Cellar Rat wants you to taste for a cure

By OWEN MORRIS

When it comes to wine, there aren’t many more knowledgeable people than the staff Ryan Sciara has put together at Cellar Rat. Which is why it is so great to see Sciara and crew turn their immense talent toward the great cause of breast cancer prevention and awareness.

Since the beginning of the month (October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month), Cellar Rat has been donating one dollar from all rosé wine purchases to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure fund. That’s nice, but Cellar Rat is taking things a step further and holding two tastings to raise more money for the foundation.

To do this, Cellar Rat is teaming up with two excellent wineries. The first tasting is Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is being hosted with Cline Cellars. Cline is that rare mixture of a family-owned American winery and economically priced wine. They’ve developed a reputation for having excellent zinfandels of both the white and red variety. Founder Fred Cline (grandson of the Jacuzzi founder) has also donated $75,000 to breast cancer research since starting the winery.

Three days later on Tuesday, Cellar Rat joins forces with Chilean winery Cono Sur. (Get it? Like connoisseur.) It’s a shorter tasting, lasting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., but it represents all that is great about South American wines these days: namely, cheap and tasty.

To help stimulate more funds, Cellar Rat is offering deals on each mixed case you buy from one of the two wineries. There not only is a discount but Cellar Rat will also donate $12 to Komen for the Cure. It’s a win-win-win.