If there's time today, I'll try to post more photos from some recent wine tastings.

Of course, you could always host your own. It's supposed to be pretty nice this weekend, but then I also thought it was supposed to be pretty cool (or at least below 80), so things might have changed. Weather permitting, an outdoor wine tasting party is always fun, but don't forgo comfort (aka air conditioning) for the sake of ambience.

Some tips for an at-home wine tasting:

"Blind" tastings can be a lot of fun. Lay in a supply of cloth napkins, wine bags, or plain brown lunch sacks to cover the labels (pin the cloth napkins around with a safety pin, of course, unless you've got stellar napking folding origami skills). Draw up a basic form and print enough copies for each person to have one, numbered from 1 to 10 (or whatever the number of bottles is that you're tasting) with a line next to each number for whatever it is you want your guest ...

Just over 200 guests came together at last week's Ocala tasting. It was an active event, with a glass etcher, two chefs plus a local restaurant, a mystery wine table, and more.

Chef Daniel, of Chef Daniel's Gourmet Restaurant and Wine Bar, cooked up filets for our guests.

Commemorate special events with custom engraving--here, a local engraver shows guests some options.

The mystery wine table is always a favorite--bottles are covered, a few hints are given, but then it's u ...

It's the end of week one of our campaign to Save the Corks! I'd hoped to have an "official" estimate of how many we'd collected in the first full week, but "a lot" isn't much of an estimate. Thousands, at least. 1,400 dropped off one day in our Winter Park (Orlando Ave) store; about 500 collected at the opening event on Sept. 17--and those are just the "big" ones. We expect to see many thousands in the cork pool at next month's A Taste for Learning event.

Meanwhile, we're on Twitter, @savethecorks, tweeting about Save the Corks!, enviro facts, VCC/UCF and UCP (our beneficiaries).

Remember, your two cents is worth a lot--just ten corks a day collected at each of our stores adds up to more than $10,000 a year going to good causes. And more than a half million corks k ...

Fall is here, according to the calendar, but it still feels like summer outside. So light drinks made with vodka, rum, and tequila, are still at the top of our list. And if all you know about tequila is it comes with a margarita, here're are some facts (and drinks) to expand your horizons.