Happy Thanksgiving to all from the entire Cork's Family!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from the entire Cork’s family!

Just a few quick reminders before the busy Turkey Day celebration. We will be open 1 hour early tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9 AM…and close 1 hour later at 10 PM for all your last minute wine, beer, and spirit needs. We will be closed Thursday Thanksgiving Day. Friday the day after is black Friday…but to be honest is 1 of the slowest days of the year for liquor stores. Everybody has all their stuff already from the holiday, and just the diehards whose in-laws drank all their booze…or YOU need to drink more to put up with them come in. So Friday we will be open from 10 AM to 9 PM.

We do have the Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveaux here for that nice light red wine to pair with your bird. We’re fully stocked with all wines for your holiday dinner, as well as seasonal beers and all your favorite liquors. We have the most convenient in and out parking lot in town so parking and traffic are never an issue here at Cork’s. Go Pats and Happy Thanksgiving… see you all tomorrow!

Robert

Some "Favorite Things" at Corks

Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. We have some late breaking news on a couple of our Cork’s employees. For those of you who don’t know my sister Marianne, she is a cashier on Saturdays here at Cork’s as well as our web mistress. My cousin Valerie is also a cashier here on some Saturdays as well. Val nominated my sister Marianne as a “Hero” to be on, or in the audience of the Oprah Winfrey show that films in Chicago. Well they both got tickets for Tuesdays taping along with other heroes and those that nominated them.

Although Marianne is not fond of the hero label, she has done some amazing stuff for kids. She wrote a program a few years back after one of her students committed suicide called Strategies for Success. It’s sort of based on Tony Robbins' ideas, but for kids at the High School level. She taught this for many years at Mt. Hope High in Bristol, and for the last few years she has been trying to get this into every HS in the country. She also has taught it to RI College Freshman and is testing the material out this year at the middle school level. Her program is amazing and has turned the lives around for many of her students.

With all the recent talk of bullying that has been in the media lately this makes her program even more helpful as it has answers to bullying and so many other situations that our kids face these days. Here is a link to her site if you know of any schools in your area that could use it http://strategiesofsuccess.com/aboutus.htm. My cousin Valerie (AKA Ted’s dog sitter) nominated her. She too is an amazing woman and does so many things for her family and friends as well.

So anyway, they were in the audience on Tuesday for Oprah’s Favorite Things show! It will air this Friday at 4 PM for most in this area. I’m not sure what she has won and she is sworn to secrecy, but being Oprah’s last year I’m sure it’s amazing. I’m very proud of my big sister…and my cousin Val…they both deserve this…and if either of you have any extra stuff you don’t need, you know where to find me!

OK…back to Cork’s stuff and our busy week of tastings. We have Jack from Geary’s Brewing Co. out of Portland, ME here this Thursday from 4:30 to 7 PM. He will be sampling the Geary’s Pale Ale, Hampshire Special Ale, Imperial IPA, and London Porter. These are great local …well close enough…beers and super people. If you’re ever up in Portland I recommend swinging by and checking them out. As with all our beer tasting you will get 10 % off any of the beers you taste that evening.

We have a double barreled wine tasting for you on Friday night from 4:30 to 7 PM. We have Isaac from Classic Wine Imports making his Cork’s debut, and Mark from Power Marketing making his annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to the store. Isaac will start things of with a pop by pouring Heidsieck Blue Top Champagne. Next up is Johannisberg V Riesling Kabinett from the Rheingau region of Germany. Off to Argentina for Norton Torrontes and Pascal Toso Malbec. We come back stateside for AVV Temptation Zin and Sebastiani Cabernet. He will end with the perfect Thanksgiving wine Tomasello Cranberry Wine.

Mark will have 2 German Rieslings from St. Urbans-Hof, the QBA and the Bockstein Ockfen Kabinett that just got a 90 plus rating and is supposed to be in the Wine Spectator top 100. Next up is Bianchi Chardonnay from Santa Barbera and Bianchi Zinfandel from Paso Robles. Next up Mark has 2 of the perfect red wines for the Thanksgiving turkey, Pinot Noir. The 1st one we brought in last year around Thanksgiving and it has been a huge success. It’s just called Pinot and is estate grown Pinot Noir from the Central Coast region. The next one is brand new to us, Girasole Vineyards Pinot Noir is not only certified organic, but it is also Vegan. All these wines are great holiday wines so be sure to stop by and check out our double tasting.

Robert

A saluate to our Veterans and a big thank you!!

Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. Let’s start by thanking all our veterans both past and present for all they do to keep our great country free. We would like to offer a 10 % discount to any active duty member or retired veteran not just today, but any day here at Cork’s. While we are on it, we would also like to start a senior citizens day here at Cork’s. Any senior over 65 who shops at Cork’s on Mondays will receive 10% off your entire purchase. Don’t forget we will match any competitors advertised price in town as well. Just bring in the ad and show the cashier and we will be happy to match the price.

OK…let’s talk about tastings. We have beer, wine, and liquor tastings lined up right till the end of the year. Check the website (corksfinewine.com) for the complete list. Tonight (Thursday) from 4:30 to 7 we have our new beer manager Marc making his Cork’s tasting debut. He will be sampling some of the new beers he’s recently brought in and some of his favorites. His lineup includes Williams Bros Scottish Session Ale…Lagunitas Censored Ale…Troegs Hopback Amber Ale…Dogfish Head India Brown Ale…and Anchor Steam Porter. Marc is an award wining home brewer and he brought a couple of beers in last week. The 1st one I thought was good but he said it was a bit old and a little on the downside. The 2nd one was an IPA and to be honest I’d put it up against any IPA in the store. It was that good! Hopefully he can bring a few you in for you folks to sample as well.

Come join us Friday night from 4:30 to 7 for a little Menage a Trois…Get your mind out of the gutter… we’re talking about those delicious 3 varietal blends from Folie A Deux Winery. The white is a blend of Chardonnay, Moscato, and Chenin Blanc. The pink is a mix of Merlot, Syrah, and Gewurztraminer. And the red marries Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. So when they came out with a straight Chardonnay last year I balked and said what the heck. It’s a cutsie name and all, but it’s all about 3 varietals blended together to get the “Trois”. Well what they did with the Chard is source the grapes from 3 different areas, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Mendocino. Bottom line is that these are very good blends, at a very affordable price of $11.99. And if you come to Cork’s and purchase a Menage a Trois wine Friday night you will receive 10% off.

We have a ton of holiday gift sets on display that just came in for the holidays. The good thing about these gift items is there is no surcharge for the “stuff” that comes with it. The glasses, shakers, nips, buckets and other assorted goodies are all free! If you see something you like, I do suggest snatching it up as most of these sets are limited and we cannot get any more. Our elves have also been busy making some very affordable “grab/yankee swap” gifts for the holidays as well. The nip basket has 4 nips (including a Dewar’s 12 yr Scotch) a Christmas candy and comes in an adorable holiday themed bucket for the ridiculously low price of $9.99! We also have a limited supply of Christmas beer buckets as well. These have 1 of the crazy “Santa’s Butt” type beers, a pint glass, and a beer t-shirt in a bigger holiday bucket for $14.99. We will be making wine ones and some holiday baskets in the next couple of weeks.

Just one last thing before I go. We have always had a limited supply of wine accessories, glass ware, and non-liquor gift items at Cork’s. There are so many more things we’d like to have but limited space, and the fact they want you to order huge quantities to get a good price has hampered us in that area. The good news is we have a new online affiliate that has page after page of these items that you can order online and have delivered right to your door. Items like our Cork’s cork cage and tons of everyday and holiday items. You have to check out the website and see what cool items I’m talking about. Here is the link http://www.epicstyle.com/corksfinewine .

Since most of the locals lost last week we’ll skip the sports references this week. Have a great weekend everybody.

Robert

Lots of tastings coming up....

Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. I hope you all had fun at our 6th Annual Grand Holiday Wine Tasting last week. I thought the food from Cibo Matto Cafe was great, and that pork tenderloin paired perfectly with so many of the wines. I was a little disappointed that we only had Jeff the referee in a Halloween costume, but at least he kept the obnoxious whistle blowing to a minimum. We did take some pictures of the event and will get them up on the website (corksfinewine.com). The next big event is our Super Brew VI which will be on Saturday January 29th from 2:30 to 5 PM.

We do have beer and wine tastings lined up for every Thursday and Friday from now right up till the end of the year. Tonight (Thursday) from 4:30 to 7 we have Mike from Blue Hills Brewery here to sample you on some local beers brewed from just a few towns over in Canton. I didn’t get a lineup from him but I’m guessing he’s going to do all the 22 OZ. bottles that we carry here at Cork’s. That would be the Wampatuck Wheat, Red Baron Ale, IPA, Imperial Red IPA, and Black Hops. There is a Dunkelweizen Wampatuck Winter Wheat that is due out. Hopefully he can snag a sample of that as well. Don’t forget we have several of their beers in fresh 64 OZ. growlers too.

We have a special guest here for this Friday nights wine tasting from 4:30 to 7 PM. Mark Gendron is the owner and winemaker of J K Estates out in Lodi, California. But his roots are right here in Massachusetts. He is from North Attleboro and still has family living here in Mansfield. He will start with his J K Estates Chardonnay. This un-oaked Chard has Apple and pear flavors on the nose with a hint of vanilla on the mid palate. La Riata is next and is my favorite of the night. Is a red blend of Italian varietals. They are not listed on the label, and for the life of me I can’t find out online what they are. I guess we’ll just have to ask the winemaker. Either way this wine has hints of cinnamon and nutmeg and will make a great holiday wine. The other red blend is called Crossfire and is a mix of Cabernet, Syrah, and Merlot. Last but not least is a delicious Zinfandel called Stray Dog. What I like best about these wines is that they drink like $15 to $20 bottles but they are line priced at only $10.99. After the 10 % discount, you get these wines at less than 10 bucks!

Things are looking good for the local teams lately. The Pats have the best record in football…The Bruins are off to their best start in years and Tim Thomas has been amazing…the Celts are cruising with Rondo setting all kind of assist records. Let’s hope the Sox can come to terms with Big Papi… and is the World Series over yet? Boy that sure was a snoozer this year. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you soon.

Robert