ConVino will be Closing at the end of service on Aug. 18th

Over the past 7 months, I have been dealing with some difficult business situations.  Until the past week or so, I thought all my efforts were paying off, and things were going to work out.  Not exactly fine, but manageable in the short term and workable in the long term.  In the past few days, things have imploded.

The crux of the issue is some IRS payments that I didn’t make in 2018.  We had really slow business at the beginning of the year, the IRS is slow to react, I thought business would pick up, and I chose to pay my employees first, vendors second, Landlord and Bank third, and IRS last.  Business didn’t pick up fast enough, and not enough when it did.  Interest and penalties more than doubled the original amount. 

I have been in what I thought were negotiations with the IRS.  I have learned that the IRS agent assigned to ConVino is known for taking pleasure in shutting down small businesses, and no matter what we have discussed, he has not agreed to any of the proposals of payment plans I have offered.  He has seized every penny in the ConVino account twice.

The actions he has taken, especially over the last 3 months, have alerted the bank that holds the loan, and they are now calling in the loan.  The IRS situation caused Thornes to withdraw the lease renewal option, which would have renewed October 1^st, but because of the IRS taking all our money at the beginning of 2 different months, causing us to bounce rent twice in a row and not being able to make it up.  I don't really blame them.  We are in some significant arrears with them now, and the IRS is nearly at the door.

I am devastated to say this, but there is nothing more I can do to save ConVino. 

With all my heart, I want to thank all of you for being such great customers.  Those who come right when we open and drink beer, those who come every Thursday after work and drink orange wine, the patio Spritzers with their dogs, the many couples that have made ConVino their "date night" spot, the ConVino first dates that are married now, the ones that know that herbed crisps are always available even though they're not on the menu, and all the regulars and not so regulars that made our job enjoyable. 

We hope to see you in the next 8 days!

With sadness and gratitude,

Caroline

July is upon us. 

Asparagus risotto is done, Garlic Scape risotto is in.  Hot soup is out, cold Moroccan Carrot Soup is in.  Basil is growing like crazy and the Steak and Pesto Flatbread is back.  We have a Dijon Potato Salad that you can have on its own or substitute for fries on your steaks, burger or spanakopita.

 

We’re checking the Tuesday and Saturday Farmers Markets for fun stuff to put in specials.  This is a really fun time of year for cooks!  So, come down and see what we’ve got!  The patio is open when it’s not raining. 

See you soon!

Springtime!

We seem to have made it through Winter, finally.  Doesn't look like it will dip below freezing again.  I'm about to move the palm tree back out to the patio and get the patio furniture out of storage. 

I don't plan to start setting up the patio for a little while.  We open at 5pm most days, and by that hour, it is really a bit too chilly to be sitting outside.  I know we have a heater and blankets, but I'm tellin' ya, don't expect it til May.

Passover and Easter are in a couple of weeks.   We wish you all joyous holidays.  We will, as usual, be closed on Easter Sunday.  It's one of the 5 days a year that Thornes is closed, so we get to be closed. 

On April 28th, a bunch of restaurants in town are collaborating on  a Cheese Walk.  We'll have a cheese or two paired with half glasses of wine.  I am trying to source some cheeses that are hard to get in Western Mass for this event, so I'm not sure just yet what we'll have.  They'll be tasty, though, for sure.  And I know Franchesca is looking forward to finding the perfect pairings.



The Northampton Pride Parade is May the Fourth.  (I don't know if the parade organizers realized that it's also a Star Wars holiday.)   You know I always say everything is better with (con) wine (vino), and it's especially true about parades, I find.  If the weather's nice, the patio will be open.  A perfect place to proudly unwind from the festivities.

Take Mom out to ConVino for Mother's Day.  We will open 2 hours early at 1:00 and have our full menu plus some Brunchy items.  Say "I love you, Mom!" with a couple of Mimosas and Brioche French Toast.  Or a dozen oysters and a bottle of Muscadet on the patio. 

Graduation season starts actually the Friday before Mother's Day, with UMass graduation.  The weekend after is Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire, and Memorial Day Weekend is Amherst.  Reservations are highly recommended on those weekends.

We look forward to seeing you often as the school year winds down and through the Summer.

February!

Groundhog Day!  Come have choucroute.  Again.  

Valentine's Day!  We'll have our full menu and some romantic specials.  We still have some tables, but make your reservations because we're filling up fast.


There's other stuff.  I'll get to it soon!

What's coming up? I'll tell you...

Well, this weekend there is a lot.

I was recently informed that the last Saturday of every month is "Open that Bottle Day."  We open bottles every day around here, but there is One that needs to be opened.  In 2015, we bought a few magnums of a gorgeous California Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre called The Trancendentalist.  We sold one very quickly, it took over a year to sell another, and we have had just the one left for a very long time.  What we've learned is that our customers really like to try a bunch of different glasses of wine, and they rarely want a bottle with 10 glasses of the same wine.  It was a good learning.  And now, we're going to pull the cork on the last bottle of the Trancendentalist and sell it by the glass.  We took a Coravin taste of it, just to be sure that it wasn't corked.  It is maybe even better for having almost 4 extra years in the bottle.   To add to the experience, we're going to serve it with a plate of Pesto di Noci toasts.  It's a lovely sip and snack for $14.50, while it lasts.

Saturday night, we're going to take a jump to the left, and then a step to the right.  We're going to put the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the screens at 10:15.  I suggest drinking an actual toast, rather than throwing toast at the screen.  I mean, we do have wine, and we're not underage in a movie theater.

Sunday, we have the rescheduled Fumi Tomita duo from 6pm - 8pm.  They were supposed to play last Sunday, but we had that "weather event".  So glad to have decent weather on tap for this Sunday.  It should be a great evening of jazz.

Then we'll have the SAG awards on the screen in the bar until closing time.



There's more when February gets here, and I'll post more soon.  Spoiler Alert:  We will not have the Super Bowl on the screens here.

Happy New Year!

Join us for our Midnight in Paris party New Year's Eve.  We'll be open at 4pm which is earlier than our usual Monday time. 

The Northampton fireworks are at 6:15, set off from the roof of the parking garage.  So have an early snack and see the fireworks, or come later for dinner.

We'll be Closed for New Year's Day, and we'll also be closed on January 2nd, so our staff can have a holiday party.

We are starting our 5th year today.  Thank you so much for your support over the years.  We look forward to seeing you in 2019!

Let the Holidays Begin

Well, we've had our first big snowfall, so I guess we'll just jump into the holidays full speed.

Tomorrow, Nov 17th, is Bag Day - a huge shopping extravaganza in Northampton.  ConVino is the perfect spot to take a break, have some wine, check your list, strategize your best route to the next retail success, fortify with some fancy fries and sally forth.

Thanksgiving is next week.  We will be open regular hours on Wednesday and Friday, though we'll be closed on Thursday.  If you are planning to meet up with a bunch of friends and you would like to be in our Lounge area, you should call and reserve it.  We seem to have more 5-8 people groups the night before Thanksgiving, so just a heads up.

December 1st is Northampton's Holiday Stroll from 5pm-8pm.  They'll close Main Street and have various family oriented festivities.  We're a cozy and relatively calm spot to break from the outdoor activities. 

We will be Closed to the general public on Monday, December 10th.  We've been rented out for a Holiday Party!  We only do one buy-out per holiday season, so if it sounds like something you might like to do, call early for next year.  Groups of up to 20 may still be able to be accommodated this year.  If  you would like to have your Holiday Party at ConVino give us a call, and we will see if we can do it.

We will be Closed on Christmas, New Year's Day, and also January 2nd (for our annual Staff Party). Christmas Eve we will be open from 1-5pm with a limited menu.

Don't forget that ConVino gift certificates make a great holiday present.

Well, Happy Autumn in New England, everyone.  We are starting to have cooler days and crisp nights, and a few leaves are starting to turn.  Soon we will be in full Leaf Season.

We're changing a few things on the menu.

The Corn Risotto with Goat Cheese and Basil that we had for September was delicious and used massive amounts of corn cobs to make the stock.  As the corn and basil season is winding down, we're changing the risotto to Ratatouille Risotto.  All arborio.  No corn.  With goat cheese, and with our ratatouille over the top.

We do have a fair amount of corn kernels cut from the afore mentioned cobs.  So we added a new flatbread with caramelized onions, corn, goat cheese and basil.  It goes beautifully with the Thurnhof Muscat from Alto Adige, by the way.

The Pesto di Noci toasts are back for fall, as are the Roasted Beet Salad and the Filet Mignon.

Lots of fun stuff is happening on the weekends in October.  This weekend, the Paradise City Arts Festival is at the Fairgrounds.  Gorgeous stuff to wander around and look at.  The show closes at 6 each day, just in time for a delicious dinner at ConVino?

Arts Night Out is next Friday and has a jazzy theme as a lead in to the upcoming jazz festival. 

The Northampton Jazz Festival is October 19-21.  We will have Sarah Clay singing her vintage vocals with Draa Hobbs on guitar and Steven Bulmer on bass from 7-9 on the 19th for the Jazz Strut. You will want to make reservations for this, as we will fill up.

And Halloween is a-comin'.  I never know who on my staff is going to wear a costume to work, but somebody always amazes me with their costume cleverness.  We'll give one free Fancy Fries per table if at least one person at the table is in costume.

Hey Folks!  Happy September!

Since we last posted, we won the Gazette Reader's Choice poll for Best Wine List.  This is the 3rd year in a row that we've won. Thank you to all y'all for voting for us!

RetroFaire is Sept 8th and right outside our door.  We will be open our normal schedule.  I know we've opened early for this in the past, but we weren't actually well patronizedduring the extra hours, so we are not doing that this year.  We will have the oyster special that we've done for this in the past, with the price break on a half dozen oysters as well as the full dozen.  And the rest of the full menu.  Inside and outside.

Arts Night Out  is September14th.  It's usually a busy night for us, so you might want to make reservations.

Redbeard the Pirate.  Barbarossa.  We've all heard him mentioned in stories and movies.  He was born in Lesbos, which is now part of Greece but was part of the Ottoman Empire back then.  That happens to be where my family is from, and may explain why I am so into Talk Like A Pirate Day.  It's September 19th, and if ye talk like a pirate we'll give you 5% off!

Oh, the dog days of summer!

You probably noticed that I didn't get a post out last month.  And it's already the middle of August.  Time flies.

So last month, Monte Belmonte featured Franchesca in an article in the Advocate and had excerpts from the interview on his radio show on The River.  Here are links:


https://valleyadvocate.com/2018/07/10/monte-belmonte-wines-the-brilliant-23-year-old-ordering-bottles-for-convino

http://wrsi.com/monte/the-wine-wunderkind/

Corn and Tomatoes and Basil and Zucchini and Green Beans and Cucamelons are all in the Farmers' Markets now.  We are trying to put them in as many things as we can.  Peppers and Beets are coming in now and soon.  We'll be doing what we can to get them onto the menu.

Back to School time is rushing toward us, and "Summer" is almost over.  But Summer doesn't end til September 21st.  It's rosé season all year at ConVino, but rosé is a limited quantity product for many of our producers.  We will try to keep 5 still rosés on til the end of actual Summer.

We'll be doing our annual oysters and white wine thing when Retrofaire comes to Armory Plaza on September 8th.  We'll open at 1:00 - 2 hours early - and do oysters and limited white wine and beer outside only until 3:00 and then be open with the full menu and inside seating as well, as usual.

That's what's up.  Hope you're having a great summer.  See y'all soon!

July! Summertime.

Summer is coming!

Hey Everyone!

It's June! And, in addition to my birthday being smack dab in the middle of the month, there are a lot of good things happening at ConVino.

We're in that part of the year when the weather is often nice enough to have our music outside. Tony is super psyched to play outside whenever the weather allows, all the Sundays and Mondays this month.
We have a special musical addition on the first official Friday of Summer. The Other Cat's Pajamas have agreed to come play (outside, weather permitting). It's 1930s accordion and guitar tangos and waltzes from Argentina and a lot of places. We have had them here before and you loved them. We did too! So they'l be here on Friday the 22nd. If it rains, they'll be inside.


Django in June starts Monday the 11th. We always enjoy the international influx of artists and aficionados of Gypsy Jazz that come to this event every year. There are a lot of impromptu performances on Smith campus and around town, and the Academy of Music has concerts on the 15th and 16th. Stop in and fortify yourselves for le jazz hot.

The 8th is Arts Night Out. We look forward to being part of your art appreciation evening. We're open, as usual on Fridays, from 3-Midnight, so join us before during or after. Father's Say is the 17th. Treat Dad to a nice dinner out.

May the Fourth be with you!

Be with us on May the Fourth and/or any other day in May.  There's a lot going on.

The Patio is open!  We have had some rainy moments during this warm spell, but for the most part, people are back to sitting outside here at ConVino.

Saturday is Gay Pride.  The parade starts near us and goes to the fairgrounds.  We open at 3:00 as usual, and those of our staff who march will have time to get back here and get ready for y'all to wend your way back for some post Pride March revelry.

Saturday is also Cinco de Mayo.  We will have Avocado Pico de Gallo as a choice of dips on the Two Dips platter.  And we will have Faux-jitos - muddled mint and lime with cava and vermouth.  So delicious.

And since they're minty, they can also be your Julep substitute during the Kentucky Derby.  The Derby will be on the screens for whatever they call "the red carpet" portion of the Derby, and post time is 6:50pm.  By about 6:55 we will be turning off the TVs and getting back to Cinco de Prido.


Next weekend starts the Graduation Season here in the Valley.  UMass on Friday the 11th.  Congratulations to all, but especially Elliot, who has worked for us since February of 2016, and Gina who just started a month ago.  It's hard work to have a job and get decent grades.  It's impressive.  And now you're graduating!  WooHoo!

All the rest, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire and Amherst graduate the following weekend.  Congratulations to all those graduates as well.  We look forward to seeing all the alumnae and family members who have come to celebrate, and who may just need a moment with some wine to regroup.

May 13th is Mother's Day!  We will open at 1:00 for late Brunch with Eggs Benedict, Brioche French Toast, Huevos ConVinos and our full regular menu. 

We're open as usual for Memorial Day Weekend. Smith Reunion and Paradise City Arts Festival will bring folks to town. We hope to see you here!

It was snowing two weeks ago, 85 degrees today.  2018.  It's a constant wonder.

February is full of stuff

So I didn't get this out in time for Groundhog Day, and since I'm not living the movie, I won't have another chance.  Oops.

Arts Night Out is Friday.  If you're walking the Ice Art Festival up on Main Street, warm up here with some wine and/or dinner. 


The Olympic Winter Games start this Friday, as well.  You know we don't put just anything on our TVs.  Some of you may not realize we even have TVs.  But I LOVE the Olympics!  So the screens will be on (but the sound mostly off) for most of the Olympics, and you can soar with the ski jumping, indulge in the ice dancing, go crazy for the curling.


Valentine's Day is next week.  Our full menu is available, and we'll have a special or two to entice you.  We know we're having Rosemary Rack of Lamb with Pommes Anna and Broccoli Rabe.  We're still working on a special dessert and possibly an appetizer.  It's a good idea to make reservations - we're starting to fill up already.  We'll have Tony Silva here playing his romantic Spanish guitar from 6pm to 9pm.

President's Day Weekend  starts February 16th.  From 6-8pm, Thornes and the UMass FAC are presenting Under 40 on the Town.  If  you show us your event bracelet, you'll get free Fancy Fries when your party orders $15 of wine.

If you have Monday the 19th off, maybe Sunday night you'll come in for Greek Mussels, Italian wine and Spanish guitar, though you could do that really any Sunday of the year.





On the 28th, the last day of the month and a Wednesday, we will be closed for a private event.

It's the shortest month, but there's a lot in it.  We look forward to seeing you soon!

Vote for us for Best of the Valley!

Hey Everyone, It's time to fill out the Best of the Valley ballot.

We sure would appreciate it if you would vote for us in all the places that you think we might be best.

We've been open for 3 years and we've won for best wine list 2 years in a row. The first year we had only been open for about a month when the voting ended. We would of course like to keep the title.;-) There are lot's of categories that we can compete in, though. French Fries is a category, and so is dessert. Restaurant, Mediterranean Restaurant, Tapas/small plates. Servers.

Thanks! And we look forward to seeing you soon!

Vote Here for Best Of The Valley

Best Of The Valley Readers’ Poll 2018 ballot voting is now live!! Related Posts

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of you who rang in the new year with us.  The whole evening was fun, and the prix fixe dinner a great success.  We, the staff, always enjoy the last couple of hours the most, as the pressure of the prix fixe rush diminishes and party atmosphere picks up.  Tony Silva played beautifully, as always, and we sabered a few bottles.  Nothing more fun than sabering indoors, I gotta say.  And this year we have a curtain for the entryway (thanks Susan!) that was a perfect backstop for the flying corks.  Fun Fun Fun!

I want to thank all my staff for all their efforts to prepare us for New Year's Eve.  A bunch of the staffed stayed late one night to put up the lights and decorations for the Moulin Rouge effect.  Amanda got all the prix fixe items into the POS system and made sure it was glitch free, and got it done before the 31st.  Liz had demos of all the prix fixe items for us all to taste and so Franchesca could pair everything before the 30th.  And all that allowed me to get the menus done and printed without rushing around like crazy on New Year's Eve in the freezing cold.  Thank you one and all!

Next Friday is Arts Night Out.  Always a good idea to make a reservation on Fridays and Saturdays, but especially on Arts Night Out. 

We're going to be changing a few items on the menu.  Bringing back Chorizo Pot Pie and the Steak and Pesto Flatbread.  Some of the wines will be changing too.  We're at the time of year when wines go out of vintage and we can't get them, so we find replacements.  So come in and get your favorites while we still have them!

We are officially in our fourth year now.  I can hardly believe that three years have gone by, but I've gone grey, so some time has definitely passed.  Thank you all for liking what we do here.  We look forward to seeing you all when you get here.  We wish you all the best in the new year. 

Cheers!

Reserve for New Year's Eve

The Moulin Rouge Party is just over a week away.  We still have some 

tables left.  We are not giving Open Table access to a lot of seats, 

because we need to be able to make sure have the actual chairs to

accommodate everyone at each seating.  

Call us for reservations, and we'll see how and when we can fit you in. 

New Year’s Eve

Prix Fixe Menu  $49

First Course

Roasted Sunchoke Soup [Vegan, GF w/o Brioche]

fried shallots, homemade brioche

or

Frisée Lardons  [GF]

curly endive, thick cut bacon, poached egg, sherry dijon vinaigrette

or

Moroccan Spiced Hush Puppies [veg]

mint chimichurri, tzatziki, and espresso bbq  dipping sauces

Half Dozen Oysters [GF ]

($6 Supplement)

f

Second Course

Farro “Risotto” [veg]

with sweet potato & kale

or

Whole  Roasted Snapper (for two) [GF ]

with provençal vegetables

or

Holiday Spiced Seared Duck Breast [GF ]

fennel mashed potatoes, braised radicchio & endive

f

Dessert

Ginger Pear Sorbet with Poached Pear[Vegan, GF]

or

Chocolate Pernod Pot de Crème [veg, GF ]

or

Raspberry Napoléon [veg]

Ho, Ho, Holidays!

We are well into December.  The Holidays are upon us - shopping, gathering with friends and family, wondering when it will snow.

The answer to that last one is: Tomorrow.  I, for one, am looking forward to it.  It's December.  It makes things festive.  It's not a ton of snow - just enough to be fun.  And ConVino is so cozy in the snow.  It is one of my favorite things to see the warm lights of ConVino across the parking lot.  (I do wish it were some more romantic approach, but it is a parking lot, and that's how you get here.)  You walk in.  It smells like good food.  Billie Holiday is singing something soulful.  It's nice.  And I'm just coming to work.  It's even better when you get to settle in with some delicious comestibles and let the week's worries drift away.

It's Arts Night Out tonight.  We always look forward to hearing about what lovely artistic works everyone saw out there.

Our Pairing Special this week is Roasted Sunchoke Soup.  It is vegan and gluten free if you don't have the brioche on the side.  And it's paired beautifully with a valpolicella ripasso.  I was surprised that a red wine was such a perfect pairing.  I thought it would probably go with the pinot blanc, and it does.  But Franchesca thought of the Ripasso and she was so right.  That's why she's a sommelier and I just like wine.

We rotate the specials, and next week is Hanukkah.  We'll start with Latkes and applesauce on Tuesday and build the weekend pairing special onto that.

The weekend after is just before Christmas.  Not sure what we'll do, but something festive.

We will be open limited hours on Christmas Eve.  We will open at Noon and only offer limited  snacks and wine.  And if you are looking for last minute stocking stuffers, we'll have ConVino Gift Certificates.  Thornes closes at 5 and so will we, and we'll get on with our own families and fun.

For New Year's Eve we're pulling our red windmill out of storage and putting on our Moulin Rouge Party.  We'll have limited menu til 5pm.  Then Prix Fixe seatings til 10pm.  (Please reserve early.  We already have a bunch of reservations.  Walk-ins are welcome, but it's taking a chance.)  And then Snacks and Revelry and Sabering for the rest of the night.  Tony Silva will be playing from 9pm til the proverbial ball drops.  It was a HUGE success last year and we hope you'll join us to ring in the New Year.

  

It's November!

Well, Fall is here and practically gone.  The repointing work on the building pushed the closing of the patio.  We thought it would be too cold by now, anyway.  Mother Nature is a fickle mistress.

This Sunday, November 5th, we'll have The Other Cat's Pajamas, with Gus Hollingsworth on accordion and some other cool cats playing with him.  Should be very fun.

Tony Silva will be here, otherwise, on all the usual days.

The holidays are rapidly approaching, and Northampton kicks off with Bag Day on November 18th.  We will be giving 20% off any one bottle of wine in the restaurant during service when you have a Bag Day Bag.

We will be closed on Thanksgiving, but we are open our usual hours the day before and, of course on Black Friday.  ConVino is a perfect place to unwind after braving the Black Friday mall hordes, or if you're saving your shopping for Small Business Saturday, come on Friday and feel smug about how you've avoided the Black Friday mall hordes.  We'll expect to see you Small Business Saturday, because we are, ya know, a small business.

And then it will be December.  We are getting into our busy season, so reservations for pretty much any size party are a good idea.   Call us if you're planning holiday gatherings. 

And just as a heads up, the New Year's Eve theme will be Moulin Rouge.  We'll have more about that soon. 

Ch, ch, ch Changes

Hey Everybody,

Did you know that we donate a portion of the proceeds of one of our wines to a different charity every month?  We give $3 per glass purchase or $14 per bottle purchase to the cause of the month.  Our wine last month and probably for the rest of this month is Boutinot, Cuvée Jean Paul. 2016.  It's a lovely, juicy, medium bodied red from the Vaucluse.

I wish it were hard to figure out who to give to as the month changes, but every month there's something that clearly could use every penny that can be collected.  Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area at the end of August.  The Houston Food Bank was our September donation.  Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico at the end of September.  October's donation will go to Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico.  Come have a glass or a bottle for the cause!

We've changed out the Summer menu items for Fall dishes.  The gazpacho, boquerones, caprese sandwich and camaraõ moçambique are gone.  Acorn Squash Bisque, Pesto di Noci toasts and Ratatouille & Pilaf are here.  Very shortly (I forgot to order butternut squash last night) we will have Butternut Sage Risotto.  Other stuff will arrive too, but this is the first push into Fall.

We have a new Pinot Blanc from Alsace and a new Pinot Noir from Oregon, which makes about 10 new arrivals in the last couple of weeks.  So if you haven't been in, you've got some catching up to do.

And we've started doing a very limited Special Pairing on Fridays and until it runs out.  It's a non-"small plates" entrée paired with a glass of wine.  Tonight, it's Seared Salmon with Parsnip Smash and Sautéed Rainbow Chard paired with our new(-ish) white Bordeaux, Doisy-Daëne, $29.  Might have it tomorrow, or it might be gone.

See you soon!