Members Only!!! May Wine Club wines are in the house! Come taste through them with us on Friday 05/01 from 5-6:30PM. And don’t forget! WC members, you get a 10% store-wide (including the bar) discount on whatever day you pick up your wine.
I’m not sure what the theme is going to be yet, BUT, the porch is open!!! And we’re ready to celebrate!
Are you new around here and are wondering what this whole Weiner Wednesday thing is all about?!
Here is the Cliff Notes explanation:
WEINER WEDNESDAY - At one point we decided to do a hot dog pop up, and somehow these have become our most popular event!
-One Wednesday a month.
- No need to RSVP, service from 5-9ish
- Menu = 2 hot dog specials, cocktail specials, an appetizer, a salad, and a dessert. We always have vegan dogs.
- You can still order wine/beer/bottles cocktails and grab other snacks from the store.
Most of you know that our true home base is in Durham, so on Friday May 9, we’re helping throw a party for Durham, while raising money for our local historical society. This is going to be a good one! We’ll be serving up beer, wine, cocktails out of our mobile bar trailer - Jackass Annie, and we’ll also be dishing up some hearty soup as well! (And, we’ve got some big news that we’ll share soon - but if you come, you’ll hear sooner than everyone else!!) There is going to be a HUGE silent auction, tintype portraits, live blues music, all held rain or shine at Wildflowers Farm…
You can buy tickets here:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/durham-historical-societys-2nd-annual-silent-auction
This is a special opportunity to taste some wine with the actual winemaker of Stoeffler - a really great Alsatian winery. He’s in town for Maine Wild Wine Fest, so we took advantage of the opportunity host him for a tasting! We’ll have five wines open, including sparkling, white, orange and red! As always, no need to RSVP for wine tastings, just show up any time between 5 and 7, and remember, you get 10% off 6 or more bottles on tasting.
Wow, we haven’t done a real sit down wine dinner in a while. But, when a super cool Sicilian winemaker is in town, you do what you gotta do. I am so excited about these wines, and the pairings we are developing for them! Childhood friends Nicola and Guido founded Elios in 2015. They started keeping bees and found themselves excited by the prospect of returning to tending the land in their home region of Sicily. Their mission: to make wines that taste like their land with no shortcuts, just nature and craftsmanship. They only work with native Sicilian grapes like Nerello Mascalese, Catarratto, Grillo, and Nero d'Avola. Nicola will be here for Maine Wild Wine Fest so we asked if we could do a dinner with him, and the powers that be said yes! We will be featuring four of his wines, paired with four courses that meld Sicilian cuisine with local ingredients… Dinner will be seated communally and served family style. Reservation instructions and menu will be released via email very soon, so in the meantime be sure that you have signed up to get our emails!
While we are not part of Maine Wild Wine Fest, we want y’all to gocheck it out! We're so excited to celebrate some of our favorite natural wine producers and importers at Maine Wild Wine Fest. Hosted at the historic Mallet Barn on the water at Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport, Maine Wild Wine Fest is a joyful way to connect and taste with many of the top natural wine importers and producers in America. Crowds here are small, warm, and clustered around exhibitor tables —they've designed this event to give you plenty of space to talk in depth with the winemakers and importers in attendance. This is an amazing opportunity to learn more about natural wine, taste some amazing wine, and meet winemakers! And, they always get a great lineup of food trucks, so you can really make an afternoon of it! A birdy told me that the afternoon session is almost sold out, so best get your tickets ASAP, by clicking the link below!
https://www.mainewildwinefest.com/
Small Acts turns 1! This month marks the local newsletter's one-year birthday. Join us in celebrating our 13th issue at Vessel and Vine with a Small Acts Faire. Inside there will be a drink special to help support our printing fund, along with all of Vessel's normal goodies (glass pours, fridge snacks, bar ice cream!). On the porch, there will be stations where Small Acts volunteers will lead activities and facilitate connections. Whether you've been hesitating on writing your ad, want to get plugged in to local networks, or just want to take home some plant babies and local art to brighten up your space this spring, spend an afternoon with us! The Faire will run 1-5pm on Sunday, 4/17. Activity stations will be donation-based, and drinks and food inside will be a la carte.
Just in time for warmer weather, you can learn how to make the perfect margaritas in our cocktail class! We will teach you the simple but important ratios of a perfect margarita, and will then give you the tools to improvise. We'll talk about the history of the Margarita, it's close cousins, and of course shake up some drinks. $55 per person, not including tax and gratuity. Call the Vine to sign up!
We’ll have five wines open, including sparkling, white, orange and red! As always, no need to RSVP for wine tastings, just show up any time between 5 and 7, and remember, you get 10% off 6 or more bottles on tasting.
We’ll have five wines open. As always, no need to RSVP for wine tastings, just show up any time between 5 and 7, and remember, you get 10% off 6 or more bottles on tasting.
Who remembers pre covid era art shows at Vessel and Vine?! Our BFF Yennika Ekstrand curated them, and we had some banging art on the wall… Well, our good friend, and number one customer Michael DeLola is an amazing photographer, so we decided to revive the tradition! He has titled the show “Primordial Pins” and his skill with a macro lens is otherworldly.
In his words: “Everything starts with something small, formless. A primordium, an image, an organism. They grow, they take shape. A hyphal strand meets a hyphal strand to form fruit. A photographer's hand releases a shutter to capture an image.”
Michael is a nature and macro photographer who focuses on insects, spiders and other tiny arthropods like springtails and mites, as well as fungi and slime molds. He is also a forager, citizen scientist, and amateur mycologist.
His work aims to explore the hidden and surprising beauty of under-represented and under-appreciated organisms in the Midcoast and Southern regions of Maine, with the specific goal of highlighting local biodiversity and ecology. His work will be up through May 17.
So, we’re going throw an opening party of course!
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT AT A FULL SERVICE FRIDAY - Sometimes we like to class it up even more and pretend we are a real bar/restaurant. But only sometimes.. We’re too old and cranky for always anymore.
- Always on a Friday.
- No need to RSVP, service from 5-10ish
- Menu consists of a few cocktail specials, an entree, a few appetizers, a salad, and a dessert. We always have vegetarian options.
- You can still order wine/beer/bottles cocktails and grab other snacks from the store.
Personally, I find this time of year to be a bit difficult mentally. We’re so close to spring, but the weather is still a bit of a mind-F. One day the birds are chirping and the crocuses are popping, and the next we have a mini blizzard, or cold and dreary rain, and those fluctuations mess with our minds! So, this month’s Weiner Wednesday is going to be themed “Pretend Summer” which means we are going to lean in to the summery fresh flavors we can access through our global food chain… Most of the time I am a firmly local gal when it comes to produce, dairy and meat - but sometimes those out of season goodies are just what our seasonal depression brains need…
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT AT A WEINER WEDNESDAY : At one point we decided to do a hot dog pop up, and somehow these have become our most popular event!
-One Wednesday a month.
- No need to RSVP, service from 5-9ish
- Menu = 2 hot dog specials, cocktail specials, an appetizer, a salad, and a dessert. We always have vegan dogs.
- You can still order wine/beer/bottles cocktails and grab other snacks from the store.
Last year we met Walker Brown - co founder of Lubanzi wines, and were immediately taken by the honest approachability and lip smacking deliciousness of his South African wines. And now, however many months later, we get to host him for a wine tasting! These are definitely what we call “kitchen counter” wines - bottles you can always have around, that are food friendly, versatile and easy on the wallet. And, even better - they are also available in cans. Perhaps you’ve heard us wax poetic about beauty of canned wine in the past, but if it’s good juice - which this is, then it’s a perfect Vessel for outdoors activities in Maine. Boats, hikes, stoop sessions, cooking by yourself while listening to music, bonfires, ice fishing, backcountry snowshoe breaks… We’ll have five wines open - which will be available for purchase both in bottle and in can. As always, no need to RSVP for wine tastings, just show up any time between 5 and 7, and remember, you get 10% off 6 or more bottles on tasting.
We’re opening on a Monday again! To maximize your chances of getting all your last minute holiday shopping and pantry stocking done.
To make the day a little brighter, we’ll be holding a free public tasting featuring Holiday Wines! Staff picks edition.
No need to RSVP. Snacks will be provided for all you merry tasters.
Head to Chocolate Church’s website for more details!
The Vine will be there with fun and festive libations.
Join TerraFlora + Vessel & Vine to create a beautiful seasonal winter centerpiece for
your table or hearth. Using a variety of preserved moss, dried flowers and other organic
materials we will provide everything you need to design a stunning centerpiece that will
last through many seasons. We will provide a variety of options for the base to
personalize your aesthetics and style. While not necessary, we welcome anything you
might want to bring to embellish your piece (e.g., driftwood, vintage bric-a-brac, candle
holders, a vessel, etc.). As we enter a busy season, take a little time to slow down and
nourish your creativity. Come gather, bring a friend or make a new one and get into the
festive spirit.
Vessel & Vine will provide a festive punch and snacks!
We will have all the supplies on hand, but encourage you to bring your own glue gun,
needle nose plyers, and gloves.
Please sign-up by calling Vessel and Vine at 207-721-3000. We hope to see you there!
I don’t know if you have noticed, but we look for any excuse to dress up here at Vessel and Vine. And also, it’s the holidays, so we’ve decided to throw the holiday party that we’ve always wanted to attend! This Friday Dec 12, from 5-10PM, please join us for All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go - Or - an occasion to wear some of the great clothing you have hiding in your closet even though you live in Maine and it’s ten degrees out, and no one dresses up. COME HANG!!! $15 gets you in, and gives you access to a smorgasbord of retro cocktail party snacks. $5 of that $15 goes to Maine Needs, and there’ll be a la carte beverages available for purchase, including punch bowls, boozy jello molds, and all sorts of other fun things. If you wear an item of clothing that you’ve purchased at Vessel and Vine, we’ll donate an extra $5 to Maine Needs, and we’ll be having a 25% off sale in Louise’s Closet also!!! No need to RSVP, but you’d better show up in all your sparkles and glam. See you soon!
Always free! No need to RSVP! Just roll on by any time between 5 and 7PM, grab a glass, and get to sippin’!