Cork's 5th Annual Grand Fall Wine Tasting

Welcome to Cork’s 5th Annual Grand Fall Wine Tasting newsletter. The big event is just a day away, this Thursday October 29th from 5 to 7:30 PM. The list is put to bed and should be up on the website (corksfinewine.com) if you want to check it out. We topped out at 101 items for you to sample…94 wines and 7 liqueurs. A good chunk of the wines are new wines that I’ve sampled, and brought in for the show and holiday season. Most are value priced in the 10 to 15 dollar range, but we have value wines starting at $7 all the way up to $49 Champagnes!

I’m not going to go into to much detail on how the tastings work as most of you are regulars to these big events. For the newbies, we will post some tips on the website for you to review or at least chuckle over. I will again mention that like 2 years ago this event is a couple of days before Halloween, so costumes are strongly encouraged. I know I have my costume picked out and everyone who dresses up will receive a free gift! If that weren’t enough we will have a grand prize of a 1.5 L Peter Brum Riesling (perfect wine for Thanksgiving dinner) to who ever has the best costume. The judging will be totally arbitrary and up to me…so let’s be honest… guys…you’re out...sorry Kham - the fireman’s hat will not get it done this year!

We do have a new “Pizza Time” (Shops at Chestnut Green) supplying the munchies for us this year. We met Rene and Saki at the Oktoberfest, and they are very nice and their food is outstanding. We will have a mix of Frazolas (a stromboli/calzone kinda thingie) and pizza to snack on. As always the “Pizza Cam” will be on, so be sure to smile and wave as you push Tommy Bolini out of the way for a slice. We’re also hoping to have Edible Arrangements, who we met there as well be here with a table.

We don’t have a beer tasting this week as we bump Josh for the big wine event. But I think we have every Thursday, and even a few Saturdays lined up right through the end of the year. Be sure to check out the upcoming events portion of the website for the lineup. We will also be venturing into the gift basket biz for the holiday season. There will be some here at the store in the $10 range up to $50. You can choose the pre-made ones, or gives us a few days to customize one just for you.

OK…I need to get the store ready for the big party tomorrow, so just a couple more things. Woohoo...go Celtics...way to start off the run for banner #18 with a win at Lebron’s house! Oh yes and let’s not forget...GO PHILLIES!! I hope to see you all at the tasting tomorrow.

Robert

Grand Fall Wine Tasting Next Thursday October 29

Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. We are just about 1 week away from our 5th Annual Grand Fall Wine Tasting. The date is next Thursday, October 29th from 5 to 7:30 PM. I still have a couple of suppliers to finish off but it looks like we will top out at 15 tables and 100 items for you to taste!!...93 wines…and 7 liqueurs. Over half of these are new in the last few months and we have a price point for everybody - from 2 for $14 value wines to $40 Cabs and Champagnes. I will have a listing of all the items to be tasted on the website (corksfinewine.com) by the weekend.

I’m thinking next week’s newsletter will be a brief reminder on the tasting, so I will talk more about the event in this week’s newsletter. The tasting is just a couple days before Halloween so we encourage all of you to wear a costume. In fact, like we did a couple of years ago, we will offer a free gift to everybody who dresses up for the event. But don’t get to excited; it’s usually just a crappy bottle of wine off our closeout rack! One thing to get excited about is our new Pizza supplier. Ironically the new place is called Pizza Time (Foxboro) and the 1 we used to use is called Pizza Tyme (Norton)…OK, sorry Tommy Bolini, there really is no “irony” there, just a coincidence. Tommy is obsessed with the rampant incorrect usage of irony in the sports world...don’t even get him started on “chomping/champing at the bit” Anyway, we met these wonderful people at the Oktoberfest a few weeks ago and their food is outstanding. They have some calzone/stromboli like thingies called Frazola that are to die for. So we will give them a whirl at the tasting and see how many Mel can stuff in his piehole!

Let’s not forget about the beer side of things as we still have quite a bit of Oktoberfest and Autumn beers still hanging around. That means winter beers and holiday brews are right around the corner as well. We have a special guest appearance by our friend Bill Tredo to taste us on some delicious brews from England tonight from 4:30 to 7:30 PM. He has 3 beers from Wychwood…Scarecrow Golden Pale Ale, Fiddler’s Elbow, and Hobgoblin Dark English Ale. Next up is an Organic English Ale from Duchy Originals. And lastly we have Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale. I can’t remember how the beer tastes, but that is still one of my favorite movies of all time. Ironically…OK...coincidently, these beers will be perfect for the Patriots rout of the Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium in London this Sunday!

Robert

Guinness and Gary Vee

Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. How about those Celtics off to a blistering 3-1 pre-season start! I’m not sure how the Red Sox, Patriots, and Bruins are doing…I think they were all off last week! Anyway…there’s lots of stuff going on here at Cork’s as you may need a drink to wash away the last week's sporting news. Let’s start with a Guinness beer tasting on Thursday…and a let’s find a few new wines to taste, wine tasting on Friday…and let’s not forget our biggest wine tasting event of the year, is only a few weeks away. Thursday October 29th from 5 to 7:30 is our 5th Annual Grand fall Wine Tasting. We are just now getting the lineup together, but it should be close to 90 wines and 15 tables!! Be sure to check the website (corksfinewine.com) for details and updates.

Tomorrow night (Thursday) at the special time of 5:30 to 7:30 PM we will be tasting the yummy brews from Guinness. We will have the Guinness Draft, Stout, 250 Anniversary Stout, Harp, and Smithwick’s for you to sample. They will have tons of Guinness pint glasses to give away, and don’t forget to take your 10 % discount on any Guinness product the night of the tasting as well.

Hmmm…what to pick for Friday night's wine tasting. I will try not to duplicate things that we will be doing at our big fall show…but I haven’t got the lineup fully set yet…screw it…let me just wander the aisles and see what jumps at me. OK…nothing jumped off the shelf… but I promise you I’ll find 3 or 4 gems to pour Friday night between 4 and 7 PM.

What did jump out at me was an appearance by 1 of my favorite wine guys/critics Gary “Vee” Vaynerchuck on the Today Show. He has a great approach to wine, and I strongly recommend his wine library TV segments and any of his books. Check this segment out to see what a crazy dude he is……I met him at the wine expo in Boston and have been a big fan of his ever since.

I hope you all have a great weekend and we will see you soon.
Robert

There's only one Oktober!!

THERE”S ONLY 1 OKTOBER!!...Whew, I held off till October 8th before saying that this year. I don’t even think they do those crazy (Dane Cook and that other guy) commercials for the MLB postseason anymore. But I must admit they get me pumped for the Redsox playoff drive that starts tonight. Let’s hope we can all stay up till 1 AM to watch them. I see a lot of naps and bloodshot eyes in my future.

Keeping with the Oktober theme, it was good to see a lot of you at the Oktoberfest tasting Tuesday night in Foxboro. Once again, it was a big success with tons of great food and our Oktoberfest beers. Josh will keep the ball rolling with an Autumn beer tasting tonight from 4:30 to 7:30. He will sampling the Thomas Hooker Octoberfest, Mendocino Autumn Ale, Ipswich Harvest Ale, and Southampton Pumpkin Ale. So stop on by before your nap and pick up a 6-pk for the game. As always we will take 10 % off any of these beers we taste tonight. One last note on the Autumn beers…we have limited supplies left, and most are done for the season, so I would suggest stocking up on your favorites before they are all gone.

I don’t have any suppliers lined up this week for a wine tasting so I think we’ll take this Friday night off. I will probably put 1 together myself for next week as we build up to our 5th Annual grand Fall Wine Tasting. Be sure to mark your calendars for this event…Thursday October 29th from 5 to 7:30. We are putting the lineup together now and there will be a bunch of new and exciting wines for you to try. We will be updating the website (corksfinewine.com) with details as the event draws closer.

I hope you all have a great weekend …and GO SOX !!!!
Robert