people. The restaurant had intended to cap the attendance at 25, but the surge in reservation requests prompted a change of heart, as well as plans for similar events in early 2009.

Keith Taylor, chef-owner of Savona Restaurant and Wine Bar in Centerville, holds a monthly wine tasting in the restaurant's bar. He launched the idea shortly after the restaurant opened a year ago, figuring it would be a "great way to get people to try new wines for a good price."

Now, the tastings "really have grown and become like a party," Taylor said. "People drinking, eating and talking to one another, making new friends.

"One of the benefits we have noticed is that people are staying for dinner after the tasting. On a couple of occasions people have met other couples and stayed and had dinner with one another. I have also experimented with dishes for the appetizers, and then gotten feedback from the guests."

Jay's Restaurant in Dayton's Oregon District was among the trailblazers — along with restaurants such as l'Auberge in Kettering, The Winds in Yellow Springs and Anticoli's/Caffe Anticoli in Harrison Twp., among others — in using wine to attract customers. Today Jay's hosts wine luncheons, dinners and weekly Friday night tastings in Jay's Kitchen Door behind the restaurant. While reservations are required for luncheons and dinners, the Friday tastings are drop-in events in which wine samples are priced based on the wine's expense, and complimentary appetizers are served.

Amy Haverstick, co-owner and general manager at Jay's, said customers have benefited from the knowledge of visiting winemakers at the restaurant's special dinners — and they've also boosted sales of wines sold at retail.

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, which launched weekly wine tastings with appetizers in its bar just after opening at The Greene in Beavercreek, also hosts wine dinners with visiting winemakers and in conjunction with local charitable organizations such as CultureWorks. Seth Brown, operating partner for the restaurant, said the commitment to wine events "shows we're not your typical steakhouse."

The weekly after-work-Wednesday tastings allow the restaurant's chefs to exercise their creativity in devising appetizers that pair nicely with the wines offered and allows them to find local sources for ingredients for those one-time appetizers, Brown said. Fleming's tries to make the atmosphere as non-intimidating as possible, putting wine-tasting notes in writing on each table and having the restaurant's wine manager, Diana Morrison, mingle with guests to answer questions, Brown said.

Sometimes, wine-tasting events can blur the distinction between wine bars and restaurants. On most Saturdays — and on other occasions when visiting winemakers arrange to host a public tasting of their wines at Cuvee wine bar in Bellbrook that he co-owns — chef Chris Cavender will put together a menu of small-plate appetizers to accompany the wines. The appetizers could include, as they did for a visiting winemaker's appearance last month, cold poached salmon with chardonnay sauce or cider-roasted rack of pork chop with squash puree.

Art and Carol Chin held wine tastings and dinners frequently at the now-defunct Chin's restaurant in downtown Dayton — and that tradition continues at their Tipp City restaurant, Chin's Ginger Grill, which hosts monthly wine (and occasionally beer) tastings paired with test-drive appetizers.

"Our initial reasons for starting the tastings were to market ourselves and bring diners in," Carol Chin said. "But we also do frequently use the tastings to try out new menu items." (A wild mushroom dumpling I sampled several weeks ago at one of the restaurant's monthly wine tastings "made the cut" and is now on the menu.)

In the end, though, Chin said the restaurant has continued the tastings "because they're really quite fun for our customers and our staff, and they're also a great way to make wine more approachable for a wide variety of wine drinkers, including novices."

CONTACT this reporter at (937) 225-2258 or mfisher@coxohio.com.

RESTAURANTS THAT HAVE REGULAR OR

FREQUENT WINE DINNERS/TASTINGS

L'Auberge, 4120 Far Hills Ave. in Kettering, holds frequent wine dinners. (937) 299-5536, www.laubergedayton.com

Cena Brazilian/Mediterranean Steakhouse, 2854 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, Miami Twp., holds weekly tastings from 3 to 6 p.m. Sundays, (937) 438-2362, www.cenarestaurant.com

Chin's Ginger Grill, 965 W. Main St., Tipp City, holds monthly wine tastings with appetizers, (937) 667- 6664, www.chins-ginger-grill.com

DiSalvo's Deli, 1383 East Stroop Road in Kettering, offers a monthly wine tasting in conjunction with a special dinner. (937) 298-5053, www.disalvosdeli.com.

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 4432 Walnut St. at The Greene in Beavercreek, holds weekly tastings on Wednesday after work, and frequent wine dinners. (937) 320-9548, www.flemingssteakhouse.com

The Inn at Versailles, 21 W. Main St., Versailles, holds frequent wine dinners, (937) 526-3020, www.innatversailles.com

Jay's, 225 E. Sixth St. in Dayton's Oregon Historic District, holds weekly drop-in tastings after work on Fridays and frequent wine luncheons and dinners, (937) 222-2892, www.jays.com

McCormick & Schmick's, 4429 Cedar Park Drive at The Greene in Beavercreek, holds occasional wine dinners, (937) 431-9200, www.mccormickandschmicks.com

El Meson, 903 E. Dixie Drive in West Carrollton, holds frequent wine dinners, (937) 859-8229, www.elmeson.net

Mr. Lee's Fine Dining, 7580 Poe Ave., Vandalia, holds occasional monthly tasting/dinner, (937) 898-3860, www.mymrlees.com

Pacchia, 410 E. Fifth St. in Dayton's Oregon Historic District, holds occasional wine dinners, (937) 341-5050, www.pacchia.com

Rue Dumaine, 1061 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, Washington Twp., holds weekly wine tasting with appetizers on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m., (937) 610-1061, www.ruedumainerestaurant.com

Savona Restaurant and Wine Bar, 79 S. Main St. in Centerville, holds monthly after-work wine tasting and appetizers on the second Wednesday of the month, (937) 610-9835, www.savonadayton.com

The Winds, 215 Xenia Ave., Yellow Springs, holds frequent wine dinners and luncheons, (937) 767-1144, www.windscafe.com

A Dayton-based wine listserv compiles a listing of local wine tastings, dinners and other events put on by restaurants, wine shops and wine bars. You can view the list every Friday on Uncorked at www.activedayton.com/wineblog