As the weather cools and the seasons change, we are taking delivery of new vintage wines that Jay has selected, new crop teas, and our coffee lineup shifts towards fuller bodied coffees from Africa.

This Wednesday we hosted Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery in Durham for a wine social and next week Janet Trefethen will be here on the 29th and Sara Foster will be here on the 30th.

Janet Trefethen and her husband John began making wine in California when there were fewer than 25 wineries in Napa Valley. This third-generation family estate combines experience and enlightened farming to make some of the best wines in California today.

Many of you here know Sara Foster as the energy and inspiration behind Foster's Market in Durham and Chapel Hill, and as an author of three nationally acclaimed cookbooks. We think of her as an advocate for carefully prepared, simple and delicious foods that focuses on local, seasonal ingredients. It is this talent for highlighting the essence of great everyday cooking that makes us so excited to have Sara at 3CUPS for a relaxed evening of food, wine and conversation. We’ll be pouring her brother-in-law's wines (Edward Sellers) which we sell at 3CUPS… love the small world connection.

I was recently asked by a friend, “what exactly is a wine social?”  It is an informal gathering where we taste wine and pair them with food created by local chefs and others in our community who make handmade and delicious comestibles. Wine dinners have their place but wine socials are to our mind a better way to have a conversation about wine and food.  More about the wine, less about the dinner.   And wine dinners often times are not what folks are looking for in terms of how long they last, how much they cost and how you feel after they are over. The socials start at 6 and are over by 7:30. They are our way to showcase our wines with food, and have some fun.