Showcase celebrates 25 years of fine wines
Corrine Ferdenzi shuffled around her crowded store Saturday evening, dodging between customers offering well wishes to deliver bottles of wine to the countertops. A longtime customer shouts a hello, and the two embrace. Later, Ms. Ferdenzi hands the woman a small gift, a black box wrapped in silver ribbon.
After 25 years, the regulars of Showcase Wine & Liquor in Southold have come close friends.
“I’ve always treated it like people coming into my home,” Ms. Ferdenzi said.
The store celebrated its 25th anniversary Saturday with a free wine tasting, food and deserts. Showcase began in 1988, when Ms. Ferdenzi and her then-husband moved from Huntington to the North Fork. They had seen the burgeoning wine community and wanted to be a part of it, she said.
They moved into an old hardware store on Route 48, where the store has been ever since. Over the years, she’s seen the numbers of wine tourists on the North Fork swell.
Ms. Ferdenzi — now the sole owner — said she tries to make the store feel comfortable by decorating each season.
“I always try to have good things,” she said.
