Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive! For those unfamiliar with this yearly tradition this is the 1st wine of the 2008 vintage, and comes out the third Thursday of November. It is made with the Gamay grape, and is a very light and fruity red wine making it an excellent pairing with turkey. This wine is not overly complex, the grapes having literally been on the vine just a couple of months ago. We carry the George Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau and as always it comes in a funky flowery designed bottle. We will be sampling this wine with other great Thanksgiving wines Friday night from 4 to 7 PM.
Speaking of Turkey Day we will be closed on Thursday. We will open up an hour early, at 9 AM on Wednesday 11/26 and close an hour later at 10 PM for your shopping convenience. We will also close 1 hour early on Friday (9 PM) the day after Thanksgiving as most of you are fully stocked up booze and turkey, and probably in a tryptophanic coma anyway. Don’t forget we have full liquor now for all your holiday needs. So there is no need to fight for a parking spot at our competitors when we have a huge parking lot here at Cork’s.
We do have a beer tasting scheduled for tonight (Thursday) from 4:30 to 7:30. I’ve given up trying to figure out if it’s my cousin Vinnie, a supermodel, or some random dude…so let’s just say it will be a rep from Quality Beverage. They will sample you on their selection of European beers tonight. He/she will taste you on Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale, Stella Artois, and St. Pauli girl from Germany. While we’re on the subject of beer I’d like to clean up any Oktoberfest/Pumpkin/Autumn beers that are hanging around. So in lieu of a mystery discount for the next couple of weeks all Fall Beers will be 10 % off. They will not be programmed into the register so you may need to remind the cashier….and if you wanna shout 1 last time there is only 1 OKTOBER!!…you know I’ll enjoy that.
Friday night will be our Annual Thanksgiving wine tasting from 4 to 7 PM. We fill feature what I think are the best pairings for turkey and all the rest of the fixings. We will start St. Urbans-Hof Riesling from the Mosel region of Germany. Next we go to Columbia Valley in Washington for Chateau Ste Michelle Gewurztraminer. Gewurtz is always my favorite Thanksgiving white as it not only compliments the bird, but the cinnamon and nutmeg spices are the perfect compliment to many of the side dishes. From there we go a few hundred miles south to Oregon for Firesteed Pinot Noir. Burgundian in style, this light bodied red is perfect for turkey. A Thanksgiving tasting would not be complete without the aforementioned Beaujolais Nouveau, so that takes care of the red portion of the tasting. Off to Jersey next for Tomasello Cranberry Wine. This a delicious, slightly sweet and tart wine made from 100% cranberries. We finish with a brand new dessert wine from Harvard, MA. Apfel Eis from Still River Winery is an ice wine made from 100% local apples. We just tried it yesterday and it is absolutely delish !!...this will be a perfect wine to serve with pumpkin or apple pie, or it can be dessert all on its own.
There will be no newsletter next week as it’s going to be crazy busy here and we are closed Thursday. There will also be no tastings next week as we concentrate on keeping the shelves filled and helping you with your Thanksgiving selections. I hope you all have a great weekend, and a nice Thanksgiving holiday.
Robert
PS…wow it was just brought to my attention after sending ½ of the e-mails out that I don’t have 1 sports reference!!...I just can’t go 2 weeks without 1, so congrats to “El Caballito” for an amazing season and capturing the AL MVP Award.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thanks for attending the 4th Annual Grand Holiday Wine Tasting!
Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter.
I want to thank all those who attended our 4th Annual Grand Holiday Wine Tasting and made it a huge success. I think it we’ve finally got it down to where we have plenty of wine/beers at the se big events, and still have enough room to maneuver around and talk to the sales reps. The mix of wines, and even liquors seemed to work for you as well. We did have a minor delay with traffic and getting the 2nd batch of pizza, but overall I think the tasting went smoothly. Please feel free to send us comments, good or bad so that we can fine-tune even more for the next big tasting.
Speaking of the next big tasting, that would be our 4th??...5th?? Annual Superbrew Beer Tasting (I’m starting to lose track of the m to be honest). This year the event will be on the bye week between the AFC/NFC Championship games and the Super Bowl. Last years Superbrew was the day before the big game, and was just a bit out of control with the Patriots in the game and all. So this years big beer tasting will be on Saturday, January 24th from 2:30 to 5 PM. Hopefully the Pats can spank the Jets tonight and make a run at it despite the incredible amount of injuries they’ve suffered this year.
OK...interesting sidebar...as I’m writing about the Patriots in the newsletter a rather large gentlemen inquired about and bought an Opus One, 2 Larry Bird Legend Meritage, a few high end Bordeaux, and a few bottles of expensive liquor. Now being the sports geek I am (in my Ty Warren jersey for tonight’s game) I asked Erin to check out the name on the card. Turns out it's Jarvis Green of our New England Patriots!! Funny thing is I’m going to a charity wine tasting this Saturday at Johnson & Wales Inn in Seekonk this Saturday sponsored by the Jarvis Green foundation. There were over 20 Patriot players there last year, and lots of cool stuff auctioned off with proceeds going to help hurricane Katrina victims. Tickets are a bit steep at $100, but there will be tons of high end wines and great foods to sample. Check out our website (corksfinewine.com) for more info if you’re interested in attending.
We do not have any beer or wine tastings lined up for this week as we recover from last week’s big event. We do have a ton of tastings scheduled between now and Christmas, and we will set up a list/calendar of them on the website by this weekend. We do have a tasting this Saturday on Schwartzhog liqueur from 1 to 4 PM. This is a less expensive, knock off of Jagermeister and actually contains hog root. Unfortunately Kevin from Commonwealth will not be available to taste you on his fine product, so we’ve had to hire a supermodel.
Be sure to check out all the new and interesting holiday beers and gift sets that we recently brought in. We have a couple of racks set up in front, and most of these items are in very limited quantities so stop in early for the best selection. I hope you all have a great weekend and we’ll see you soon.
Robert
I want to thank all those who attended our 4th Annual Grand Holiday Wine Tasting and made it a huge success. I think it we’ve finally got it down to where we have plenty of wine/beers at the se big events, and still have enough room to maneuver around and talk to the sales reps. The mix of wines, and even liquors seemed to work for you as well. We did have a minor delay with traffic and getting the 2nd batch of pizza, but overall I think the tasting went smoothly. Please feel free to send us comments, good or bad so that we can fine-tune even more for the next big tasting.
Speaking of the next big tasting, that would be our 4th??...5th?? Annual Superbrew Beer Tasting (I’m starting to lose track of the m to be honest). This year the event will be on the bye week between the AFC/NFC Championship games and the Super Bowl. Last years Superbrew was the day before the big game, and was just a bit out of control with the Patriots in the game and all. So this years big beer tasting will be on Saturday, January 24th from 2:30 to 5 PM. Hopefully the Pats can spank the Jets tonight and make a run at it despite the incredible amount of injuries they’ve suffered this year.
OK...interesting sidebar...as I’m writing about the Patriots in the newsletter a rather large gentlemen inquired about and bought an Opus One, 2 Larry Bird Legend Meritage, a few high end Bordeaux, and a few bottles of expensive liquor. Now being the sports geek I am (in my Ty Warren jersey for tonight’s game) I asked Erin to check out the name on the card. Turns out it's Jarvis Green of our New England Patriots!! Funny thing is I’m going to a charity wine tasting this Saturday at Johnson & Wales Inn in Seekonk this Saturday sponsored by the Jarvis Green foundation. There were over 20 Patriot players there last year, and lots of cool stuff auctioned off with proceeds going to help hurricane Katrina victims. Tickets are a bit steep at $100, but there will be tons of high end wines and great foods to sample. Check out our website (corksfinewine.com) for more info if you’re interested in attending.
We do not have any beer or wine tastings lined up for this week as we recover from last week’s big event. We do have a ton of tastings scheduled between now and Christmas, and we will set up a list/calendar of them on the website by this weekend. We do have a tasting this Saturday on Schwartzhog liqueur from 1 to 4 PM. This is a less expensive, knock off of Jagermeister and actually contains hog root. Unfortunately Kevin from Commonwealth will not be available to taste you on his fine product, so we’ve had to hire a supermodel.
Be sure to check out all the new and interesting holiday beers and gift sets that we recently brought in. We have a couple of racks set up in front, and most of these items are in very limited quantities so stop in early for the best selection. I hope you all have a great weekend and we’ll see you soon.
Robert
Thursday, November 6, 2008
One day to 4th Annual Grand Holiday Wine Tasting
Well we’re just 1 day away from our 4th Annual Grand Holiday Wine Tasting. It is tomorrow (Friday) night from 4:30 to 7 PM. I tried my best to scale it back and make it more accessible, and yet we still have just over 100 wines and 10 liquors to taste. I’ve actually had to cut back and turn down vendors for this years show. But the good news is we’ll line them up during the holiday season and do wine tastings on most Saturdays as well as Friday nights.
Here are a few tips I recycled from past years events to help those new to our big tastings:
1) Please bring your favorite glass. We will have semi-real wine glasses for you to use, and from what I hear they are even bigger than what we’ve had in the past. But to truly enjoy the wine, you should be able to swirl it and sniff it. Now… it is still a tasting and you will get a 1 oz pour, so don’t be asking to have your glass topped off.
2) For those new to the tastings, as you enter the store you will receive a sheet listing all the tables and wines. You will be assigned a number and that is your number for the night. When you find a wine you like simply tell the sales person your number and they will put a sticker on the bottle and write your number on the top. We will have runners scoop them up and put them in a box for you at the front of the store. When you're ready to leave, just tell the cashiers your number and your purchases will be ready for you.
3) You will receive a 10 % discount on 6 bottles and 15 % on a case of wine. Sale items and “2 for” wines do not discount further but do count towards the total. You may also mix other wines not included in the tasting to your case to receive the discounts.
4) I feel the need to mention my biggest pet peeve once again… enough already with the incessant rinsing!!! The only time you should rinse your glass is when you go from reds to whites and even then you should rinse with a wine and not water. The water only coats your glass and dilutes the next wine.
5) Please stay clear of the path to the pizza when they arrive so you won’t be trampled by Tom (he ain’t heavy he’s my brother) and other pizza mongers. We don’t want needless injuries and there will be plenty for everybody.
6) Please drink responsibly. This is a tasting after all, not a party. Have fun… enjoy the wines… mix in some food. There is no shame in dumping or spitting. In fact it is the only way you can possibly get through a tasting of this size. Plus we mix me all together at the end of the night and have chugging contests!
Let us not forget about beer here at Cork’s as there is a lot going on in that category as well. In fact we have a new beer guy who just joined our staff. His name is Josh and has over 6 years experience in the beer business. So be sure to stop by and say hello, and ask him about all the new things he has planned for the beer section. We will talk more about these changes, and take your suggestions as we move forward.
Speaking of beer we have our friend Tim Coleman here tonight (Thursday) from 4:30 to 7:30 to taste you on his excellent beers. He’s scheduled to sample Tuckerman Pale Ale and Headwall Alt. He doesn’t know it yet but we’re gonna twist his arm to crack open the newest arrival from the Southern Tier Cuvee Series called Oak Aged Ale also. We will do 10 % off any Tuckerman or Southern Tier products tonight only. We also have a bunch of new winter and Christmas beers arriving so be sure to check them out as well.
Wow I made it through a whole newsletter without 1 sports reference…Go Celts!...sorry, had to do it. I hope to see you all at the big wine tasting and have a great weekend.
Robert
Here are a few tips I recycled from past years events to help those new to our big tastings:
1) Please bring your favorite glass. We will have semi-real wine glasses for you to use, and from what I hear they are even bigger than what we’ve had in the past. But to truly enjoy the wine, you should be able to swirl it and sniff it. Now… it is still a tasting and you will get a 1 oz pour, so don’t be asking to have your glass topped off.
2) For those new to the tastings, as you enter the store you will receive a sheet listing all the tables and wines. You will be assigned a number and that is your number for the night. When you find a wine you like simply tell the sales person your number and they will put a sticker on the bottle and write your number on the top. We will have runners scoop them up and put them in a box for you at the front of the store. When you're ready to leave, just tell the cashiers your number and your purchases will be ready for you.
3) You will receive a 10 % discount on 6 bottles and 15 % on a case of wine. Sale items and “2 for” wines do not discount further but do count towards the total. You may also mix other wines not included in the tasting to your case to receive the discounts.
4) I feel the need to mention my biggest pet peeve once again… enough already with the incessant rinsing!!! The only time you should rinse your glass is when you go from reds to whites and even then you should rinse with a wine and not water. The water only coats your glass and dilutes the next wine.
5) Please stay clear of the path to the pizza when they arrive so you won’t be trampled by Tom (he ain’t heavy he’s my brother) and other pizza mongers. We don’t want needless injuries and there will be plenty for everybody.
6) Please drink responsibly. This is a tasting after all, not a party. Have fun… enjoy the wines… mix in some food. There is no shame in dumping or spitting. In fact it is the only way you can possibly get through a tasting of this size. Plus we mix me all together at the end of the night and have chugging contests!
Let us not forget about beer here at Cork’s as there is a lot going on in that category as well. In fact we have a new beer guy who just joined our staff. His name is Josh and has over 6 years experience in the beer business. So be sure to stop by and say hello, and ask him about all the new things he has planned for the beer section. We will talk more about these changes, and take your suggestions as we move forward.
Speaking of beer we have our friend Tim Coleman here tonight (Thursday) from 4:30 to 7:30 to taste you on his excellent beers. He’s scheduled to sample Tuckerman Pale Ale and Headwall Alt. He doesn’t know it yet but we’re gonna twist his arm to crack open the newest arrival from the Southern Tier Cuvee Series called Oak Aged Ale also. We will do 10 % off any Tuckerman or Southern Tier products tonight only. We also have a bunch of new winter and Christmas beers arriving so be sure to check them out as well.
Wow I made it through a whole newsletter without 1 sports reference…Go Celts!...sorry, had to do it. I hope to see you all at the big wine tasting and have a great weekend.
Robert
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