Rotary Club to Hold Wine Tasting Friday

This Friday, Sept. 30, the Rotary Club of Manchester will host a fundraising event that will feature fine wine, tasty food and a silent auction.

The club will hold its first annual Wine Tasting on Friday at historic , 177 Hartford Rd., from 7-9:30 p.m. In addition to wine and food, there will be a “fine selection” of silent auction items, according to Rotary.

Tickets to the event, which will feature celebrity hosts Jerry Kristafer and Mary Jones of WDRC radio, are $40. Organizers expect around
200 people to attend. All proceeds will support Rotary Club of Manchester’s scholarships and other charitable works.

"Fun, food, wines and a silent auction. What better way to spend a Friday night?” said Ralph Gray, who runs the international programs for the Manchester Rotary Club.

“It’s going to be a really good time – it will be a real fun night,” added Robert Fish, a local dentist, longtime Rotary member and the organizer of Friday’s tasting event.

Fish said the Rotary hopes to raise about $8,000 with $4,000 coming from the wine tasting and another $4,000 through the silent auction.

“We are able to raise what we will raise because the restaurants are donating either their food, their employees or both,” said Fish.

and , both of Manchester, as well as other local businesses will provide “small bites” to accompany the wines, according to Rotary.

“Mulberry will have a pasta station with all kinds of different sauces,” said Fish. “ is serving lobster bisque and will have a bruschetta station, and Carrabba’s is doing a chicken dish.” The food selection will also include desserts from Highland Park Market and ShopRite.

The international wines will be provided by M&R Liquors. “There will be up to 30 different wines,” said Fish. The wines will come from
all over the globe, including Australia, Chile, South Africa and Europe, he noted.

Wine can also be purchased the night of the tasting. “People can buy the wine there for their own use at a discount and can pick it up at
the M&R stores,” explained Fish. “M&R is also providing employees, the wine glasses and the expertise in explaining the wines. They’re doing all that for free.”

The silent auction will feature a variety of items for attendees.
“There’s a timeshare for use at Christmas in Florida,” said Fish. “There is a beach house in Charleston, Rhode Island.”

There will also be a variety of gift certificates and gift baskets and Fish said he will likely donate a tooth whitening and an electric toothbrush.

All the funds raised this Friday will be used for Rotary’s multitude of charitable endeavors. “We are constantly doing stuff,” said Fish of the service club. “We give dictionaries to every third grader in town whether it’s a parochial school, magnet school or public school.” The dictionary giveaway is done every year, he noted. 

“Last week we delivered school supplies to every elementary school in town including the Catholic schools,” Fish added. “The schools dispense it to the kids they know are needy.”

Rotary also makes contributions to the MACC Food Pantry.
Most recently, Rotarians funded the – through donations and fundraising events – in honor of the employees who were tragically killed last year at Hartford Distributors.

Fish said Rotary was excited to hold the tasting at historic
Cheney Hall. “We helped contribute to the renovation and the building is beautiful,” said Fish. “It’s a great asset to the town and it’s extremely historical. The Cheney silk industry would have their demonstrations there; people from all over the world would come to Cheney Hall and look at the silks.”

Tickets may be purchased through any member of the Rotary
Club or by calling Fish at 860-916-3286 or Hope Igdalsky at 860-643-8613. Invitations to the event are available at Cheney Hall.