Winter 2011 “Corked” Roadshow Diary

Friday, October 5, Elli’s Wine Cellar, Weymouth, MA: The most beautiful wine shop on the planet! Dave-free, so additionally poured organic Argentine Syrah & Moscatel, as well as a magnificent (non-organic) Malbec-based blend from the Global Wines, MA portfolio.

Also, as a sneak preview, tasted my final two potential 09 Madison’s Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon blends for Global Wines, MA, with B proving to be the clear favorite of the crowd. The Elli’s customers come to these Friday PM tastings to purchase as well as enjoy the ambiance of the shop.

Friday, October 14, Abington Liquors, Abington, MA: A well-promoted event, beautifully set up and displayed by Hemal Petal and his staff for us.

Instead of Dave’s usual “Corked” originals, heading into Halloween, we chose to display some of his Universal Monsters paintings instead.

Old friend Kristine Lydon stopped by as did Russ Sorrel and his better half, now owners of The Finer Taste, Florida’s best wine bar and Florida “Corked” the comic headquarters. We sold just about every bottle.

Saturday, October 15, Liberty Wine & Liquors, Braintree, MA: I was told by one woman buying her Bud Light 30 pack, “people don’t really drink wine.”

After that comment we felt a bit like we were working the Twilight Zone. Old wholesale comrade-in-arms Bob Bradford came by to taste, Megh Burgess and Matt McArthur visited. Not a single person posed for a caricature from Dave, which has never happened before…

Thursday, October 20, The Wine Bunker, Reading, MA: Smokin’ tasting – a charity event for Reading, Kansas. Pete and Bob should be proud of this! Excellent free food for the guests, plenty of MA wine wholesalers pouring, in addition to us. Tasted old friends from Ideal Wines on our wines, and Global Wines, MA compadre Mike Lancaster sat for a caricature a la Dave.

We sold it all, out-of-Crusher & Stemmer Red, and bottle stock only left of 09 Tough Day Chard & Tough Dame Cab. Guests were stealing our tasting glasses, which we found to be odd…

Friday, October 21, Cork's Fine Wine and Liquors, Mansfield, MA: How cool is it that the “Coked” tie- in wines are sold in a shop named Cork’s? Excellent event, tasting area is elegant – tasting bar, separate counter for glassware, separate area for Dave to draw at, station for the lap top so guests could view the site.

Obviously the shop did a great job promoting this – not a free moment, and we even started early.

Tasting display, an up front display and an in the heart of the fine domestic wines display, We did our best to move every bottle for the retailer who had our wines out on multiple displays.

Long-time-supporters Tony Bithony and Bev Kelley attended,

Saturday, October 22, Larkin’s Medfield Package Store, Medfield, MA: Old friend Dave Jost had stopped in earlier and left me a note asking why we were sold out of Crusher & Stemmer Red nationwide. Dave’s folks stopped by!

Sunday, October 23, Mark Chester book signing soiree, Hassan Gallery, Hanover, MA: Dave-free, Richard & Geraldine had purchased plenty of “Corked” wine from a local retailer, and asked if I would pour.

Fun event, nice, interesting crowd. Great food made by Geraldine! Charter “Corked” army members Bob & Kathleen Cumming attended, Kathleen & my wife bought clothes in another one of the shops – that boutique owes the Hassans a thank-you note!

Mark Chester’s photos were fun and thought-provoking, he tasted and endured the pitch on all of the “Corked” wines, and gave me a postcard book of his photos as a thank-you.

Saturday, October 29, Casablanca Comics, Portland, ME: A Shipyard brewery tour got us in the proper frame of mind while Bull Moose Music got plenty of ”Corked” army money.

Rick Lowell, Laura O’Meara, and local comics creators hosted state-of-Maine librarians with food, drink, comics, original art, and a puppet show by members of the Boston Comics Roundtable.

Megh took plenty of photos to chronicle the “Corked” army invasion of Portland for the site.

A nasty pre-Halloween snow storm put a lid on some of the craziness, despite the flowing wine.

Dave did a caricature of some librarians as Chucky and Rick as Plastic Man, using Jose Luis Gracia-Lopez’s original model sheet for a guide.

We were asked back for the Maine Comics Festival and Dave traded his original event art for original Joe Simon monster art!

Friday, November 4, Eastside Market & Wine Shop, South Boston, MA: Dave-free, so also tasted Terroir Imports Cava & organic Spanish reds. As advertised, excellent traffic in one of Boston’s original-post-prohibition package stores.

Shop does a great job on our wines, as many of the customers there already knew and were buying our wines.

Sold plenty of Terroir Imports wines for Paul Clear and Global Wines, MA too.

Saturday, November 5, Pilgrim Wine & Spirits, Plymouth, MA: A right-up-front area cleared for us to work in, and the shop had assertively discounted the wines on a nice display for the duration of the tasting.

There was plenty of plaza traffic, but not so much store traffic, few tasters and fewer non-bulk wine shoppers.

Not many caricatures for Dave to do, but everyone who tasted bought.

Friday, November 11, Renaissance Wine & Spirits, Worcester, MA: A well-advertised event with a beautiful display and nice tasting area in another lovely, clean, spacious shop fighting the good fight in what could be considered a difficult-to-sell-fine-wine area. Dave unveiled his new Chenin Meunier pinup here.

Deb Nilan wore her Tough Dame Cab finery to the event. Old friend David Tiberii & his wife visited. Plenty of tasters, plenty of caricatures done, and enough sales to be more-than-encouraging. They will also be offering Dave’s Boston sports caricatures for sale.

Saturday, November 12, Ralph's Derby Street Wine & Spirits, Hingham, MA: The Grand Holiday Tasting proved to not be just hyperbole. Plenty of guests and food.

Unusually well-organized – we had an excellent area, perfect to display our art as well as pour the wines, tell our story and draw caricatures.

Caught up with old comrade-in-arms Deb Pecce, who poured for a MA wholesaler!
New England Comics’ Doreen Greeley visited, in her Tough Dame Cab t-shirt!
And we were the event’s top seller!

Thursday, November 17, Bradford’s, Plymouth, MA: Dave-free, for Global Wines, MA. Well displayed, designated tasting area, crackers. Cava made by Paul Clear, two organic whites & two organic reds Vino la tierra de castilla, plus two old world-style reds Vino la tierra de castilla made by Paul Clear. Reds moved well, Cava OK, whites were difficult to peddle.

Friday, November 18, Pops Fine Wines & Liquors, North Easton, MA: Plenty of space and foot traffic. Multiple displays, full racks, plus a designated tasting table and a separate counter area for Dave.

Dave’s Stooges art original premiered! Busy right through - almost wiped out their supply. Linda Shumway, Owner & Wine Maker, Plymouth Winery, Plymouth, MA visited and bought Crusher & Stemmer Red. Sneak previewed my San Valencia Winery, Old Vine Tawny.

Saturday, November 19, Elli’s Wine Cellar, Weymouth, MA: Great event, plenty of guests, great food in this mega-elegant shop. Nice display area with designated space for Dave to draw at – we had the best location in the store.

People came to taste & buy – poured our wines, plus five Global Wines, MA items. Everything sold better-than-expected. Sold all of their Crusher & Stemmer Red and Tough Day Chardonnay, and the lion’s share of their Tough Dame Cabernet.

Righted a previous wrong – we gave a signed poster to one of their top Tough Dame Cab customers whom I met on in the shop on her birthday, buying her weekly wine, but did not have a poster in the car at that time and felt horrible about it.

Friday, December 2, Hingham Liquors, Hingham, MA: Nice display waiting for us with plenty of food!

Huge crowds – the lighting of the town Christmas tree ceremony in the square.
Cleared out all of his stock on Crusher & Stemmer Red and the lion’s share of his Tough Day Chardonnay & Tough Dame Cabernet.

This was a particularly sweet event for us in that his neighbor in the “wine shoppe” down the street told me he was a “serious wine shop” and had no need of our wines, all-the-while making it sound like Dave & I were some sub-species beneath contempt, because he had once owned a shop in St Helena.

We worked non-stop pouring, drawing & peddling from our starting-to-set-up and we stayed late as there was still interest. Sneak previewed the new Crusher & Stemmer Red blend.

Saturday, West Concord Liquor Store, Inc., Concord, MA: Nice crowds, and food for the guests on the shop’s 30th anniversary. No one else was nearly as prepared as us, or had such an attractive display. Plenty of MA wholesalers, but no suppliers other than us.

Pam Schweppe visited, looking radiant as usual. Lots of somewhat pretentious “I don’t drink whites” or “I won’t drink Chardonnay” to wade through from many of the guests.

We sold out of reds with an hour to go, Chardonnay by the time we closed down.
Sneak previewed the new Crusher & Stemmer Red blend again.

Friday, December 9, Granite Liquors, Weymouth, MA: With Global wines, MA. Food for the guests, good traffic for us. Sold far more than the other MA wholesalers and local breweries that were pouring.  Very few people buying beyond a bottle or two for themselves – did not see much in the way of Christmas shopping.

Saturday, December 10, The Main Course Market, Canton, MA: With Global wines, MA. Good traffic, plenty of real tasting-to-buyers, plenty of caricature action. Nice gourmet spreads and crackers for people to taste. Old friend Maura McAuliffe visited! Brought home a nice dinner - Neo-Tuscan bread, Greek cucumber & tomato salad, Asian snap peas, sweet & sour turkey meatballs, honey-mustard panko chicken breasts, chocolate covered grahams. 09 Madison’s Ranch Cab sneak preview.

Thursday, December 15, Murray's Liquors, Newton Centre, MA: What a tasting is supposed to be, right down to our celebratory post-tasting beer. Thought Dave was gonna propose to the lovely young lady who started discussing the Mort Drucker influences in his art on episode 26. Sold out of Chardonnay and the lion’s share of the Cabernet.

Friday, December 16, Blanchard's Wine & Spirits, Marshfield, MA: Old friends Cindy Barry, Lenny LaForest and their respected better halves visited. Sold enough that they had to re-order, and they still had a bit of Crusher & Stemmer to pour for their customers…

Salesmen from other wine companies came by to taste. Cindy’s hubby John properly identified the Dink Segal influence in Dave’s Chenin pinup, the original of which was purchased by proprietor Don Corey Jr.

Saturday, December 17, The Wine Nook, Townsend, MA: Friend Sothida Vanthan and her staff all wore Tough Dame t-shirts! Dave’s art from our previous visit on the walls! A bit of Crusher & Stemmer to pour! Old friend and Global Wines, MA salesperson Ilene Reyes visited!

Global previews: 09 Madison’s Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 Font du Mirail Ventoux & 10 Barn d’Or unoaked Chardonnay.

Nuts, cheese, bread & fruit for the guests. A great display of our wines, of which we made short work of the front six cases, while Dave drew piles of caricatures.
A wonderful way to end the tasting event season…