Community Corner
The Party of the Year for Springfield's Wine Library
It was Christmas in July on Morris Avenue when gourmet wine and food merchant held an open house on July 10.
If you were stuck in Morris Avenue traffic earlier this month, it was because of the open house party at the Wine Library, located near the intersection of Millburn Avenue. The store's parking lot was just as packed as it is on a holiday weekend and Springfield Police were directing traffic toward overflow lots on Millburn Ave.
Hundreds of people showed up from as far away as California to taste, nibble, savor and sip dozens of samples of everything from cheese to chardonnay. Dozens of vendors set up tables on the store's mezzanine that circles its sale floor and offered tastes of gourmet cheeses, olive oil, chocolate, dried sausages, crackers and bread that paired nicely with the wine tasting samples
Alexis Horn and Ben Lehrer of Manhattan travelled to our neighborhood for the event. "This is great" she said. "Ben learned about the event from being on the Wine Library email list, but we'd never been to the store. It was definitely worth the trip."
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The vendors offering the samples were equally pleased. Gio Licini who produces sausage and salami products in the Union City factory started over 45 years ago by his father said "I've seen over a thousand people here – it's amazing."
His sentiments were echoed by other exhibiters. Jeremy Dole originally from France, has only been in the U.S. for five months. He was busy giving out samples of imported cheese. Dole told Patch "This is my first time at a Wine Library event, I'm very pleased to participate. I've met many, many people here today."
Find out what's happening in Springfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The day's highlight was an opportunity to be in the audience for a taping of "winelibrarytv" an internet video, starring Wine Library's Gary Vaynerchuk. Rabid fans or Vanyiacs cheered, hooted and laughed along as Vaynerchuk tasted a California Syrah/Shiraz and a Barolo. Even though he gave a 'meh' rating to the Syrah, he encouraged people to trust their palate if they liked the wine.
After the taping Patch chatted with Brant Krihak, Vaynerchuk's internet order and shipping honcho. He was pressed into service pouring wine tastes for the taping. Krihak, a Dayton grad, has been with Wine Library for about a decade. He told us "Gary's biggest thing is 'diamonds in the rough.' He mentors people that have potential—working for him has been a school in itself."
