Wine bars? We’ve got two on that topic. Weekend martinis? Brazilian sugar cane juice with a kick? Somebody’s thinking about summer cocktails, too. People are ready to relax outside and maybe even tie one on to celebrate the arrival of warmer weather.

An unofficial survey of FOHP (Friends of Hot Plates) shows that this winter has felt extremely long — in Washington, anyhow — and we are likely soon to be tossed abruptly from 40-degree temps into almost-summer. Are we being robbed of our springtime? It’s Friday. Have a couple of drinks and tell us if you really care.

The New York Times’ Eric Asimov writes about the proliferation and subsequent maturation of wine bars in his city. This is a must-read if you’re visiting The Apple sometime soon and don’t want to waste time flitting from place to place. It’s even key to read if you live there, since it would be nearly impossible to have tried even half of the estimated 131 (likely more) wine bars in the city. Read the article to narrow your picks down to a handful. You and yours might want a classic place where you can get “platters of salumi and cheese, panini and a dozen glasses of red and white.” But Asimov’s article highlights the places that have “stepped it up, forging identities that distinguish them from the more mundane masses.”

But wait, wait, wait! On a different note, and much more exciting, is the fact that The Wall Street Journal spotlights our town in this week’s Tastings column — which is about how “Washington is suddenly awash in wine bars — and really good ones, too.

“We have been following the nationwide trend of wine bars for years now and while Washington may have been late to the party, it has made up for lost time in a hurry,” write Dottie and John. Well, sure, D.C. is often last to get on board with this stuff, but isn’t it slightly elegant to show up late?

They say Cork is “an adorable little spot with an eye-opening quirk to the extensive wine list.” Vinoteca also receives props.

The piece focuses on Washington, but it also discusses the general trend: “With the explosion of wine bars all over the country, you simply must drop into one — and if you have, you really must drop into another. Good wine bars are pouring interesting wines that you might not be able to try otherwise — and, in any event, trying a taste of wine at a wine bar is a much smaller risk than buying a whole bottle of something new and unusual that you may or may not like.”

TWP this week talks about Kosher wines, which are not what they used to be (they’re way better). Karen and Andrew pack the column with recommendations (a Goose Bay sauvignon blanc and a couple of Gewurztraminers among them) and supply us with ideas on which Passover foods would pair best with the wines. “Jewish custom calls for drinking four cups of wine at the Passover Seder, each representing a promise from God,” so bringing a bottle or even two if you’re invited to dinner is a good idea.

Most everyone by now has had a caipirinha or seven, but we personally haven’t had straight-up cachaça. It’s a spirit made with sugar cane, like the stuff mixed into cocktails you’ve enjoyed, but this N.Y. Times story, complete with a Brazil dateline, is about the real stuff. They “put it through a water-powered mill, ferment the juice with naturally occurring yeast and distill it using power generated by burning the leftover sugar cane pulp.” It’s aged in either cherry wood or French oak. Some quoted are excited about the spirit’s arrival on the scene; the story says “at least 20 kinds of wood are being used for aging, including oak, which can add a toasty vanilla note, and native Brazilian trees like jequitibá rosa, which can imbue the drink with spicy notes like cinnamon.”

Lastly, there’s a terrific piece about martinis from the Travel pages of the Times that’s subtitled “Weekend In New York,” for those lucky enough to have one of these. Seth Kugel surely has readers nodding vigorously in agreement as they read this story about places that “put the proper prefix on the -tini.” Love it.

He begins this way: “Martini lovers have had a tough decade; in 1998, William Grimes of The Times wrote that concoctions like the ‘chocolate martini’ had driven a drink that used to be as simple as gin and vermouth, shaken or stirred, with olives or a twist, into the ‘late-Elvis phase’ of its career.” But Kugel reports that mixers of a true martini have not “left the building.” Thank goodness classic never dies.