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Wrap up the summer in celebration of the grape at New Mexico's premier wine festival, located 20 minutes north of Albuquerque in the historic town of Bernalillo, over Labor Day weekend.

The 23rd Annual New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo runs September 4-6, 2010, and is the biggest wine celebration in the state, drawing some 20,000 oenophiles who come to taste the fruits of more than 20 wineries' labors. If New Mexico doesn't strike you as the likeliest wine-producing state, you may be surprised to learn that the state's first grapevines were planted on the banks of the Rio Grande in 1629. By 1920, however, drought and Prohibition had all but brought winemaking to an end--until family-owned wineries started sprouting up in the late 1970s, ultimately creating the wine country that exists today. Your festival entrance fee includes a wine glass that allows you to taste away; you can also purchase wine by the bottle or case. Most of the state's wineries will be present, including Black Mesa Winery (see video above), Anasazi Fields Winery, and St. Clair Winery. In addition to the vino, there are performances throughout the day, with an emphasis on soul and R&B, arts and crafts, and great summer foods. As a bonus, you can explore the fest from the comforts of the brand new Sheraton Albuquerque Airport Hotel, which opens September 2, 2010, and boasts dramatic views of the Sandia Mountains.

For an explosion of music, dance, pageantry, and so much more, start making your way to West London. That's where, from August 29-30, 2010, the annual Notting Hill Carnival takes place, filling the streets with 20 miles of vibrant, colorful costumes in the celebration of all things Caribbean. The festival goes back to 1966, when Notting Hill residents of West Indian ancestry organized a small gathering to share their cultural traditions with their neighbors. It has grown exponentially over the ensuing decades, and today is the largest street festival in Europe, welcoming more than a million revelers from all walks of life. This year's festival promises to be one of the biggest ever, and if you plan on checking it out, you'd better bring your appetite. With hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, you'll eat your fill of jerk chicken and conch fritters before you know it. But you'll need the fuel to shake your stuff along with a sea of costumed dancers, whose intricate headdresses, jewelry, and body painting signify traditions from Trinidad, Tobago, and all across the West Indies. Music is at the heart of the festival, and you'll groove to calypso, soca, steel pan, samba, reggae, jazz, hip-hop, and more. Before long, you'll be infused with the island spirit that pervades this little patch of the Caribbean in England. Starwood has hotels throughout London, including the Sheraton Park Tower, London.

Don't be too quick to pooh-pooh the inaugural LouFest: It may be the first time St. Louis is trying to stage this major 2-day concert event, but it seems to be doing it right, with impressive bands like Built to Spill set to take the stage on August 28 and 29, 2010.

That band will join 17 others in the heart of the city in Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks in the US (it's 500 acres larger than Central Park) and a spot that's easily accessible from the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites. The lineup isn't as overwhelming as, say, Lollapalooza's, and thank goodness for that. With only one band performing in each time slot, you won't have to miss anyone. On Saturday, Built to Spill warms up the stage for the evening's closer, Broken Social Scene. On Sunday, things get even better, thanks to performances by the Fruit Bats (hear a sample in the video above), Alejandro Escovedo, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, and the night's headliner, Zooey Deschanel's She & Him. The Nosh Pit food court will sell better-than-your-average fest eats, including blue fin tuna tostada, lobster spring rolls, Southwest smoked trout flatbread, vegan cookies, and blueberry Italian ice. Better still, the fest has a strong eco angle: More than 20 vendors will be on hand to teach you about conservation and clean energy, and a plastic-conserving water bottle filling station means you won't have to fork over cash to get a new bottle of water.