A Lovely Lady

I shuffled the deck and look what popped out. My hands are very clumsy. Clearly, I wouldn't make it as a professional dealer in Vegas or Atlantic City. Our Suited wines were supposed to be top secret for the next few weeks but for you, our blog readers, you get a another sneak peek. This new line of Suited wines features some of contemporary pin-ups sexiest women. The new Queens Collection will feature four beautiful girls, each adorning their own Queen card in their own suit.

Featured here is Candace Campbell, the Queen of Clubs and 2006 California Merlot. We're getting closer to announcing a very special release party for the Suited Queens Collection in Las Vegas. We hope you can join us for this very special event. I feel a three day weekend coming on! Want to be the first to know about the Sort This Out Cellars action? Join our mailing list and become a fan on Facebook.

Jeff

Going All In - New Suited Wines Coming Soon

Just three short weeks left until we launch the newest release of our Suited brand of wines. Inspired by vintage gentleman's playing cards, the new Suited wine labels will feature contemporary pin up models. We have chosen some of pin-up's sexiest women to adorn the new labels. While there are hundreds of models aspiring to be pin-ups, only a select few exhibit the vintage sex appeal that bring life to the photo.

We've been working for weeks to create the perfect label. With just a few days remaining until the labels are submitted for printing, we wanted to share a few pictures of the work going on behind the scenes.

We started the process by creating more than two dozen different samples of the concept. Some of the changes are as subtle as choosing from different fonts, other variations include the use of various color schemes, layouts, or textures.


Getting down to a final few options, we mount printed samples to the bottles to see how the designs translate when applied to the rounded canvas of the wine bottle. Some of the best designs on paper are completely lost once they are applied to a wine bottle. We then spend a couple days looking at the bottles. How will the bottles look in the Tasting Room? How will the bottles look in people's home? How will the bottles look on the shelves of wine retailers?

The hardest part is when you know something you put a lot of time and effort into isn't going to work. You can't force it. If the design isn't working you have to move on. As much as it hurts to toss two or three days work into the trash, we have an obligation to make sure the final product represents the best of what we're capable of doing. We take pride in the quality of the wine, it deserves to look as good as it tastes.


Look for more information on the release of our new Suited wines in the days and weeks ahead. If you would like to be among the first to taste the newest Suited wines, join our new Suited Cellar Club. To learn more about the new Suited Cellar Club click here.

It might not be as exciting as the leaked photos of the new iPhone 2009, but we hope you enjoy a look behind the wines.

Jeff

Email: Good vs. Evil

I have five email accounts. One for work, a second alias account for work that is for non public use, a Hotmail account that I have had as long as I can remember, an email address attached to my Apple service, and one that I can't remember the password to that is probably filling up someone's poor server with unread clutter.

Why so many accounts? Good question. The professional email addresses make sense, right? Business is business. Then the three personal accounts. One was set up so I could access a Napster ten years ago. That's the one I can't remember the password to. One that I set up back in college and one that came with my Apple account. They all serve a purpose. Two for work. One for friends and family. Then there is one that I check daily because I make sure it is where all my "Deals" come to. An email account full of discounts, concert announcements and other great things. Do I ever email anyone from here? No, I collect here. As a result I save money, get better seats to concerts, and have access to things first.

Every weekend more visitors to our Tasting Room join our email list. About one in every five people sign up. Some people pass because they aren't interested. Others may just not have seen the list or heard us mention it. Then there are those that are email purists. They never give anyone an email address for public use. They tell you how they have the best spam filter and nothing unsolicited penetrates their inbox. They gloat about the fact that they blacklisted Amazon from their server. To quote Christian Bale from the set of Terminator Salvation "Oh, Good for Youuuuu....". You're missing out.

By simply having a second email address to catch deals you could be saving on anything and everything important to you. You could be the first to learn about something new. You could benefit from price cuts, free shipping, early release dates, and many more exciting things. Would you be disappointed if you missed out on a great deal like this?


For a limited time through Sunday, June 7 2009, we are discounting our Viva Las Vegas Pinot Grigio from $15 a bottle to just $8 a bottle when you buy a case. Save almost half off the retail price and stock up on a great white wine to cool you down throughout the Summer.

This is just one example of a great deal that we offer exclusively to members of our email list. If you would like to join our email list and get access to special discounts, wine release events, and exciting news. Add yourself to the email list by submitting your contact information in the form to the right and you'll never miss a deal like this again.

To all of you holding on to the belief that your email address is sacred, you should........ never mind. Odds are you would never read this because RSS, blogs, and the future of the internet have passed you by. Keep paying full retail, our accountant and our bank account prefer it that way.

Click here to buy a case of Viva Las Vegas Pinot Grigio for $99 today!


Jeff

The Hottest Tickets In Town

If you're looking for a place to get some good eats or a chill bar to have a drink in check out Sort This Out Cellars' monthly Hot Spots. Hot Spots are restaurants, places, or special events we recommend each month. They are not advertisements or endorsements (most don't even carry our wine), we recommend these places because we enjoy them and hope you'll enjoy them too. We find Hot Spots through our travels and right here on the Central Coast in our own backyard. These places might not always be hippest joints in town but they are always a good time! Here are our picks for June.

The Grape at Town Square
6599 Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, Nevada 89119
(702) 220-4727
www.yourgrape.com

You know we love Vegas and The Grape is our favorite new place! The Grape is a quaint wine bar and bistro located in Town Square. It is a fabulous off strip location. If you're tired of the overpriced food and wine lists on the strip then try out The Grape. With a diversified wine list from around the world, beers, hard liquor and yummy nibbles our favorite thing to do is enjoy a glass on their outdoor patio. Stop by and say hi to Jennifer Gaydeski, the GM, and her hard working staff.

Suzanne's Du Rivage Creperie
191 Park Ave
Belmont Shore, CA 90803
(562) 433-3718
No website - call for business hours.

One of Belmont Shore's greatest little secrets. "du Rivage" is a French word meaning "of the shore". At Suzanne's they aim to make every guest feel as if they've been transported to a French cafe, without ever losing that casual beach feel. Serving both sweet and savory crapes Suzanne hand makes crepes made-to-order in the authentic French tradition with all-natural ingredients. Their salad dressings are made fresh in-house without preservatives. We LOVE the Eiffel Tower crepe with strawberries, banana and Nutella. Be sure to check out their daily lunch specials, too. Experience the delicious culture of France on the sandy shore of Southern California!


The Broad Street Giant Grinder Shop
901 Broad Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 543-6700
www.giantgrinderslo.com

Brad and Sherri make authentic east coast style sandwiches. They use the freshest meats and veggies. The East Coast Combo is our favorite of their signature subs. Jeff would each there everyday if he could. Their outdoor patio is an ideal place to sit in the sun and relax on a sunny day. It is the best sandwich shop on the Central Coast!

We hope you check out the places on our June Hot Spot list. Do you have a Hot Spot tip? We'd love to hear it, please leave it in the comment section of our blog.

Felicia

Where In The World Is Sort This Out Cellars?

A good friend of mine, Cara Price, and her lovely husband, Dan Price, were recently on a little vacation getaway. Being the good friend that he is, he was preaching his love for Sort This Out Cellars all across the land. Apparently, it became so entertaining that Cara decided to start taking pictures of Dan in his Sort This Out Cellars tee-shirt as he spread the love.

Dan decided, as the self proclaimed official champion of Sort This Out Cellars, he wanted to make it a contest to guess where he goes in his Sort This Out Cellars gear. We said, "Sure, Priceman, for you, anything!" (According to Cara it was a long drive back home in the car hashing this plan.) I asked him if he had been reading Cara's Marie Claire magazines because they have a similar thing they do with their magazine every month. He had no idea what I was talking about. "Really?", I said with a suspect tone.

Where in the world is Sort This Out Cellars, is born. Guess where in the world Dan is in this picture and you win a 30% off coupon for one bottle of any Sort This Out Cellars wine brands**. Enter your guess with City, State or Province, Country and Location in the comments section below. (i.e. Paris, France, Eiffel Tower) Be sure to register before you comment so we know how to contact you. If you comment as a guest we don't know how to contact you to give you your prize. If you're the first person with the correct answer you win!


Email me - felicia(at)sortthisoutcellars.com - your pictures in your Sort This Out Cellars gear or with your bottle of Sort This Out Cellars wines and you could be featured in our next edition of - Where in the world is Sort This Out Cellars? We'll throw you a little coupon love too if we use your photo.

Good luck and may the wine be with you!
Felicia

** Coupon expires one month from the date of issue. Coupon redeemable online only. Applicable shipping charges will apply. This offer is to available to residents of states we can legally ship to. Click here for a list of states we can ship to direct or through our partner VinoShipper.

Adventures In Sin City

Jeff and I headed out to Vegas last weekend for the Bon Appétit Vegas Uncork'd Festival Grand Tasting, poolside at Caesars Palace. We were lucky to be invited to pour our wines at such a unique culinary event. It was also a great bonus that the event benefited the Three Square food bank in Las Vegas. I have a soft spot for charities. I would give away the store if I knew it was helping people. All week I have been thinking about how to sum up the event in a succinct blog post. My first draft detailing the weekend looked more like the long version of War & Peace. So, rather then write about it I posted a few pictures to show you the fun we had. (Some are better then others, I haven't quite mastered pouring at an event and finding time to take good clear pictures.) If you want the real goods on how fabulous the event was then you'll just have to clear your calendar and join us at Vegas Uncork'd 2010!

The wines chilling down before the event. It was over 100 degrees that day. Even the reds needed a soak.

Look at our sign. Very legitimate.

Our 2007 Zin City Zinfandel Rollers Reserve paired perfectly with this burger from our Uncork'd neighbors, the chefs from BLT Burger at the Mirage.


Here are my burger boys from BLT Burger. The guy on the right is the Executive Chef Laurent Tourondel posing with his crew headed by Ross Vehmeier the GM (tall one in the back). These guys kept us well fed all night with great burgers. I highly recommend visiting their restaurant located inside the Mirage hotel. They were also great wine drinking buddies!


Here are Jeff and I walking the red carpet. Well, not exactly, we had a lady snap a quick pic at the end of the night while the clean up crew was dismantling it. It's fuzzy but it was the only one we have from the night with us actually in it and my Photoshoping skills are zero.

Hope to see you a Vegas Uncork'd 2010! - Felicia

Where's The Action At?

If you're looking for a place to get some good eats or a chill bar to have a drink in check out Sort This Out Cellars' monthly Hot Spots. Hot Spots are restaurants, places, or special events we recommend each month. They are not advertisements or endorsements (most don't even carry our wine), we recommend these places because we enjoy them and hope you'll enjoy them too. We find Hot Spots through our travels and right here on the Central Coast in our own backyard. These places might not always be hippest joints in town (Jeff would put In and Out Burger on our list each month if he could) but they are always a good time! Here are our picks for May.


Terzetto
12300 Las Vegas Blvd
Henderson, Nevada 89044
(707) 797-1000
www.themresort.com/terzetto

Located inside the newly opened M Resort on the northern edge of Las Vegas. Terzetto offers a wonderful selection of meat and fish with great sides. We recommend visiting the rooftop bar/restaurant located inside the M at Veloce Cibo for a cocktail after dinner and spectacular views of the strip. Thanks to my cousins Ted and Maria for taking Jeff and I to this great new place.


Sbicca
215 15th Street
Del Mar, CA 92010
(858) 481-1001
www.sbiccabistro.com

We love their seasonal menu and Wine Lover's specials. Every Tuesday and Thursday all wines are 50% off. While Sort This Out Cellars is not in their list, we love supporting restaurants that have reasonably priced wine lists.


Cortez
550 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 292-6360
www.cortezrestaurant.com

Their mini peanut butter milkshake is to die for. With tasty tapas and a great selection of Spanish wines on their wine list, you can't go wrong.


We hope you check out the places on our May Hot Spot list. Do you have a Hot Spot tip? We'd love to hear it, please leave it in the comment section of our blog.

Felicia