Delle Donne is signing wine bottles for fans

Basketball star Elena Delle Donne will be holding a tasting, signing bottles of her new wine and posing for photos Friday at Frank’s Wine in Wilmington.

Delle Donne, a WNBA player and Delaware native will sign bottles of Deldon 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir from 5 to 7 p.m. at the 1206 N. Union St. store.

The wine tasting is free to all adult customers of legal drinking age who shop at Frank’s, but to get an autograph and photos with Delle Donne, bottles of her Deldon wine must be ordered before the visit at frankswine.com/services/whats-new. The cost per bottle is $59.99. Previously purchased bottles are not legally permitted to be brought into the store.

The pinot noir, hand-selected by the basketballplaying wine enthusiast, is the first release from Deldon Wines. According to tasting notes, the wine, made by Bluebird Hill Cellars vineyard in Monroe, Oregon, features notes of fresh blueberry, cola, and baking spice as well as hints of candied cherry and sweet tobacco.

Here’s how the signing will work

After fans order Delle Donne’s wine online, their order will put them into a queue, according to Frank Pagliaro, owner of Frank’s Wine Shop. For example, the first online order received will be first in line, and the 50th online order received will be 50th in line.

Delle Donne fans are asked to come on Friday to the North Union Street entrance of Frank’s Wine Shop beginning at 4 p.m. in the space that will soon be building owners Frank and Colleen Pagliaro’s Anura Wine Bar.

Once there, they will be given a receipt for their Deldon wine and can sip complimentary nonalcoholic beer and spiritless cocktails and snack at a charcuterie grazing station made by Chef Robbie Jester, who won the Netflix cooking competition “Pressure Cooker.”

When Delle Donne arrives at 5 p.m., fans in groups of 10 (in the order of when online wine purchases were received) will be escorted around the building to Franks Wine and be poured a complimentary tasting of Deldon Pinot Noir. Fans will give the receipt for Deldon’s wine to wine shop staffers and then will be given the wine bottle for Delle Donne to autograph.

Pagliaro suggests using Uber or Lyft car services to arrive at the store to avoid traffic congestion. The store’s parking lot will be reserved for handicapped and elderly guests and for in-and-out customers not participating in the autograph session.

Pagliaro said there also is street parking and space at the Walgreens and M&T Bank lots across the street from the store.

All proceeds from the sale of Deldon wine are split between the Elena Delle Donne Foundation and the DD Entrepreneurial Foundation. Frank’s also is donating some of the proceeds from the wine sales to the foundations.