Wednesday Happenings

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Blanchard's Grand Wine Tasting is basically the best semi-annual event on JP's Centre Street. The evening includes samples of more than 100 wines from throughout the world, and all of the wines featured in the tasting will be on sale at 20 percent off. There's also a fair bit of snacking to be done. Veteran's tip: The best snacks usually go out last. Blanchard's Wine and Spirits, 741 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Free.

Latin Jazz

Berklee's Latin Culture Celebration 2009 continues with performances from the Angel David Mattos and the Pan American Faculty Band. Berklee alumnus Mattos weaves his Puerto Rican heritage into his Latin jazz compositions and is a heck of a piano player to boot. The Pan American Faculty Band does what it sounds like it does. Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., 8 p.m. $10.

Drinking it Off

Whether it was GOP wins in Virginia and New Jersey or the repeal of Maine's same sex marriage law, there's surely something from yesterday's election that progressives need to drink off of their minds. Join our old friends at Socializing for Justice tonight as they sip cocktails and take stock of yesterday's victories and defeats. Mantra, 52 Temple Pl., 6 p.m. $2.

Symphonies

The NEC Philharmonia tackles a pair of early symphonies by Beethoven and Ives, Beethoven's first and Ives's second, that served as programmatic notices for iconoclastic careers to come. Conducted by Hugh Wolff. Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, 30 Gainsborough St., 8 p.m. Free.