Tasting our fabulous selection of VinQuiz wines

We have been so fortunate to have sooooo many fans of our products: Wine Wipes, Pearly Wipes and VinQuiz. Thank you! Some highlights of this year include Wine Wipes represented in  Self Magazine’s Beauty Hangover cures on the Nate Berkus Show, Pearly Wipes in People Magazine’s Style Watch and our Vinquiz seems to be gaining popularity as well.

For those of you not familiar with the VinQuiz, it’s a fun quiz to match you (or a friend) with your own wine personality and a bottle of cult wine. It is delivered to you with a personality profile, tasting notes and pairing suggestions. All for just $20 + shipping and handling or pick it up yourself if you live close by!

Hopefully that’s inspired you to consider new ways of selecting your wine for 2012.

What are your New Year’s Wine Resolutions? How about being a little more adventurous? I like the simple advice of wine writer, David White “In 2012, resolve to explore the unfamiliar by trying unusual grapes from unusual regions. If you like red wines, you’re probably drinking lots of Cabernet Sauvignon. If you prefer whites, you’re probably drinking Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.”

Although our local wines are amazing, why not try something like Gavi di Gavi, Broglia, La Meirana, Italy, 2009.   Drink this all day. Richly textured, yet crisp in style. Think crisp Pinot Grigio with a hint of Chardonnay.

Gamay, Villa Ponciago, France 2009

What about red?

Gamay, Villa Ponciago, France 2009. Not to be confused with Beaujolais Nouveau, Cru Beaujolais is similar to a Pinot Noir; complex, elegant and balanced. 2009 is considered the vintage of a lifetime for the region.

Monastrall, Juan Gil, Jumillo, Spain 2006
100% Monastrall (aka: Mourvedre) Secret culty go-to for true Spanish wine lovers. Warm and rich with layers of spicy plum and violets finishing with sweet tannins and a touch of chocolate.

Cheers to a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

P.S. We are excited to announce we will have a new product coming soon in 2012 (still top secret)! Remember to check back for details.

Yesterday was a BIG day for Wine Wipes. We had two TV appearances in one day!

The CW San Diego, they love Wine Wipes for a great, last minute holiday gift. Check it out: http://www.sandiego6.com/news/sd6-in-the-morning/Stocking-Stuffers-135940393.html
AND, even more exciting is that we were chosen by  SELF Magazine to be part of their Beauty Hangover Cures on the Nate Berkus Show!

More to come…

It’s no secret that us Borracha’s love all things wine. Because of this, during the holiday season we are always looking for the perfect wine-lover’s gift. Being that the Internet is inundated with wine paraphernalia and suggestions we thought it would be a great idea to host our favorite gift ideas in one convenient place.  Thus, we bring you the wine-lover’s “gift central,” featuring:

1. Wine Wipes: A proprietary blend of stain-removing and teeth-protecting ingredients available in a convenient 20-wipe compact, complete with mirror. Just run Wine Wipes over your teeth and mouth, and order another round of red.
2. Pearly Wipes: Available in a convenient 20-wipe compact complete with mirror, Pearly Wipes fit into your pocket or purse and can be used after any offending beverage – coffee, tea, soda, fruit juice, red and white wine – as well as a minty treat after a meal when no toothbrush is in sight.
3. Vinquiz- Borracha’s Vinquiz pairs your personality with a unique bottle of cult wine and delivers it to you with a personality profile, tasting notes and pairing suggestions.
4. Borracha Prescribes: If you love wine but are far from a wine drinking pro we can help! Let Borracha “prescribe” a quality, inexpensive bottle of wine for your next event. You’ll impress even the most seasoned wine drinkers with your excellent bottle choice!
5. Custom Wine Boxes: If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a wine lover, or if you are a wine lover yourself, a hand-painted wine box is THE present for you this holiday season. Local San Luis Obispo artist, Bri Devereaux, hand paints each box and no two paintings are the same. Wine boxes can be purchased as single or double boxes.

Each product can be purchased in Borracha’s online store: http://www.winewipes.com/store/. Happy shopping (oh, and Happy Holidays, too!).

Victoria

Title: Cat hating Public Relations Intern

Motto: Find something that makes you genuinely happy, because forever is a long time if you’re miserable. And never, ever settle. (-my dad)

Favorite part of my day: Waking up in the morning, having a cup of coffee and having no where to rush off to (mostly this only happens on weekends)

What intoxicates me? Reading a really good book…I recently read the Hunger Games entire series in 3 days…SO GOOD!

Best business advise: “You have to start at the bottom if you want to end at the top”

My wine personality: Direct, ambitious, lots of fun…ideal for a girl’s night out.

Margaret

Title: Shipping Czar

Something little known about me: I love to sing

Motto: Live each day to its fullest so that you’re exhausted when you die, and treat everyone like you would want to be treated

Memorable wine experience: Retirement Dinner in Philadelphia, pairing each course with a bottle of wine – Cakebread was my favorite

What intoxicates me? Life, especially sunrise and sunsets

My wine personality: Aged, Full-bodied.

Shairee

Title: Jill of all trades

Motto: The Five Agreements (by Don Miguel Ruiz)

What intoxicates me? The view from an ocean kayak looking back at land.

Best business advise: Given to me, trust my instinct.

I feel good about- Teva creating a special “bootie” for a penguin with a bad foot

My wine personality: Mellow, easy to drink….with a surprising bite.

Joleen (aka Mojo)

Title: Sales genie

Motto: figure out who you want to be and try to be that perfectly

Favorite part of my day: Dinner with family and friends

Memorable wine experience: Spanish dinner party at my home. 10 girlfriends, sharing a variety of Spanish wines over an incredible meal prepared by chefs from Spain.

What intoxicates me? Going on active, outdoor adventurers.

Best business advise: Always be honest and take responsibility for your actions.

My wine personality: Sweet with a spicy finish; pairs well with food and friends.

Kimberly

Title: Patrona

Motto- Be brave; this world is not for cowards.

Favorite part of my day- Waking up. I love a fresh start!

Memorable wine experience- A true night of tasting; Opening 7 bottles of amazing wine at the same time and making wine suicides while ordering one of everything on the menu!

What intoxicates me? Doing something for my first time.

Perfect meal- Truffle pasta and wine

Best business advise- Surround yourself with honest, intelligent and passionate people.

My wine personality- A magnum of anything tasty

If you’ve tried Wine Wipes, you know they work like a charm, but some of you also think they taste rather, um, lets say, no so delicious… So we’ve spent the last 3 months, tasting and testing (hard work!) and are happy to announce the arrival of our new and improved Wine Wipes!!

Want to try for yourself after your favorite glass of inky red wine? Like ‘Borracha’ on facebook and tell us your favorite teeth staining, inky red wine, and we’ll send 5 lucky winners free compacts of the new Wine Wipes! Order Wine Wipes online at www.winewipes.com. 3 compacts for $20.00 No shipping!

My one-day random media blitz:

• Drive from San Luis Obispo to Sacramento, to film a LIVE segment on Good Day Sacramento, pairing Vinquiz wines to the anchors personalities..
• Drive from Sacramento to San Francisco to film a segment for WineOh.TV about Wine Wipes.
• Drive home to San Luis Obispo to host Art After Dark at Granada Bistro.

Ready, Set, Go!

Good Day Sacramento

I arrived to the studios at 8:30am with a case of wine and a corkscrew and was taken to ‘Green Room’ (yes, its actually green) where Doug Christie (LA Lakers, Kings) and his family were also hanging out before going on ‘the set’.

My segment was at 9:30am, but they called me on set early to film a couple promo’s for the segment.  Marianne McClary, the news anchor, would say something like ‘and coming up next, we have Kimberly Walker ‘WINE EXPERT’, here to pair wines to our personalities.. WTF, Wine Expert?? Seriously, I need to come up with a new name.. wine fan, lover of wine, wineOH, anything would have been better than that.

Before I knew it, I was LIVE on Good Day Sacramento, explaining which wines pair with the anchors personalities.. Unfortunately, none of them could drink on the job, but they were all sent home with the bottles to enjoy after the show.

Check out the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7IcgNYp8zc

Wine Oh TV

Off to San Francisco for the remaining moments of my 15 minutes as a guest on Wine Oh.TV. The segment was filmed at The Winery on Treasure Island; an old enormous hanger used as SF’s wine making facility and event space. The marketing director, Alicia Valerio, gave me the grand tour of the grounds while the Wine Oh.TV crew set up for the interview..

WineOh.TV host, Monique Soltani, suggested we have some wine with our interview. (Yes Please!!) We sat on the couch, in the middle of a massive hanger overlooking San Francisco and talked about two of my favorite subjects; Wine wipes and Vinquiz.  The interview and experience were amazing and Alicia was nice enough to send me home with a bottle of Cabernet.. Seriously, I could get used to this kind of treatment.

www.wineoh.tv

Art After Dark at Granada Bistro

The 4 hour drive home went by quickly as I called my contact list, retelling the day’s adventure.  I arrived just in time to kick off our Art After Dark show at Granada with a shot of Corzo tequila, courtesy of Dayna and Thelma (artist).

The End!

Countdown to Mother’s Day.. I know, there’s a holiday for everything. But if anyone deserves a day of recognition its Mothers.. good mothers! I am very fortunate to have the best mom a girl could ask for. Cheers to you Mom!

Although there is evidence of mother goddess worship dating as far back as 6.000 BC, the U.S. Mother’s Day was created in 1908 by Anna Jarvis from West Virginia. For years she tirelessly campaigned for the holiday to honor all mothers, and in 1914, President Wilson made it an official national holiday.

The holiday was an instant success and became so highly commercialized that Anna Jarvis, considered it a “Hallmark Holiday” and ended up spending the rest of her life fighting against the same holiday she created.

Today, Mother’s Day remains one of the biggest sales days for flowers, greeting cards, and jewelry. But when you think about it.. what would your mother rather have on her special day?

A handwritten letter of appreciation and love OR a greeting card created by Hallmark?

A couple hours of time with her family over good wine and food OR a gift certificate to her favorite restaurant?

This year, let’s give our Mom’s some of the same effort they’ve put into us all the day’s of our lives.

My Mother aka The Exalted Ruler of the Oceano Elks

A few weeks ago, I was at Cipriani Downtown in NYC and the waiter tried to convince me that Pouilly Fume was Chardonnay.. Really? No way. I did not believe and asked him to get a second opinion.. He returned to the table ‘I just checked with our Sommelier who is from France and he assured me that Pouilly Fume is Chardonnay’ How could I argue with that? Had I been mistaken this whole time? As soon as I got back to the hotel, I googled Pouilly Fume to find out that he was wrong! Now I keep some handy apps on my phone to make sure I have wine info at the tip of my fingers.. I urge my fellow borracha’s to do the same

AG Wine ($3.99)

• The Approach Guides Wine app is a resource for learning about wine styles, appellations, grape varieties and food pairings. Users can select their country of choice and then search for wine options based on personal preference
• Good for winos who don’t know specifics about which wines they want, but have a sense for what they’re looking for.

Hello Vino (Free)

• Hello Vino provides wine recommendations for when you’d like to match wine with a particular food, a special occasion, a particular taste, or you simply desire a wine from a certain region. Share wine picks via Twitter and Facebook.

Drync Wine Pro ($4.99)

• Reviews for hundreds of thousand wine listings
• Essentially a “who’s who” of wine, Drync lists “Featured,” as well as “Most Popular” and “Top Wanted” wines as calculated by user actions and ratings
• Each wine listing offers a detailed description of its taste, as well as reviews from oenophiles at Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits, Wine Enthusiast and more

Cor.kz Wine Info ($3.99)

• Search for wines by region or varietal, or use the barcode scanner.
• “Pedia” has hundreds of entries for all things wine, for those who are thirsty for knowledge and for the drink itself

by K. Madison Moore

TMarie aka my best friend’s mom| cheesecake baker for Granada| artist| has now added scarf making to her list of talents.. and these arent just typical scarves. Like everything Thelma (TMarie) does, she uses only the rarest, finest materials she can find. Creating and designing these scarves went from simple pastime to must-have accessory virtually overnight. She started out participating in local SLO town trunk shows and now has a waiting list of women all over the country waiting to receive their one-of-a-kind handmade scarf.

Check out her website for a visual list of her current offerings.. So what else is up TMari’s sleeve? Fingerless gloves and knee-high socks. Both are currently in the works and have yet to be officially announced, making Borracha the exclusive source of this exciting information!

Day 12 of Sober January (started a day late due to hair of the dog from New Years Eve).

A month without alcohol has been a surprisingly smooth ride so far, except for about 20 minutes on Saturday night when I was literally talking myself into a bottle of chilled Pouilly Fuisse I discovered in the fridge. I blame the bout of weakness on Wine Spectator, which I foolishly read Saturday afternoon, researching new wines for the bistro.

Pros:

PRODUCTIVITY. The morning fog that even 2 glasses of wine with dinner can cause is lifted, making it easier to hit the gym at 6am.  Also, not having ‘lets go have a glass of wine’ as an option for evening activities, my nights are spent doing other things like cooking, reading, watching movies, and training for Wildflower.

Cons:

THE WEEKENDS. Friday and Saturday nights, once filled with delicious bottles of wine and 4 hour dinners, are now reduced to sparkling water with meals, and movie going.  In the last 10 days I’ve seen- Blue Valentine, True Grit, Black Swan, The Fighter, King’s Speech, Honeysuckle Rose. All amazing.

CONCLUSION: Some things are just better with booze.. ok, a lot of things.