This month at Grain & Vine is Wild Care month.

If you have ever walked into the store and noticed that the bottles are particularly shiny, the Rolaids labels lined up just so and the Late July crackers cleaned out, you may have just missed a visit from our occasional 4-year-old employee. In addition to free reign on the crackers, she also earns 2 shiny quarters for her efforts and that’s where our story begins. A few weeks ago at the Wild Care fish fry, after studying a picture of a nest full of orphaned baby owls rescued and re-released by Wild Care, our daughter pulled those shiny quarters out and donated them without hesitation. And we were inspired…

So, come enjoy our delicious, fun and educational wine tastings and do some good while you’re at it. Our wine tastings continue to be free of charge but this month we encourage you to bring a donation for our littler Cape Cod friends. WILD CARE accepts thousands of injured, ill, and orphaned native wild animals on Cape Cod for rehabilitative care and release back to the wild. Check out their website www.wildcarecapecod.org to learn more and to see that picture of the baby owls; they’re a favorite around our house.

As for the tasting schedule, our calendar has all the details. We’ve got some great wine tastings planned and the ever-growing Friday night beer tasting. And it’s now printable, so stick it on your fridge people!

This Thursday, February 5th from 5:30 to 7pm, explore Chilean wines. Chile is one of the last homes of the big bargain wine (Merlot and Cabernet), but is also quickly entering the ring of world-class winemaking with their Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Sauvignon Blanc wines. They’ve also got some excellent organics and an interesting history. The Sunday open house style tastings carry on as usual with opportunities to finish your Valentine's Day homework early at the chocolate and curious liquids tasting on the 8th or check out Organic and Biodynamic wines on the 22nd.

Enjoy… This is Christie signing off!