Join us at Sip, Shop & Stroll Ladies Night Out in Cedarburg Thursday, May 16th 4:00 – 9:00 pm – Grapes & Tastes OPEN until 11 PM

Grapes & Tastes will be doing our famous “Cork Pull” at the Cedarburg Cultural Center during the time of this event and until 11:00 PM.  Get your cork and then stop in at the “Wine Cellar”, W63 N134 Washington Avenue, Echo Plaza, Back of building underneath CVS Pharmacy, until 11:00 PM for an extended Winey Hour for $4 glasses of wine from our tasting bar.

Over 70 Cedarburg businesses will open their doors to ladies for a night of pampering, pleasures and partying!  Enjoy special discounts, promotions, and product samples.  Visit businesses from 4 pm until 9 pm, with some remaining open later.

The event map is your passport to all events.  $10 day of check-in.  Check-in from 4-7 pm at the Cedarburg Community Center, W63 N641 Washington Avenue.  First 200 attendees not pre-registered ($10 day of) receive shopping bag, event map and bracelet.

Second Saturday FREE Wine Tasting & Singles Mingle

Saturday, May 11th from 3:00 – 5:00 come join us in celebrating Mother’s Day with some special wines.  We will also have some light snacks.  All wines tasted will be discounted during the tasting.  Bring your own glass and save $1 off of a 2 bottle purchase.

After the tasting for any singles out there, stay and mingle with others from 5:00 – 7:00.  Last month was a great success and we hope that will be the case once again.

SEEKER Wines have been Found! – 10% Off Sale to Celebrate

As I have been unpacking box after box, I have finally found the SEEKER wines and have brought out the display shelving for them.  I just thought it ironic that they have been FOUND!  So, to celebrate, stop in and buy a bottle at 10% off.  SEEKER wines include Chardonnay from California, Malbec from Argentina, Pinot Noir from France, Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile and Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

SWORM – Single Ladies meet this Sunday, May 19th 1:00 – 4:00

SWORM - Single Women of Ozaukee (and surrounding areas) Ready for More to meet this Sunday, May 19th from 1:00 – 4:00.  Ladies enjoying wine and conversation with each other to discuss many varieties of topics pertaining to the single life.  Enjoy wines at $4 per glass if you bring your own glass, otherwise $5 per glass.  Bring a snack to pass if you are able.  And for the men…look forward to more Singles Mingle events coming up!

FIRE SALE #2 – Selected Wines up to 30% Off

The first Fire Sale went over so good we decided to open more boxes and try it again!  Grapes and Tastes has been unpacking boxes by the hundreds and we don’t want to move all of that back up to our regular location once they are finished with renovations.  So, we are having our 2nd Fire Sale.  Selected wines will be in our “Fire Sale” barrel and will be up to 30% off.  This sale will run until they are gone.  Please remember to find us on the back side of the building (Echo Plaza) at W63 N134 Washington Avenue – You will see a banner hanging above the entrance.  The hours are Tuesday-Thursday Noon until 8:00 pm and Friday & Saturday Noon until 9:00 pm, sometimes open even earlier or later – when open the OPEN sign in the window of our regular location will be lit up.  See you soon!

Visit us at Grapes and Tastes Wine Cellar / Spanish Tasting Postponed

Due to the fire that occurred on Monday, February 4th, we will be temporarily relocating to the “wine cellar” in our current Echo Plaza – you will need to drive a bit further and seek us out – take the south drive down behind the building and we are located towards the north end underneath CVS Pharmacy – the temporary address is W63 N134 Washington Avenue.

We should be able to serve our first glasses (well plastic cups) of wine starting Friday evening February 22nd at 5:00!  Come join us – we miss you all!!!  We may not have all of your favorite selections at that time, but will continue adding to our stock in the days ahead.

The Spanish Wine Tasting that was scheduled for Monday, February 25th has been postponed.  We will let you know when we reschedule this fabulous event!

For now these will be our hours – Friday, February 22nd 5:00 – 9:00; Saturday, February 23rd 12:00 – 9:00; Sunday, February 24th – Closed; Monday, February 25th – Closed; Tuesday, February 26th 12:00 – 8:00; Wednesday, February 27th 12:00 – 8:00; Thursday, February 28th 12:00 – 8:00; Friday, March 1st 12:00 – 9:00; Saturday, March 2nd 12:00 – 9:00

Also, mark your calendar for Sunday, March 3rd from 2:00 – 6:00 pm – Ozaukee Cares will be having a benefit fundraiser at the Bridge Inn in Grafton, featuring Alex Wilson Band and Katz Sass!

 

Fire at Grapes and Tastes – Temporarily Closed

As you may have heard, Grapes and Tastes was damaged during the fire that occurred at Rich’s Restaurant next door to us.  The fire was called in at 10:20 pm Monday, February 4th.  I was on the scene shortly after 11:00 pm and stayed until it was safe for us to go into our businesses to access the damage.  I was interviewed on Fox 6 at about 4:30 in the morning on Tuesday.

It appears that we will need to be closed at least through the end of February.  We want to thank all of the firefighters who worked so hard in the cold to keep the damage at a minimum – Cedarburg, Grafton, Thiensville, Mequon, Port Washington, Saukville, North Shore, Jackson, Fredonia, Waubeka, Newburg and Slinger.  We want to thank the reconstruction crew from Paul Davis in their assistance with the process of getting everything back to normal.  We will sadly miss all of our dear customers at Grapes and Tastes during this time, but cannot wait to have everyone back when we are up and running again.

Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to Jim Joyce and all of the staff at Rich’s Restaurant.  The fire has just been devastating to them and all of their customers “family”.  The customers will deeply miss the good hot meals and family that they had at Rich’s.  Hopefully, we will all be back up and running in the near future!

You can come see us at several outside events that we have lined up:

Grafton’s Cool Blue Winter Frolics will be held on Saturday, February 9th and we will be there selling mulled wine to keep everyone warm.  There are a lot of fun events scheduled at the Winter Frolics including musher dogs.  See the link below for more information:

http://graftonchamber.chambermaster.com/directory/jsp/events/EventPage.jsp?ccid=412&eventid=2079&qs=ccid=412%7Cvisibility=2%7Ccontext=all

Tuesday, February 12th we will have a wine tasting at Mrs. Spyder’s Biker Patch located at 109 S. Park Street in Port Washington for the Port Washington KISS of Indulgence Ladies Night Out from 4:00 – 8:00.  For more information you can go to facebook.com/msbikerpatch

Saturday, February 16th we will have a wine tasting for the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce held at Country Inn & Suites in Port Washington.  For more information see this link:

http://www.visitportwashington.com/i/p/port_chamber.winter_tasting_1-24-13(1).pdf

If anyone would need to reach me you can call me at 262-744-0188

Sherrie Pals

 

 

Copa di Vino as seen on ABC’s Shark Tank

NEW here at Grapes & Tastes as seen on ABC’s Shark Tank!  We are excited to have this new fabulous product just in time for the nice weather!  Only $3.50 per glass!

Copa Di Vino, or wine by the glass, is the brilliantly simple idea of bottling premium wine directly into a glass. Wine lovers can now drink delicious, quality wine from an attractive, eco-friendly, single-serving container. Just peel back the lid and enjoy!

Copa Di Vino has the look and feel of glass, but is made of 100% recyclable plastic. This makes it perfect for all occasions where carrying a bottle of wine, a corkscrew and an extra glass is not convenient like stadiums, golf courses, camping, the beach or picnics. Copa Di Vino is just as comfortable at home Copa allows you to enjoy a glass of fresh wine without having to open an entire bottle.

The company started with a vision: Founder and owner James Martin and his wife Molli, who own two other wineries, were traveling on the bullet train inFrancewhen they discovered wine bottled in a glass. They were both enamored with the concept: it created a simpler access to wine than what current wine bottles could provide. And it reduced the carbon waste created in the bottling of wine by offering a lower weight wine container.

Realizing that beer had enjoyed the luxury of a single-serving can or bottle for decades, James felt the same engineering applied to wine would be a huge success in stadiums and outdoor venues in theUS. He thought of little else for more than a year before deciding to develop the technology.  However, he quickly learned that bottling wine in the glass was not as easy as it seemed. Eventually he turned to the inventor/bottler of the wine he had originally seen in France, Pascal Carvin. Rather than reinventing the wheel, the two formed a partnership – Pascal would provide the technology and James would provide the determination and drive to make theUSlaunch a success.

Two years later, James and Pascal are proud to introduce Copa Di Vino.

Shark Tank Update:

In an unprecedented move,Copa di Vino is to appear on Shark Tank for a second time in an episode, which goes to air in April. The entrepreneur who walked away from a deal last season in 2011 is James Martin from The Dalles Oregon who is the owner of Copa di Vino a wine in a cup business. This is the first time an entrepreneur who walked away returns to Shark Tank and is given another chance at pitching a the product. The Sharks circled Martin closely in the water last time out but did not bite on the total business offering the entrepreneur lay on the table.

Last season Martin’s invention Copa Di Vino caused a media ripple and there was great interest in the back-story of this self-made entrepreneur. The process bottles wines directly into a wine glass sealed with a peel back top. This allows wine enthusiasts to open a single serving, instead of an entire bottle and drink straight from the glass, James has fostered an industry wide debate similar to screw cap versus cork, highlighting how wine bottles are cumbersome and inefficient.

The business was pitched to the Sharks for a $600,000 investment for 20% of his company. The total package included the Copa di Vino 

 

product, a bottling business and winery. The Sharks were very keen on the bottling invention but not so keen on the wine it contained or the bottling facility or winery.  All Sharks saw the potential of the Copa di Vino plastic container and saw scope for multiple applications and an opportunity to make money. Their interest was purely in the intellectual rights and patent to the process and packaging and they wanted to strip away the Copa di Vino container part from the other two parts (winery and bottling plant) from the deal and focus exclusively on the peel back container.

James Martin walked away from the Shark Tank last season, after turning down an offer for the Copa di Vino container, but he is back for more negotiation, which indicates he has had a change of heart perhaps or has restructured his offering.

The line up from last season has seen some changes of investors, Martin will be pitching to:

•    Robert Herjavec, – an immigrant factory worker’s son, now a technology mogul, who sold his first internet companies for over 350 million dollars.
•    Barbara Corcoran, – turned a thousand dollar loan into a real estate empire (The Corcoran Group) worth hundreds of millions in the city of Manhattan.
•    Kevin O’Leary – venture capitalist who started a software business in his  basement, which he eventually sold for 3.2 billion dollars
•    Daymond John – fashion and branding expert who grew his homemade hats and t-shirts into the globally recognized fashion brand FUBU which has grossed over $5 Billion in sales to date.
•    Kevin Harrington (Seasons 1 and 2), “is the King of infomercials. His genius marketing of products such as the Obama coin and the Rock n’ Roll Stepper has amassed billions of dollars in sales.
•    Mark Cuban – owner of Landmark Theatres and chairman of HDNet the HDTV network and the outspoken owner of the 2011 NBA Champions, The Dallas Mavericks.
•    Lori Greiner – Queen of QVC. She holds 108 patents and has launched over 300 products–grossing 500 million in worldwide retail sales.

It really will be exciting in the extreme to see if the new investors have a different view on the business to their colleagues from last season. The product is great and the Sharks and Martin came so close to a deal last time. This show will be a real cliffhanger to see what the pitch to the Sharks is and whether or not they bite this time.

Read more: http://wineaircorkballoon.com/copa-di-vino-shark-tank/second-time-lucky-copa-di-vino-returns-to-shark-tank/#ixzz1rydkcGn3