Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Get your gift baskets early!


Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. Well it looks like winter has finally arrived as I look out the window at the plows pushing all that yucky slush around. Let’s see what else is going on besides the Patriots floundering…Tigers newest bimbo…and the Sox lackluster hot stove season…at least the Bruins are doing decent and the Celtics once again look like a championship team. Sorry for the sports references so early but I haven’t had a chance to ramble about them in a few weeks, and actually had customer requests for them.

Enough of that, let’s talk about wine. There is a new reality series (on PBS of all places) that is all about winemaking. It pits 12 contestants in (6) 1 hour episodes, with the winner actually producing their very own wine. The show was obviously taped awhile back because we have 1 case of the winning wine here at Cork’s! There was very limited production and I believe the whole state of Mass. got only 20 cases to sell. The 1st episode starts this Thursday at 8 PM on WGBH in Boston, and other times throughout the week as well. It sounds pretty cool and I’m going to set my DVR to record it. One interesting side note…the winner of the contest is on the bottle…but the bottle says “remove label only after the finale”. We will put some info on the show up on our website. Oh and if the show bites we’ll peel off the label…see who the heck won...and crack open a bottle and try it out!

We have 1 of the Bud Boys here to sample you on (appropriately enough) winter beers this Thursday from 4:30 to 7:30. He will have the new winter brew from the crazy people of Magic Hat called Howl. Next up is the always popular Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, followed by Redhook Winter Ale. Last but not least, one of my favorite winter beers, Winter Bourbon Cask Ale. So even though we’re like 11 days early, put your mittens and snowshoes on and come try some delicious winter beers.

Friday night from 4 to 7, we welcome a newcomer from Commonwealth Wines. Although Sean is far from a rookie, this will be his 1st time pouring here at Cork’s. Unlike his predecessor (Kevin, the Giants fan) he won’t shout you down across the store and say “hey you…in the blue coat...do you want a drink?” But he is an experienced fine wine salesman and has great wines to share with you. He will start you with a brand new Prosecco called La Marca. Las Rocas Garnacha will be next and I will quote the famous wine critic Robert Parker on this one. He says, “This may be the greatest discovery of my 25 year career!”…very high praise indeed...and a steal at only $12.99. Dancing Bull Zinfandel will be next followed by Frei Bros. Chardonnay and Cabernet, the last 3 all being excellent wines to pair with your holiday meals and parties.

Just a few quick reminders for those holiday gifts that you still need to get. We have a ton of nip mugs and baskets for only 10 bucks. These make great office presents, or for that $10 grab/secret Santa gift. We also have a bunch of wine gift baskets starting at $25. Lastly… they are going quick…but we still have quite a few “Liquor Gift Sets”. They all come in decorative boxes for wrapping and have cool “free stuff” inside. I hope you all have a great weekend and we will see you all soon.

Robert

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!




Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter. This will probably be our last newsletter before Thanksgiving. Since we’ll be closed next Thursday and Wednesday is a crazy busy day, I will not have a chance to type 1 out most likely. You can always check the website for current news at CorksFineWine.com. Or you can get up to the minute info and updates at Facebook.com or twitter.com. I think we still have myspace and Dig or Doug ….or whatever that is but who has time for all that tweeting…twerping…digging and all that nonsense.

So let’s highlight a few things and talk about the upcoming tastings to get you ready for your Turkey Day. We will be open a few extra hours on Wednesday (Thanksgiving Eve). We will open at 9 AM and close at 10 PM for your shopping convenience. We will be closed on Thursday Thanksgiving Day, and we will close 1 hour early at 9 PM on the Friday after turkey day. We have a bunch of gift baskets made up from $9.99 nip mugs… to $40 (3-bottle) wine gift baskets. We will be making more and have pictures of them on the website soon.

Let’s talk about tastings we have going on in the next couple weeks. We will have our friend Miguel here to sample you on the crazy brews from Flying Dog this Thursday from 4:30 to 7:30. Speaking of dogs…a quick apology to the 1 brave customer that brought a dog into Ted’s house for the Mutt Lynch tasting...sorry for Ted’s behavior and be sure to send me the vet bill! Anyway, back to Flying Dogs and beer. He will have Doggie Style Pale Ale…Double Dog Double Pale Ale…Old Scratch Amber Lager…In Heat Wheat Hefeweizen…and Snake Dog IPA. He might have a surprise Porter in the mix as well if they come in on time. So DON’T bring your pooch…but DO bring a friend and check out these yummy beers out of Colorado.

Friday night, we have Mark from Boston Wine here to taste you on his fine wines from 4 to 7 PM. He will start with a delicious sparkling wine from of all places New Mexico called Gruet Brut. Next up are Cartlidge & Brown Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, both excellent choices for Turkey Day. We go to Spain next for Monte Oton Garnacha. This great value wine (2 for $14) is 1 that I brought in during the “Summer of Sangria” as a cheap Spanish wine for Sangria recipes. Off to Italy for Vitiano Falesco which is a Cabenet/Melot/Sangiovese blend. He will end with the delicious Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre. This is a blend of Corvina and Rondinella and is a highly rated/award winning wine.

We have a bonus tasting on Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving from 3 to 6 PM. Our Friend Mark will be here with his very own Pinot Noir called….are you ready for this… “PINOT”. It is a Central Coast Pinot Noir and is the perfect red wine for the bird. He will also be pouring the Urban Riesling which also pairs perfectly for Turkey Day. At some point we will be getting our Beaujolais Nouveau in and I’m sure we’ll crack open a bottle of that too. I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving Holiday and we’ll see you all soon.

Robert