Out of the Office Reply

I’m off to Japan for a week with Vine Connections. No doubt it’s a work trip, but I’ve heard it’s a trip of a lifetime - this experience will be something I’ll tell my grandchildren about one day (oh double fingers & toes crossed that I’ll get to this place in life one day!).

As for Vine Connections, I’ve spent the past 10 months selling to and strategizing with wine buyers throughout the state of Texas. It’s so awesome to represent these guys; all the talk about “new cult wine importers” and such, well Vine Connections put Argentina on the premium wine map years ago. How often do we as wine consumers find a “cult wine” priced from $14-$50 on the shelf? Well, thanks to Vine Connections efforts over the past 8 years or so, we’ve got at least 25 “cult and/or premium fine wines” to choose from that are affordable. Ed Lehrman and Nick Ramkowsky are pioneers of importing the best of and the highest quality wines and sake from their chosen Vine Connections regions of the world…Argentina, Sonoma, Napa, Mexico and of course their most sought after selection of Ginjo Sake in America. They are too humble, I have to brag a bit!

Spend sometime while I’m away and click around on http://www.vineconnections.com, read all about each and every bottle they so boldly stamp their logo on. Remember the next time you are standing in the aisle in your local wine department with indecision, flip the bottle around and look for the Vine Connections logo on the back label for help. Ed and Nick have personally guaranteed American wine and sake consumers’ extreme quality in each and every bottle. No foolin’.

I’m off to Tokyo in a few hours…no cell phones, no internet for a full week, I’m talking the boonies of the boonies is where I’m headed to meet the Toji and see how sake has been produced for thousands of years. Expect a full report on March 6 and pass along the TexaCali Wine Trail to others while I'm away...thousands of Texans are following this blog - we're all on this lifelong wine and sake journey together - how cool is that! Cheers - Ali