Two Contests and a Reminder

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Sonadora

I’ve been getting some email lately about contests that I think might interest my readers.

The first comes from the blog Wine for Newbies. Andre is hosting a quiz on his blog with several prizes, including a food and wine pairing kit, and some cool coasters. All you need to do is pop on over and answer his questions about wine and send him your response before June 8! Here’s the link to the quiz. Best of luck!

I also heard from Emily of Marx Foods yesterday. She contacted me because of my post about not having any salmon for a wine I was drinking! Her company is holding a summer salmon recipe contest and the prize is 15 pounds of wild caught salmon(shipped to you in 3 5lb shipments throughout the summer)! You can head on over to Marx Foods to submit your recipe by June 20.

And finally, a reminder. WBW #46 is next Wednesday! I failed to mention it earlier, but the good Dr. Debs over at Good Wine Under $20 is our host this month and she has chosen White Rhone Varietals as our theme. The twist is that the wine can come from anywhere in the world so long as it is made with a traditional Rhone white grape…so your Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier, etc. …..you can read all the details over at her WBW post. I’m excited for this one, as it’s the first WBW since I hosted where I can just head on down to my basement and pluck a bottle from my shelves!

Filed under: Contests, Good Wine Under $20, WBW | 2 Comments »

Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Finalist!

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Sonadora

Dear Readers,

My photo for Twisted Oak’s Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Week has been chosen as a finalist!

He’s up against some pretty good competitors to win, so if you would, please cast your vote for Bob the chicken. Voting is at El Bloggo Torcido through March 4, and you can only vote once, so please consider Bob’s photo, #3! Additionally, if you leave your email address with your vote, you will be entered to win a $20 coupon to Twisted Oak Winery.

Thank you for your support, and go Bob!
Sonadora

Filed under: Contests, El Bloggo Torcido, Twisted Oak | 1 Comment »

Is that a Rubber Chicken?

Posted on February 20, 2008 by Sonadora

My rubber chicken came to work with us today, and hopefully had a good time. He got a little bored on our 40+ minute commute into the city and tried to drive, but Matt was having none of that.

Now, I’m not sure how many of you have ever walked the streets of a major city carrying a rubber, chicken, but for some reason, people seem to stare at you while you do. And all my poor chicken Bob wanted to do was see the sights! It also makes people talk to you, something that doesn’t happen a lot here.


First he (my chicken is a boy, he’s a little confused as to why he’s a chicken) got a gander at the Washington Monument on his walk to work. He wasn’t that impressed with the size, but I explained to him that it’s much bigger than it appears.


He didn’t realize that the walk to work is 14 blocks, and he got tired, so he took a break on this lion while trying to see if any muckety mucks were at the Capital Grille this early.

My chicken was utterly unimpressed with my cube, which may be the crappiest one in the office since I was last hired in my group, so he took off and wandered the building. Bob found himself at a podium and tried to give a speech, but unfortunately government minions don’t seem to understand “chicken.”

Bob got a real scare later. He was suddenly surrounded by terrifying Government agencies, and he didn’t know where to turn.


Ack! The FBI!! Bob has some %$#* in his past, let’s get out of here!

Freaking A! The Department of Justice. I acted nonchalantly for Bob’s sake, and told the Justice Agents who guard the building that Bob and I were on a scavenger hunt. They nodded and understood when I told them the prize was wine, or maybe they just like my new hairdo….

And the worst of all, the IRS!

Bob was ready to run now, so we skeedadled out of there as fast as we could, but Bob got distracted by this engraving on the front of the National Archives. Hey, who can blame him? He’s a chicken, and it did have the word seed in it. And harvest, bonus! But we were far enough away (in Bob’s mind anyway) from the really scary government agencies, so he mellowed out .

Finally, it was time to go home, and Bob took in one last sight, the Capitol, as we waited for Matt to come out so we could go home.

All in all, it was a long tiring day for Bob, and he was happy to get home and go back to roosting in my kitchen chandelier, where he’s been chilling since his long journey from Twisted Oak to my house.

Thanks to El Jefe and the Twisted Crew for “Take your Chicken to Work Day.” I had a lot of fun with Bob, and my coworkers got a good chuckle over my chicken companion.

Filed under: Contests, Misc, Twisted Oak | 9 Comments »

Contests Abound!

Posted on January 26, 2008 by Sonadora

Farley (of Behind the Vines and Wine Outlook) is hosting a contest over on Behind the Vines. She is once again participating in Open That Bottle Night (OTBN) and is highly encouraging everyone else to participate as well.

The premise behind OTBN is to go ahead and pop the cork on one of those bottles you’ve been saving for a special occasion and just haven’t gotten around to opening yet for whatever reason. The evening to open? Saturday, February 23. All Farley wants you to do is head on over to her blog and leave a comment about what bottle you think you will open by February 20. And in return, you are entered into a contest to win two bottles of wine from Rosenblum Cellars! You can read all the details, and tell her about the wine you will drink here.

Next, over on El Bloggo Torcido, El Jefe has announced “Take your Rubber Chicken to Work Week.” He’s asking everyone to pick a day between Feb. 4-10, and take your rubber chicken to work with you and document it with pictures. Then submit the pictures to Twisted Oak and everyone will win something. He will be announcing further details and prizes over the coming week, so keep your eyes open. You can read his initial announcement here. And, if you don’t happen to have an actual Twisted Oak chicken, you now order one for only $6.95 or you can bring whatever rubber chicken you already own (?) or can get your hands on before the deadline.

Filed under: Behind the Vines, Contests, El Bloggo Torcido, Wine Outlook | 3 Comments »

I like Wine. I like Contests.

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Sonadora

Therefore, I really like Wine Contests.

In case you hadn’t already seen this one, I wanted to draw your attention to a new contest for free wine, this time being hosted by Russ, the Winehiker. Russ is offering wine prizes to the best reviews of his site, California Wine Hikes, written by other bloggers. The top six will win a prize and the best review will be the recipient of a full case of wine valued at $500.

The contest starts today and runs for 6 months, so you have plenty of time to explore Russ’ website and get to know what he does and how he does it before posting your review!

Russ promises more details today, but for now you can check out his current post on the contest.

Best of luck to everyone!

Filed under: Contests, Wine, Winehiker | 2 Comments »

What’s in a Name?

Posted on April 24, 2007 by Sonadora

I haven’t seen a lot of writing about this particular win some free wine contest, so I thought I’d bring it to the attention of anyone who might be interested.

Wine Weekly posted an article last week about a winery in Washington State that is running a contest to name their winery. The Winery is slated to open in 2008 and will be a part of the Woodinville Wine Village. According to a Seattle Times article, the wine village will be home to four wineries, shops, restaurants, hotels, condos, etc.

The idea behind the contest is that you submit your entry through the website of the Washington Wine Company, and if your name is chosen you win 2 cases of their wine every year for a decade. From what Wine Weekly says, you have until May 30 to submit your ideas for a name.

Other details seem to be scant, though it appears they make 3 red wines and currently have a few (virtual?) pictures of what the tasting room will look like when completed. Free wine seems like a good idea to me, and I always think it’s interesting to see how wineries create buzz about themselves among consumers, so I pass this along to all you creative geniuses out there in case you have a brilliant idea!

Filed under: Contests, Wine | 3 Comments »

Totally Twisted

Posted on March 2, 2007 by Sonadora

Even for Twisted Oak! Over at El Bloggo Torcido El Jefe has announced a great promotion. Write the tasting notes/label for the 2006 %@#$! and win a case of the wine which will have your label (immortalized forever!) on the bottles. And even if you don’t win, you get a 20% off coupon just for entering, which will perhaps finally get me off my ass to order some wine from Twisted Oak which I have been wanting to try for a while now. Here’s the announcement: Write This %@#$!. Here are the details on the contest: The Little %@#$! Technical Details. And finally, some examples of previous Twisted Oak wine labels: Classic Back Labels.

A great idea from a really different winery. I’m sure it will pique interest in the winery and hopefully get some great enteries. The deadline to submit your entry(ies) is March 16, 2007 and El Jefe will announce the winner on his blog on March 19, 2007. So get your creative (or twisted!) minds working and enter. (I hope El Jefe will post some of the enteries when this is over as it would be fun to see what people submitted!)

Now, wordsmith I am not, but I will be putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys as the case may be) and attempting to write something bottle-worthy. Get cracking!

Filed under: Contests, El Bloggo Torcido | Comments Off on Totally Twisted