Dog days of summer

Welcome to Cork’s weekly newsletter.

Not too much new going on as we hit the dog days of summer. As the temperature reaches the 90’s and we have the bleakest 2 days in sports with no Redsox or any sport (sorry soccer fans) going on right now. I will be going to see Big Papi in his rehab stint in Pawtucket tonight and the Lowell Spinners in the near future and I strongly recommend a trip up to Portland Maine to see the Seadogs. I’ve also heard good things about the Cape Summer League and need to check that out as well.

While we’re on the topic of local attractions we have incredible local breweries and wineries right in our backyard. We carry a bunch of them in the store as you know but these places make great summer day trips and most offer free tours and tastings. In fact our friend and owner of Buzzards Bay and Westport Rivers Winery in Westport Bill Russell takes it a step further. Thursday nights are “Lager Appreciation Nights” and you can get 2 pints of his yummy local lagers and a free glass for 5 bucks. But beyond that they have 2 grills set up so bring your favorite grillables and have a little picnic on the lawn. There are games of “cornhole” and “farmboy golf” to entertain and even a mini brewery tour as well. We went a few weeks ago and I’m thinking of taking 1 of our Thursday Beer Tastings and making it a roadie to Westport. Anybody interested?

We don’t have a beer tasting this week but we do have another 1st timer here Friday from 4 to 7 PM for out weekly wine tasting. Anthony from Arborway Imports will be sampling you on a few wines from his excellent portfolio. For those who missed the organic tasting we did last month he will have 3 new organic wines from Argentina. Domaine Jean Bousquet Chardonnay, Merlot, and Malbec will get us started. Next we head to Italy. In my ongoing campaign to get people to drink Rose wines we have Zaccagnini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Rose. This is a “dry” Rose and delicious on these hot summer days. Our last wine is a 2002 Russian River Pinot Noir called Mueller Emily’s Cuvee. I must admit this was bought by my predecessor and has been sitting in the back collecting dust. I’ve heard really good things about this gem so we will dust them off and close them out Friday night.

Don’t forget our next big event is less than a month away. Our 2nd Annual Customer Appreciation Day is Saturday August 9th from noon to 3. I’m in the process of lining up the beer, wine and booze vendors and this should be a lot of fun. We will be updating the website (corksfinewine.com) with details of this and all events so be sure to check it out as it draws closer. I hope you all enjoy the weekend and we’ll see you soon.

Robert