A Cause Worth Wining About

Thursday, May 5, 2011 – House of Blues, Boston

Red Sox Charity Wines Launch Party

On Thursday, I was fortunate to be able to attend the launch party for this year’s selection of Red Sox inspired charity wines.  I was lucky on two counts – not only was it a fun event that I’m happy to promote, but because of the invitation I had planned on taking Thursday off from work long before I knew I’d be staying till the end of Wednesday night’s game which finished up at 2:45 am.  Fourteen short hours later, I was back in the Fenway area for the event, which was held across the street from the park at the House of Blues.

Jon Lester is interviewed by Heidi Watney. Jon's CabernAce will benefit the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

This year’s Red Sox wines are Jon Lester’s CabernAce and Clay Buchholz’s ChardonClay.  100% of the proceeds from the sale of the wines will benefit charities close to the hearts of the players.  Lester’s will benefit the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where he was treated for lymphoma more than four years ago.  Buchholz’s will go to the Jimmy Fund in support of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute here in Boston, where he serves as co-captain for the 2011 season.

Clay Buchholz poses with a drawing advertising his ChardonClay, which benefits the Jimmy Fund.

The event was emceed by NESN reporter Heidi Watney, and we heard from the president of Charity Wines and representatives from both cancer research centers.  Then the players took the stage to talk about how they chose their wines (Lester: “I told them I like red wine”), their connections to the selected charities, and what it’s like being a new dad (Buchholz: “She’s a great baby – she sleeps a lot, and I like to sleep too”), before taking questions from the audience.

Photo by John McGlynn, used by permission.

We got to sample the wines, and the cabernet was my favorite, although I generally prefer red wines to whites so I’m probably biased.  Both CabernAce and ChardonClay retail for $14 and will be available beginning next week in stores in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  They can also be purchased at CharityWines.com for fans living out-of-state.  Pick up a bottle of each – perfect for celebrating Red Sox victories and supporting a worthy cause in the process.