Make a ‘Fortune,’ Win Some Wine
Thanks to Ryan over at Cal Wineries, I found out about Fantesca Estate and Winery, located in Napa Valley. Having never had the wine, I was drawn to the site by the chance of winning a magnum of 2005 Estate Cabernet. All you have to do is submit a short quote, which might be chosen to decorate a cork in the previously-mentioned bottle. They wittily call them fortune corkies. And when you combine wit with free wine, what more could you want? (Well, at least it’s a start.)
What I found was this: the winery was started by a couple from Minnesota and the winemaker is none other than Kirk Venge, with his father Nils acting as consultant. This was exciting news, as I’m a great fan of Saddleback and Venge wines.
I couldn’t determine when the deadline was, so feel free to try your own hand at a corkie fortune. Here was my attempt, taken from “Feast” by one of my favorite poets, Edna St. Vincent Millay:
I drank at every vine.
The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine
So wonderful as thirst.
The last two lines graced the front of a t-shirt I made several years ago. The ironed-on piece is faded and cracking, but I can’t stand to throw it out.
More character, I say.
Fantesca Estate and Winery, fortune corkie, Edna St.Vincent Millay
February 12th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Fortune corkies. That is SUCH a cute idea. It would be so fun to collect them!
February 12th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Ok, I had to enter, because it made me think of one of my favorite quotes of all time:
Wine is bottled poetry.
~Robert Louis Stevenson
If I win, you’ll have to claim my prize though, because wineries aren’t allowed to ship into PA!
February 13th, 2007 at 1:29 am
i never really “had” a good wine quote so i looked around for one after reading your post… so here is my contribution to your quotable entry:
“WINE, n. Fermented grape-juice known to the Women’s Christian Union as “liquor,” sometimes as “rum.” Wine, madam, is God’s next best gift to man.”
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
i think i like it so much because it came from the devil’s dictionary…
February 13th, 2007 at 10:17 am
[...] Duane Hoff, proprietor of Fantesca then contacted several wine bloggers in an attempt to spread the word. This campaign resulted in stories from Calwineries, Winehiker Witiculture, Wine Outlook and Good Wines Under $20, there may have been more, but this are the ones I know about. [...]
February 14th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
i will have to keep an eye out for Frantesca. i wonder if any will make its way to mississippi. i have been a fan of saddleback for a while now, ever since the guys at joe t’s in jackson turned me on to them a few years back. last weekend, i had a bottle of their 2003 cabernet at new restaurant in columbus.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Ryan provided further analysis of this marketing approach on his input on the WineSEO newsletter at WineSEO.com.
http://winemarketer.com/wineseo/wine-differentiation-in-marketing-blogs
Cheers!
Mark
http://www.winemarketer.com
http://www.classicwines.com