CAKE- Temecula Valley Wine Country Wedding Newsletter

COME TOGETHER

"He say, I know you, you know me"
| the beatles |

Safety in numbers. As previously reported on these pages, we recently had the distinct pleasure of speaking before the Inland Empire ABC - Association of Bridal Consultants - at Menifee Lakes Country Club. Arranged by John Goolsby, Christa Davidson & Wendy Alexis, the topic we chose was "Critical Mass: Creating Wine Country Buzz." OK, that's a mouthful. Read: "Networking among Wine Country Wedding venues and vendors to garner the attention of Brides."

Leading into our observances of Wine Country Weddings' current State Of The Buzz, we shared our experience as members of the Maui Wedding Association. The MWA is a group of 200 Wedding venues and vendors who came together to deal with the situation of Oahu dominating the Hawaii Wedding market, hosting more Weddings each year than all the other Hawaiian islands combined. We pooled our $100 membership dues and took out a small advertisement in a new Wedding magazine - Martha Stewart Weddings. The experience taught us the road to success demands patience, fortitude and a lot of friends. Nevertheless, we changed the game and within 3 years Maui cleaned Oahu's clock, hosting 5,000 Weddings a year!

At the risk of coming across as the propeller heads of the Wedding world, we hold these truths to be self evident: the blueprint for the future of Wine Country promotion lies in the coming together of regional Wedding professionals to place our locale front and center in the minds of Brides.

With that thought in mind, we'd like to share our observations of local Wedding Buzzsters and their pursuits to keep Wine Country in the headlines. But first the goods on the tremendous growth potential for regional Weddings:

We urge venues and vendors to band together to promote Wine Country for destination Weddings. Yeah, yeah, this won't be the first time we've been accused of near-hallucinatory positive thinking. We realize any proposal that suggests sleeping with the competition may sound counter-intuitive, but - don't go wobbly on us - such paranoia is thin, at best. No one has a monopoly on good ideas, so we're going to play Lear's Jester and present the 411 on networking.

Subscribing to the mall Food Court Theory, we spur fellow vendors and venues - rather than look at each other as the bête-noire - to caucus with one another for the benefit of all. When we go to The Mall, we all know that within an hour of shopping, we're starving! And what's cool at malls is we don't have to hunt and gather for a meal, we just go to the Food Court. No, duh! These restaurateurs have long-since seen the light that the most important objective is to lure hungry shoppers to one central location. Once the Shopping Carnivores have arrived, the restaurants can then divvy them up.

The same holds true for Temecula Valley Weddings, in that the most important goal is the virtuous cycle of encouraging Brides to see fit to be married in Wine Country, followed close on the heels by regional Wedding professionals producing the evidence as to why Brides should select their venue and vendor services. As Brides continually tell us, Wine Country sells itself.

It thrills us to no end when we see fellow Wedding professionals working toward the betterment of all. So allow us to present the efforts of some key members of our community as their innovative ideas shout it out loud-and-proud for Wine Country Weddings!

These are just a sampling of the Rainmakers generating tail winds in Wine Country, juicing Temecula Valley Weddings.

What did we learn here today? The final conclusion to be drawn is that it's not about the specific content of the above individual efforts, it's about Pimp-The-Buzz, with the sum being greater than the parts. Wine Country Weddings are at a paradigm shift - ready to explode - and we all want to bask in the radiation!

Wedding venues & vendors wishing to share their Wine Country
creating-the-buzz pursuits are invited to e-mail their tales to:
CAKE

Photographers are invited to e-mail out-of-the-ordinary
Wedding photographs for CAKE's Photograph Of The Month to:
CAKE

"I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives, as much as if we had never married at all."

December 1814 letter to Annabella Milbanke. They married after a month. Annabella left Lord Byron after a year.

We stand in awe of whoever's designing South Coast Winery's sensuous labels. By our count, Spumante Diamante is the third SCW label CAKE's featured over the past three years! The winery's as talented in label design as they are in wine design.

Referred to by the Winery as "Lady D," Diamante is delicately sweet, with a come-hither natural acidity that maintains a balance both provocative and beguiling. South Coast quixotically describes Spumante Diamante as "frothy, with frizzante." (We have no idea what that word means, but it's so cool!).

Our take on this sparkler is that upon opening, we were mesmerized by the 1,000's & 1,000's of swirling tiny bubbles. Holding our glasses before the candles in our living room, we both agreed we'd describe the color of the wine as straw. Dropping our noses into our flutes, we smelled orange blossoms, with just a hint of almonds.

So enough gazing and smelling - let's drink this wine! The first taste was like pouring floral candy over the tongue, a delightful demi-sec style of sparkling wine. Although the sweetness was intense, it was cut by the light, refreshing effervescence.

South Coast Winery winemakers Jon McPherson and Javier Flores continue to do Wine Country proud. (We can't wait to see the next label!).

Tesoro Winery is hosting one last evening of denial before "IT" all begins - the exhausting rollercoaster ride of The Holidays. Leave the house, leave the kids, leave the significant other for an evening of feminine fun playing Bunco with the girls. $20 will treat you to the first glass of Tesoro Wine, gourmet hors d'oeuvres by chef Dorothy Blandi, and an evening of fun and games. And chatter.

Mentioned in the article are CAKE favorites, Ponte Family Estate Winery, Callaway Vineyard & Winery, Mount Palomar Winery, Leonesse Cellars and Baily Vineyard & Winery.

This is huge, Jerry! Nearly everyone who drives a car belongs to AAA, Westways Magazine in included in the membership, which translates into gazillions of readers gazing the pages about a day trip to Wine Country.

Secondly, it's been arranged for the Wine Editor of Sunset Magazine - Sara Schneider - to come to Wine Country to tour and write about Temecula Valley wineries. Sunset-freaking-Magazine! O.M.G!!