A future for cork?

I admit it, this doesn't have anything to say about dining in Providence per se. But then it sort of does.

What I mean is that if we assume wine to be a part of the dining experience -- and if you don't I'm terribly sorry, believe me -- if we take wine as a crucial component of the dining experience then you'll grant me this one exception I'm sure.

OK, so I recently stopped at Campus Wines on Brook Street, just off of Wickenden Street on the East Side of Providence, the area euphemistically known as the "Left Bank." I had never been there before but Brendan, the wine guy at Gracie's mentioned Campus Wines to me one evening as a good local source for wines and suggested I check them out. And since I'm always on the hunt for certain items, not to mention looking for the best value in the greater Providence area, I thought I would drop by.

A friendly young man named Evan suggested a few wines and kindly answered several questions I had as I wended my way through the various aisles. One of the wines he recommended was a delicious white from Sicily, Insolia and here I had my first glimpse of one possible future replacement for the wine cork: glass.

I cannot begin to tell you how cool this is: the thing comes right out of the bottle and yet can go right back in and serve as a stopper! Whoa! This is what a truly liberated imagination can do for you.

And then less than two weeks later I'm at a wine tasting at Gracie's, just this past Wednesday in fact, and one of the wines was an Alsatian white with, you guessed it! A glass wine stopper!

I've seen the future and it works.

So go and check out Campus Wines, 127 Brook Street. Or visit their website:

www.campuswines.com