Cork and Glass Hosts Banfi Wine Dinner with Four-Course Pairings in Cumming

Cork and Glass on Atlanta Highway served as the backdrop Monday night for a ticketed Banfi wine dinner that put one of Tuscany's most celebrated labels in the glass alongside a four-course menu, with seats priced at $99 per person and a 7 p.m. start time that drew guests to the shop's Suite A2 location in Alpharetta.

The dinner was led by Lee McDaniel, pairing each course with selections from Banfi, whose portfolio is anchored by the Mariani family's internationally renowned wine estates in Italy, including Castello Banfi of Montalcino, Tuscany. More than 17 million bottles of Banfi wine are produced annually and sold in 86 countries, making Monday's dinner an opportunity to encounter wines that rarely get the dedicated, course-by-course treatment outside of fine dining rooms.

The event was listed on the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce community calendar and promoted through regional channels, drawing interest from wine enthusiasts across the county line. Cork and Glass offers wine and beer retail, wine tastings, wine education classes, wine dinners, and wine club memberships as part of its regular programming, and the Banfi dinner fit squarely into that lineup. The shop's events calendar around the same week included a Prisoner Wine Dinner on March 27, part of a recurring series that has included Daou, Markham Vineyard, and J Vineyards events in the weeks prior.

Promotional materials described the Banfi dinner as "a luxurious four-course dining experience" in which "every course is perfectly paired with renowned Banfi wines." The Cork and Glass website notes that its wine dinner format is designed so that "each course and paired wine is guided by the wine makers or representatives themselves," adding a layer of expertise beyond a standard restaurant pairing.

Banfi was founded in 1978 by Italian-American brothers John and Harry Mariani, and its Tuscan estate in Montalcino has since become synonymous with Brunello di Montalcino. The Montalcino vineyards have been awarded "Vineyard of the Year in Italy" thirteen times. The Banfi brand is known for producing a range of premium wines including Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, and Super Tuscans, among others.

Cork and Glass is a specialty wine shop in Alpharetta that focuses on making wine accessible, offering retail, tastings, education classes, dinners, and club memberships. It can be reached at 678-694-8812 or wine@corkandglass.com, and is open Monday through Saturday from noon to 8 p.m.