The April issue of the North Bay Biz features an article about “saavy wine companies” that are going online to promote their brands. Click here for the entire story. Or if you want to skip straight to the part about the Roshamblog, I’ve reprinted it here. (Apparently, the writer Mary Burnam and Naomi are in cahoots, as she describes the Roshamblog as “a platform for Brilliant’s boyfriend.”  Maybe she has a point.)

Here’s an excerpt from the story…

“Other North Bay wineries have ventured into social networking on their own. Roshambo, the 15,000-case Sonoma County brand owned by Naomi Brilliant, has its own MySpace page as well as the Roshamblog, a platform for Brilliant’s boyfriend and official Roshamblogger Scott Keneally.

Roshambo’s MySpace profile has about 500 friends on it, who, Keneally says, “are mostly people who’ve tried our wines, who know us, have been to our events and partied with us.” The winery posts bulletins and events to its profile, instantly alerting its fans when there’s news to share.

Facebook, YouTube videos and a website revamp are in the works, according to Keneally, who envisions creating short, funny commercial spots that capture the brand’s edgy and irreverent spirit. He enjoys being the voice of the winery via the Roshamblog, which draws about 2,600 people a month: “We started the blog to regularly communicate with our fans, but more than that, it’s there to support Roshambo’s vision of an accessible wine culture,” he remarks. For Keneally, this means posting about everything from his favorite indie rock band to Brilliant’s tattoos.

Conspicuously—and purposefully—absent from his posts is much about wine. “I’m a self-proclaimed ‘vineyard idiot,’” he says. “My tasting notes consist of ‘yum’ and ‘yuck’ or a series of emoticons. I’m not qualified to comment on things like ‘terroir.’

“But there are things, like music and art, that we support that help give a broader sense of the winery’s personality,” he continues. “The new wine catalog on our website focuses on the wines, but the blog focuses on the personality imbued in each bottle.”

Roshambo’s approach highlights a point that comes up over and over again with successful viral marketers: be authentic…”

In case you missed the big announcement…

Rapper ‘Lil Jon is throwing his hand into the grape business, launching his very own “upscale” label - Little Jonathan Winery. And whet your whistle because as he told the Associated Press, his wine is “not no ghetto Boone’s Farm.” Naturally, you may be asking, ‘What does ‘Lil Jon know about wine?’ Apparently not much. “I’m not no ‘drink wine every day’ kind of dude. I’m not like an expert, so don’t ask me no questions.” Very well then. So, if you don’t know much about wine, then… why the wine thing? “We were just going to do some private label stuff (for parties) and we did it, and people was like, ‘Hey, it’s pretty nice.’“

For those of you that have been following ‘Lil Jon’s career (Beuller… Beuller… Anyone?) you might remember this isn’t his first foray into the drink biz. In 2005 he launched the pomegranate juice Crunk!!! Energy Drink (yes, that’s Crunk with three exclamation points). I can’t say I’ve ever seen it on the shelves, but I’m sure Little Jonathan Winery will be a big success. After all, it’s, you know, not no ghetto shit.

I know… I know. I haven’t updated the Roshamblog in a while. Mil disculpas! Pero, estoy in Suramerica! I’ve been wandering around Ecuador for the past couple of weeks. In fact, last week Naomi and I rang in my 31st birthday in style… in the Galapagos. But unfortunately for me, Naomi returned to California a few days ago… citing something about running a business and being a mom. You know, r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-l-i-t-i-e-s. An art I haven’t quite mastered, aparently. Well, since she left I’ve gotta say that I’ve been a bit LONELY.

However, yesterday a gift landed in my inbox in the form of a “roshambo winery” google alert. Some months ago some folks from WineTaste TV - a wine-related video blog - interviewed our wine hero and just this week posted it on their site. And ever since I got the google alert about it, I’ve been spending an obscene amount of time in internet cafes watching the interview. Especially the first 9 seconds in which she introduces herself while losing a round of Ms. Pacman. I think she looks totally, unfathomably adorable. (I miss you Naomi!) See for yourself… Don’t miss this clip featuring Naomi in our new tasting room!

And I promise, when I return to the states you’ll be hearing much much more from me. Especially in regards to our 6th Annual Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship - to be held at Cornerstone Place on June 7th.

Stay tuned and salud!

Whether you file the following story under fate or destiny, chance or luck, it is an interesting true tale nonetheless…

Many years ago Naomi took her family and friends out to dinner at (now-defunct) Popina restaurant in Santa Rosa. When it came time to order wine for the table, she asked the wine buyer for a recommendation. Without hesitating or knowing who he was speaking with, the man (Adam Savin) enthusiastically gushed about “a hip new Sonoma County winery called Roshambo” that makes “incredible wines.” He told them they absolutely had to try Roshambo’s Zinfandel. At this point, everyone at the table looked at each other as if to say, Is this guy for real? Naomi asked for a different recommendation, but Adam stuck to his guns and said “No, you asked for my recommendation and there it is.” He reiterated how great Roshambo’s Zinfandel was.

At this point, Naomi smiled and thanked him and told him that she was in fact the owner of Roshambo. Adam flashed a smile so bright it could have powered the Vegas Strip. He’s an extremely excitable guy in general (think zippity-do-da excitable) and a round of high fives were in order. What were the odds? A few days later, Adam recounted his chance encounter to a man sitting at the restaurant’s bar. That man happened to be a writer for the Press Democrat and a few days later the story of Adam Savin unwittingly pitching Roshambo’s wine to Roshambo’s owner appeared in Chris Smith’s column.

So why is this relevant, you might wonder? Well because these days Adam Savin is Roshambo Winery’s national sales rep and official “Road Warrior.” He and Naomi stayed in contact after that dinner and when Adam sold his Spanish wine import business he approached our Wine Hero for a job. Luck or Destiny or whatever you wanna call it shined upon him once again and a position opened up almost immediately. Adam has been kicking ass for us ever since. As one distributor recently said, “Adam Savin is The Glue that holds Roshambo together.” You could say Luck or Destiny shined upon us too.

Here’s a photo of Adam spreading the Gospel of Roshambo to a birthday crew at Rock ‘n Fish in Manhattan Beach.

Dear Readers,

I’m here to warn you that the Roshamblog is on the verge of mutiny. Some people here at Roshambo have been grumbling about my totalitarian tight grip of the blog content. They feel like I should cough up the password and “give others a voice.” These people cite my lack of posts over the past month as proof that I need to relinquish some control. Take for instance the fact that our road warriors, Adam Savin and Dan Ricciato, took the Roshambus to the Superbowl. Interesting blog opp, right? You’d probably want to hear from them about their adventures on the road. Or take the fact that The Wine Enthusiast’s March Buying Guide just rated three of our red wines at 90 points or higher. (FJV Syrah - 93 points; Reverend Zinfandel - 92 points; Rock - 90 points). I probably should have posted about that and maybe even mused about the rating system and our philosophy on wine scores. But alas, once again I failed you, dear reader.

In my defense - and it’s a paltry one at that - I have been sick. And busy. And sick again. And now, well, now I’m on tour with the rock band OURS, opening up for Marilyn Manson.  (Special thanks to our favorite Space Cowboy DJ, H8Ball, for the following photoshop job.  In the real world they don’t normally put the didgeridoo player’s name in lights).

Yes, I play the didgeridoo, or as Naomi calls it, the didgeriDON’T. In fact, I’m writing this post from the tour bus enroute to San Francisco for Wednesday’s show at the Warfield. In other words, I haven’t been able to give the blog its proper attention and perhaps I should consider letting others post. I’ll let you know how this all pans out. In the meantime, I will start to introduce some of the colorful characters who may help populate the blog. Starting with Adam Savin. Just give me a day or two.  Thanks for your patience.

Your faithful, though sometimes forgetful, Roshamblogger,

Scott Keneally

…and if you read today’s Napa Valley Register, you’ll see we are putting some pretty outstanding stuff in our bottles.

For those of you who haven’t been to COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, it’s a non-profit discovery center whose mission is, in the words of Robert Mondavi, “to educate adults and children to the joys of living well.” The goal is to expose the positive roles that wine, food and the arts have played in our lives. COPIA features all sorts of wine and food tasting programs, art exhibitions, organic edible gardens, films, concerts, lectures, etc. Located in the heart of Napa Valley, it’s a must-see wine country destination. (Of course, I’ve never actually been there… but that’s why I’m the Vineyard Idiot).

Anyways, last weekend COPIA hosted their Sixth Annual “Taste of Sonoma County,” a signature event in which over 60 Sonoma producers participated. Our beloved cellar rat/winemaker Mikey Smith showed up to pour and I think part of him wished he gussied up a bit. Dressed in his usual attire (black Roshambo tee and not the cleanest jeans) he said he felt “frumpy” amidst the sea of polo shirts. Apparently it didn’t matter. People flocked to our table and Roshambo was a crowd favorite at the tasting, which is encouraging because first and foremost, we are interested in making great wine.  Here’s what Register Staff Writer L. Pierce Carson had to say…

SONOMA WINES GET HIGH MARKS AT COPIA TASTING

While Napa Valley is lauded as America’s premier winegrowing region, the grapes grown by our Sonoma neighbors are nothing to sneeze at. That fact was made more than clear last weekend as Copia hosted dozens of Sonoma County winemakers eager to pour their latest releases for wine lovers from near and far. Copia’s “Taste of Sonoma County” brought together producers from a number of Sonoma’s appellations, ranging from Rockpile to Carneros, Dry Creek to Russian River, Alexander Valley to Knights Valley. For more than three hours, consumers roamed the large lobbies of Copia tasting wines that ran the gamut of chardonnay to zinfandel. Starting with three favorites from Roshambo, the playful, consumer-savvy producer from Healdsburg, here’s our impressions of a number of wines worthy of your attention:

Roshambo 2005 Imago Chardonnay ($18): A stainless steel fermented, lees-stirred chardonnay with bready and tropical fruit aromas, this one has attractive ripe stone fruit and pear flavors with a bit of passion fruit that lingers in the mouth. It’s a medium-priced chardonnay without the slightest hint of oak (hooray!) that is an ideal aperitif or a fine accompaniment for salads, fruits and creamy cheeses.

Roshambo 2005 Zinfandel ‘The Reverend’ ($25): The winemaking team said it all in explaining why “The Reverend” was applied to this ripe, well-balanced zin - “Just like an old fire-and-brimstone sermon, it starts easy and lures you in with scents of Christmas spices. And then it kicks up the volume with an explosion of juicy red and blackberries, plums and chocolate. To finish, you are called up to the altar to be healed by a smack to the forehead of spicy, smooth tannins. You’ll be back next Sunday for some more.” To that, I say, “Amen!”

Roshambo 2005 Syrah “Justice” ($25): An outstanding Dry Creek syrah with floral and plum aromas and a big mouth full of blueberries and baking spice. This is ripe fruit in a bottle, from enticing entry to lingering blueberry finish. It invites a second, even third, sip, and proved to be one of the best syrahs tasted last weekend.

**ARE YOU WHET YET? If not, if you need a little bit more to turn you on, perhaps a little visual stimulation, then take a peek at these bottle shots.

Sexy huh? Now… follow your senses. Try the wines that everyone’s raving about.

Over the holidays, a writer from The Chronicle unexpectedly popped into our new Cornerstone tasting room. Since most everything in this world - movie, music, book, wine reviews, etc. - is so utterly (and sometimes incomprehensibly) subjective, we were naturally curious as to what said critic thought. A great review might send new people in our direction, and a bad review… well, I’m sure you get the point. The review got off to a rocky start in the opening line when our slogan was misquoted (It’s “Fighting for Fun in a Winey World,” not in a winery world.) That notwithstanding, I’m thrilled to report that we very much loved what Amanda Gold had to say. Por ejemplo, “If it weren’t for the flights being poured at the counter, you might not remember that this is Wine Country.” Thank you, Amanda! I couldn’t have said it better myself. Roshambo has always prided itself on creating a fun and disarming atmosphere in which to experience incredible wines. We never thought wine, even fine wines like ours, should be intimidating, esoteric, or an exclusive extravagance for the elite. We believe that wine should be as easy to embrace and enjoy as a cold bottle of beer. And that’s why Naomi designed another imaginative and offbeat tasting room (not to mention the Roshambus). It’s a place that, according to The Chronicle, “If you’re not in the mood to sample wine, you’ll still find entertainment - grab a seat at the old-school Ms. Pac-Man table and chomp away.” So what are you waiting for? Read this review. Then take a walk on The Wild Side at our new Cornerstone tasting room!

**Oh, and tell them “The Roshamblogger” sent you. (Not that you’ll get any special discount, but you’ll make me look good to my boss (and girlfriend, Naomi). And I promise that in return, I will love you forever. Well… “love” is a strong word. So maybe I will just like you forever. Not just a lot. But I will like you a lot, a lot.)

As told by Mikey Smith, Roshambo Winery’s cellar rat/winemaker, and official “good time guy.”

For ages, Carignane (pronounced ‘karin-YAN’) was the most most widely planted red wine grape in the world. The high-yielding fruit is heavy in acidity, tannins and color, which makes it ideal for blending, but… not always so great for drinking. Because of its reputation as a blending grape, the joke is that Carignane is “always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” Jancis Robinson, editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, has even gone so far as to call the grape “the bane of the European wine industry.” Though she does note that old Carignane vines with interesting terroir can produce distinctive, characterful wines. The point is, there is a lot of Carignane in the world… and most of it sucks. But with so many Carignane plantings out there, there’s the occasional gem.

Cut to the fall of 2004, when an Alexander Valley grape grower named Jerry Angeli showed up at our facility with a bin of freshly-picked Carignane. He didn’t have a buyer lined up for the fruit, and was essentially going door-to-door. As you might imagine, this isn’t how grapes are usually sold, but “the cellar rats” of our winemaking team immediately saw the potential. The fruit was outstanding. Carignane is one of those vines that produce a better wine the worse they look, and his vines were hideous - gnarled, twisted beasts planted in dead-looking soil. What few grapes he had growing on them were small, sad looking things. PERFECT, we thought. And so, we rallied support from our quarterback, Naomi, and started making a small lot of Carignane for our Party Army Wine Club. She even named it in honor of us cellar rats who championed the fruit. Our ‘04 and ‘05 vintages were stellar, and after imbibing in the soon-to-be released 2006 vintage this evening, we’re just as excited. With aromas of blueberry, black cherry, sweet smoke, cinnamon, and nutmeg, “the rat” is finally ready to step up to the alter, pull back her veil, and kiss all the naysayers goodbye.

The Bohemian, our North Bay alt-weekly, just spotlighted us as their “Tasting Room of the Week.” Here’s an excerpt…

“Many of us may be asking the question, where did Roshambo go? A winery is usually the epitome of solid, long-standing institution. Yet this paradigm-shifting winery is in a state of flux, neither here nor there. Look, is that a Roshambus carrying a party army into the night? You’ll recall that the “old winery” was practically brand-new when sold to Silver Oak. Now, we find the wine country’s hippest tasting room under Blue Tree…” Click HERE to read the rest of the story.

In other exciting news… Naomi Brilliant will be featured in a piece in the February issue of Wine Enthusiast. Local sharpshooter Craig Clement snapped photos of our Wine Hero, and while we didn’t send this one to the magazine, we thought you might appreciate it. It’s just so… so, Roshambo.

After years of making house calls to ink rock stars and Roshambuddies alike, our good friend Gabriel Alcaraz is opening Art & Mayhem, a new tattoo shop/art gallery/chill spot in Los Angeles. His goal has always been to push the limits of art - either on skin, the canvas, or with a needle and thread - and his new digs reflect that creative spirit. “Tattoo shops can be so cold and intimidating,” he says. “I wanted to create a space that people can feel comfortable and relaxed and open to new possibilities.” The tattoo shop will double as a rotating art gallery and performance space, featuring local artists in quarterly events. We are really excited for Gabriel… so excited, in fact, that we are bringing the Roshambus to his opening.

If you are in Gloss Angeles this weekend, come party on the Roshambus at the Grand Opening of Art & Mayhem. Or to book an appointment with Gabriel write him at artandmayhem (at) gmail.com.

When? Saturday, November 17th 6-9PM
Where? 3416 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles, CA
Cost? Free
Why? Do you even need to ask?

Follow this map to all the fun.

We love when people write us letters. We love it so much that sometimes we even post them (for better or worse). That said, here’s a letter from a new Roshambuddy named Josh. We hope this encourages all of you 3219 people who visited the blog in the past 30 days to send us letters, comments, photos, stories, anything, I mean anything that is Roshambo-related. Did you find us in an obscure wine shop in WhoKnowsWhere, USA? Did three of you dress up as Rock, Paper, Scissors for Halloween? Let us know. We want to hear from you! Let’s make this more interactive!

On Nov 10, 2007, at 9:27 AM, Josh Theodore wrote:

Naomi,

My wife and I embarked on our 13th anniversary trip from Texas to the Sonoma wine region this October and had an absolute blast at your temporary location in Cornerstone. How we ended up there was quite poetic…Roshambo had been recommended to us, but we had never before heard of your wines. After checking out your website, I knew it had to be part of our trip.

On our way up after flying in to Oakland, I wanted to detour and stop, but it was raining heavily and late in the afternoon. The 101 was a mess and we had never been in the region, so we decided to pass and go straight to Bodega Bay where we stayed. Our visit to Roshambo 2.0 would have to wait.

The next morning, we were going to head north, beginning in Healdsburg, and work our way down and back to Bodega, where friends from Los Gatos were coming to meet us. Being a man and not following a map, I missed a turn, and we ended up in Petaluma. I turned to my wife and said, “Guess we can hit Roshambo first today?” My wife, Tina, is the ultimate planner, and I could see she might be miffed that the plan for the day was not going to be followed as originally intended, but to my surprise she replied, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey!” What a great way to start our day. Our Love Affair with Roshambo had begun! and, while we had many wonderful wines during our trip, the one’s we recall the most were the first.

Roshambo will always hold a special place for us. We can’t wait to visit again in your new digs. All the best and keep fighting for fun!!

One of the film crews at our Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament (from a video blog called Discover Wine Country) just posted a short piece which is DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING.  It’s short, funny, and for all of you who couldn’t make it, captures the spirit of the competition.  Enjoy!

As some of you already know, earlier this year we were approached by an Australian television production company (Southern Star Entertainment). They were working with Discovery Networks International on a wine-related TV series and they fancied us their stars. Southern Star’s Executive Producer, Tim Toni, an incredibly nice and interesting bloke, felt that the story of Roshambo would make for the most compelling TV and he pitched us to the development crew at DNI. The suits at DNI apparently loved Naomi and the idea and so they sent Tim’s production crew to California to film us for several days. This resulted in the following teaser which introduces the winery and some of its characters. Everything looked quite promising until DNI went through a major organizational restructuring (of course), fired 10% of its staff, which (naturally) included the development team working on our show.

To be quite honest, it came as a relief to Naomi who had a lot of reservations about becoming caricatures on television. She was concerned about the integrity of the brand. And it was a bit of a relief to me given my well documented fear of being filmed from unflattering angles. In any event, we did get this teaser out of the deal. And we hope you enjoy. (Just please don’t focus on my talking double chin.)

Our 5th Annual Roshambo Winery Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament went off without a hitch as 192 competitors let fists and fingers fly for their chance at a piece of the $2500 pie. Once again, the World RPS-sanctioned championship was an international affair, with competitors from both near and far. A cute metal rock chick named Motoko came out from Japan. The one and only “Custard Chuck” and his lady friend, “Scissor Sista,” were in from Darwin, Australia. Wall Street Wonderboy, Matt Brown, trekked out from, you guessed it, Wall Street. And the world famous “Master Roshambollah” of Washington D.C. came for the fifth straight year. (Though, it should be noted that he didn’t officially compete as he retired from the sport several years ago as the world’s greatest champion. He’s kind of like Lance Armstrong, only different.) In other words, there was NO shortage of colorful characters to captivate the imagination. And if you don’t believe me, peep our Flickr page and THESE PHOTOS.

This year’s contest was won by Maricela Barrigan of Santa Rosa who beat out Healdsburg’s Zack Polston. Barrigan claims it was “beginners luck,” but anyone versed in basic RPS strategy (or common sense) knows that she’s just saying that. I mean, if you had just won 1800 big ones would you be racing to reveal your secret? Probably not, especially with our 6th annual championship in the works. (Next summer at our new Cornerstone tasting room!) She did, however, admit to John Beck of the Press Democrat, “I had one cocktail and that was it.” When he asked if there was any chance the rest of the field was inebriated, she said, “Definitely.” Perhaps sobriety was her secret (which is funny, because I heard one late round competitor attribute “cocaine” and his “speedy mind” to his successful run). Whatever the case, in the 5 year history of this tournament, 4 of the winners have been women. Naomi Brilliant has an interesting theory on this: “It just goes to show that men have no idea what’s going on in the minds of women, and women know exactly what’s going on in the minds of men.” True that.
**

CLICK HERE for some video footage of the event and John Beck’s recap.

And special thanks to photographer Josh Adler for his sharp eye and contributions to our Flickr page. (He also snapped great photos of last year’s Pirate Prom. Adler is Aces.)

Last but not least, please send some of your best photos from the event to me: scott (at) scottkeneally.com. I’d love to add them to our Flickr page!

DOUBLE GOLD - 2004 “Justice” Syrah!!!!!
GOLD - 2005 “Imago” Chardonnay
GOLD - 2005 “Obvious” Sauvignon Blanc
SILVER - 2004 “Reverend” Zinfandel
SILVER - 2005 “Reverend” Zinfandel
BRONZE - 2006 “imoan” Syrah Rose’

The results are in from the 2007 Sonoma County Harvest Fair and… our ridiculously yummy 2004 Justice Syrah has won the coveted “Double Gold” award. Actually, all of our main varietals took home medals! Once again, we’ve brought our broom to the party and swept a pile of precious metals into our corner. Muchos gracias to our unthinkably talented winemaking team for their heart and soul, instincts and taste. However, as I scan through the endless scroll of winners, and headlines like this…

…I can’t help but think that the Sonoma County Harvest Fair has finally, um, humped the shark. I suspect I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, because we shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds us, buuuuuuuuuuut… 90% of the wines won an award? (You’re kidding, right?)

I don’t mean to be mean but there’s something about dishing out 900 awards in a field of 1000 wines that, in my opinion, diminishes the very spirit and credibility of the competition. I don’t blame the judges who might feel compelled to reward most producers because honestly, Sonoma County represents an embarrassment of wine riches. There’s so much great freaking wine around here (think Iron Horse Vineyards, Unti, Medlock Ames, etc…) that it must be tough to choose one over another. There just aren’t too many bad wines. But, if the Sonoma County Harvest Fair hopes to be respected on a wider, more national level, like, say to wine buyers in NYC, at some point, they probably need to reassess their “Harvest of Gold” approach, and find some judges who are willing to make the hard decision to choose one wine over another. Not those who take the easier way out and simply expand the field to include a record number of top awards. That’s kind of like giving people a 1400 on the SAT’s just for signing their name.

Not to say our wines don’t deserve every ounce of precious metal. Because they do. Try for yourself!

If anyone is hemming and hawing and wondering whether or not they should BUY A TICKET to compete in our 5th Annual Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship, or if anyone is wondering what the hell an RPS Tournament entails, well, I suggest you take a peek at this clip.  It’s from the CBS Sunday Morning Show.  I simply cannot express how much fu#king fun our signature event is.  Words fail me.  Luckily, however, I have this national news feature to back me up.  Enjoy responsibly and please, BUY A TICKET.  I promise… win, lose or draw, you will have the time of your life.  And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Judging by Sunday’s front page headline in the Chico Enterprise Record, it’s big news when Naomi Brilliant returns to her hometown. Granted, this isn’t exactly Newsweek or anything, BUT it’s pretty cool to wake up in another town and find your arrival to be a lead story (Not that I would know… outside of the occassional police blotter, I’ve never actually been in any local newspaper). In any event, this past weekend Naomi and I took the Roshambus on a little promotional adventure. On Saturday we joined forces with Alex Gaxiola of Vintage Wine Bar and Cafe in downtown Redding, CA to host a Rock, Paper Scissors Tournament. Forty-eight people signed up for the best-of-three throwdown which… wasn’t exactly the ideal number. 16, 32, 64 seem to work much, much better as they result in 2 finalists (kind of key for a tournament like this). But you know what they say, if God gives you lemonade you’ve gotta make lemons! Anyways, we worked it out so that there were 3 brackets of 16 that whittled down to 3 finalists who would then compete in a round robin. As I stood there explaining the first-competitor-with-two-wins format, I feared confusion followed by almost immediately by mutiny. BUT, it went off without a hitch and the tourney was won by Julie Bory - a bubbly woman who suggested her victory was “100% luck.” (We think she was fibbing because as any true RPS master knows, luck doesn’t have a hand in the sport of RPS.)

After the Redding RPS Championship we hightailed it to Chico for a night of, well, drinking. There is no shortage of great watering holes in this college party town (though I’d have been better off reading in a library since I ended up, ahem… wetting the bed. Sorry Naomi!) Once the bed was stripped and the mattress flipped, we ambled to the Taste of Chico event. Essentially, the town ropes off a handful of blocks and various vendors offer tastes of this or that. We had a table set up in the “Beer Garden,” right alongside 50 other vendors like Coors Light and Mike’s Hard Lemonade. (I’m not sure exactly what their affiliation is with Chico other than the targeted dearth of college students with suspect tastes). Fortunately, the event had a team of volunteers to pour wines. We definitely took advantage of this detail and spent most of the scorching hot afternoon partying on the air-conditioned Roshambus with our Party Army Wine Club Members, local retailers and restauranteurs, and our Chico wine rep, Dusty Taylor. We even smoked the Hookah.

Meet Brandy Paulson. She’s been a member of our Party Army for a year and when she heard we were coming to her town, she volunteered to help out. We figured that she’d spend the afternoon pouring wine at our booth, talking up the brand, spreading her good cheer to everyone with ears, however another plan quickly materialized - The Hookah. Brandy went home to fetch her prized possession and she taught us how to blow smoke rings. The girl is a certifiable pro. She even worked at a Hookah Lounge in Vegas. In any event, she was so damned fun to hang around that we didn’t want to send her off to sweat it out in the Beer Garden. We HEART our wine club members!

Click to see a few more photos from the weekend.

For those of you who are wondering where the hell we are opening our new tasting room, or WHAT exactly Cornerstone Gardens is (oops, they just changed their name to Cornerstone PLACE), I’ll let the San Francisco Chronicle explain.  Here’s a feature from last Sunday’s paper about this up and coming Sonoma hotspot.