Small business owners constantly re-inventing themselves!

It's a challenge to offer new and exciting things in a small business! But it is critical if you want to keep your customers coming back to you, in the face of overwhelming competition. That is why over the past year of doing business we've really tried to add to the services we offer. We've incorporated specially appointed 'tutored tastings', after the success of our in-store classes got such rave reviews. We now offer our customers a 'pick a night' for their group to enjoy tailored tasting just for their group.

And, our latest store event is our monthly wine tasting, held cooperatively with Beth Moyer of Purple Feet Wines. Last weekend, summer employee, Cameron, (in town for his brother's wedding) joined Jennell and myself for a great wine event! This was our second, and we now offer them each first Saturday of the month, along with a cheese sampling. We featured a lovely fondue using what was left of our Christmas Chardonnay.

The Christmas Chard is from Beau Joubert Cellar. It is light yet elegant, with a gentle touch of oak, and finishing with a hint of apple and vanilla. (Like my mom's old recipe for French apple cobbler!)

We had a great time!

The cheese fondue was a recipe from the "Melting Pot" cookbook - with Roth Kase's Butterkase, Carr Valley Fontina, and L'il Boy Blue. (Email me for the recipe.)

We also sampled Carr Valley's Black Sheep Truffle with a Milton Park Shiraz - the creamy nature of this sheep milk cheese was just perfect with the black cherry fruit of the wine. Wow! What a combination it turned out to be! What a great event for a cold February day.