Only a few months ago, the only places to buy wine in Ocoee, Winter Garden and Windermere were the grocery stores and ABC Fine Wine & Spirits (I don’t count gas stations). But now, with the continued growth of the area, there are a number of specialty wine shops in the mix.

Cork&Olive, located just west of the Stoneybrook West subdivision, has been open for a few months and specializes in unique wines that are often only available at their stores (Cork&Olive is a franchise). They also sell very unique oils and salts, all of which are available for tasting on a daily basis. To draw in extra customers, Cork&Olive has been holding “Sip&Dip Nights” on the last Thursday of each month and will start a series of wine classes this Monday (July 7th) from 7-8pm. So far, these events have been free and will continue to be that way until they become too popular.

In Windermere, Tim’s Wine Market is celebrating the Grand Opening of their newest store with a week-long sale (July 7-12). On Saturday (July 12), there will be a special tasting in all Tim’s Wine Market locations with free BBQ available at the Orlando and Windermere stores from noon to 2pm. Sounds like a good enough reason for me to show up.

In addition to these two stores, there are a handful of others that I plan to visit very soon. Two that I know of include one in the new Fowler Groves shopping center and one next to the new American Pie Pizza Company on Maguire in Ocoee/Windermere. If you know of any others, please send them along in the comments.

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