Pressing News

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Newsletter published by
 
Fine Vine Wines, LLC
"The Wine Makers's Toy Store™"
 
June 2007
Volume 5, Issue 6
1-866-417-1114
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This month on the Vine!
Let's Win Some Awards
Winestock 2007
New Email Program
Starting our Fifth Year!
 
It is hard for me to fathom, but it was just four years ago that we started this venture and I was patiently waiting for my first order.  Now, as start our fifth year as one of the larger home wine making supply stores, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my wonderul customers, suppliers, friends and family that have turned my dream into a reality.
 
I think it is also a time when I need to thank our founding fathers and all of the men and women who have sacrificed so much to create this wonderful Country of ours!  There are not very many countries in the world that would have provided me with this opportunity.  As with so much in life, we are extremely quick to criticize, but rarely find time to appreciate what this Country enables us to do.  Our Country is not perfect, but show me a better place on this planet.  I have been blessed to have such a wonderful family, a great bunch of friends and the fortune to have been born in the United States of America.  Thank you to all!
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Fine Vine Wines, LLC, "The Wine Maker's Toy Store". Whether you need home wine making or home brewing products or just need information, we are here to serve you. I want to extend my thanks again for making The Wine Maker's Toy Store your home for your wine making and beer brewing needs. It continues to be my hope that every time you visit our web site or retail store, you will find something of value.
 
As a reminder, we continue to add products and content to the web site, therefore, if you have any special requests, please let us know. We like to hear what you have to say about our site, our products and/or our customer service, good or bad. Please send your comments and/or suggestions to winemaster@finevinewines.com.
 
Don't forget we like you to CALL!
 
If you have any questions about our products, our service and/or wine making, please call us. We are here to serve you and enjoying assisting you in any way we can. We have an international toll-free line so you WILL call us.
 
Someone is usually at the store between 9 am and 7 pm, Monday thru Saturday. We always try to answer the phone when you call; however, sometimes, we are unable to answer the phone as we are on the other lines or we have customers in the store. If you get the voice mail, please leave your name, number, brief message and a best time to call. We will return your call just as soon as we can.
 
If you don't want to call, just send us an email. We usually answer our emails daily. Please remember, we are a resource and we are here to serve you.
Let's Win Some Awards
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For several years, I have been talking about promoting awards, but have not really followed through.  Something always seemed to get in the way, like growing the business.  Well, the time has come to start going after awards and we are going to start with the WineMaker Magazine awards in April 2008.  I plan to personally enter the maximum of 15 wines, all of which will be at least one year old by next April.  They will consist of some from Winexpert kits and some from Mosti Mondiale kits.  My LaBodega Port will be a definite entry.
 
All of the kit manufacturer's want you to win awards so they can brag about their "award winning wines."  As a result, they will all give you something for winning an award with WineMaker Magazine.  Last year, Winexpert gave store credits of up to $60 for each award with a limit of 2 per customer.   Mosti Mondiale gave you a free wine kit out of the same series for each award with no maximum.  If you won with an All Juice, you got another free All Juice kit.
 
Now, we are going to reward you, as well.  I know that my competition reads my newsletter so I am not going to tell you how much in store credit we are going to give you for winning an award in the WineMaker Magazine competition, at this time, but it will be a "meaningful" amount and it will based on which medal you win with extra prize money for best of shows.  As we get closer to the competition, I will give all of the details.  In the meantime, start setting some of your best wines aside so you too can be the creator of an "Award Winning Wine."
Winestock 2007
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SEPTEMBER 28 AND 29, 2007
 
The Wine Maker's Toy Store is proud to sponsor its second annual gathering of home wine makers. This year's conference will be held again in North Texas at the Addison Conference Center! This event will contain a variety of topics, including how to make better wine and to evaluate the quality of your wine and pair it with food.
 
Please note that the retail store will close at 2 pm on Friday, September 28th and be closed all day Saturday, September 29th. We will open the retail store from 9 am to 3 pm on Sunday, September 30th, for your shopping needs or if you would just like to see the store.
 
Below is the agenda for the 3 day event:
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
    • 7-8 pm - Registration, Social Hour and Wine Sharing
    • 8-9 pm - Italian Dinner Buffet
    • 9-11 pm - More Wine Tasting and Voting on your People's Choice Awards
  • Saturday, September 29, 2007
    • 8-9 am - Registration, coffee and pastries
    • 9 am - 9:15 am - Welcome and Introduction of Guests
    • 9:15 - 10:30 am - Acid & pH Testing
    • 10:30 - 11:00 am- Break
    • 11 am - 12:30 pm - Various methods for de-gassing your wine
    • 12:30 - 1:30 pm - Bar-B-Que lunch by Randy White's Restaurant
    • 1:30 - 3:00 pm - Pairing Wine with Food
    • 3 - 3:30 pm- Break
    • 3:30 - 4:30 pm - Wine Tasting Class
    • 4:30 - 5 pm - Presentation of People's Choice Awards-6 pm - Free Time
    • 6-7 pm - Social hour and Wine Sharing
    • 7-9 pm - Mexican Dinner Buffet
    • 9:00 - 11:00 pm - More Wine Sharing and Socializing
  • Sunday, September 30, 2007 9 am - 3 pm - Retail store open for your shopping pleasure
 
All of the wines we will be tasting and sharing will be provided by our participating home vintners and The Wine Maker's Toy Store. Please feel free to bring your wines for the tasting, as well, as the People's Choice Awards.
 
In addition, we have extended an invitation to Mosti Mondiale to send a representative to this gathering.  I think they are very intriqued with the event and will let us know one way or the other by the week of June 11th.  As soon as we know for sure, we will let you know.
 
We will hold the event at the same place as last year, The Addison Conference Center and the cost per person is as follows:
  • Saturday Sessions and Buffet Lunch - $75.00
  • Friday Night Wine Tasting and Buffet - $25.00
  • Saturday Night Wine Tasting and Buffet - $25.00
    Discount for Registering for all events - $10.00
  • Discount for Registering BEFORE July 1, 2007 - $15.00
We will be giving away merchandise and coupons as door prizes and to winners of the People's Choice awards. We will also have "goody bags" for all which will include the following:
  • $25.00 Coupon for use at The Wine Maker's Toy Store
  • 1 free commemorative wine glass with our logo and "Winestock 2007" on the glass.
  • 1 bag of 30 corks (#9 X 1.75 perfect corks with "Winestock 2007" printed on the side.)
  • And some other cool stuff!
Speaking of commemorative items, we are also offering polo shirts for $24.99 and baseball caps for $14.99 with each registration.  We will also allow you to complete your set of wine glasses with 3 more for $14.99. Each additional set of 4 will be $19.99. For those of you unable to attend, you can still purchase the shirts or glasses. Click on Winestock 2007 commenorative items to order them. Commemorative items must be ordered prior to September 1, 2007 to guarantee availability. We will order some extras, but they will be sold on a first come, first served basis.
 
We have also invited Mosti Mondiale to send a representative. They are considering it, but have not committed, at this time. I am hopeful that as our sales of their products continue, they will see this as a great opportunity to promote their products.
 
The conference will be held in Addison, Texas, 30 minutes north of Downtown Dallas at the Addison Conference Center. This location is about 20 minutes from both area airports, Love Field and DFW and is within 10 minutes of 3 major shopping malls. Addison is also the home to over 100 restaurants within a 10 minute drive.
More information on the location for the event, as well as, information on Addison can be found at
 
 
Don't miss out on the Lonestar State's premier home wine making event of the year. To register for Winestock 2007, click here.
 
If you have any questions, or would like to register over the phone, please give us a call at 1-866-417-1114.
We look foward to seeing all of you.
New Email Program for Newsletters and Promotions
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As you can see, we now have a new email program.  After last month's newsletter fiasco, I decided I needed to find a better way to send the newsletters and promotions.  Fortunately, I had been looking at solutions before the fiasco, so I was ready to move forward.  We will be using ConstantContact.com initially just for newsletter and promotions, but will be adding new features like surveys as they become available.  You will still receive your coupons, order confirmations and shipping confirmations from our in-house programming.
 
Since this program is new to me, I am sure I have made some mistakes, including bad links.  If you discovered any of these problems, please let me know so I can learn from my mistakes.
 
 
 
W hen you have a question or just want to learn more about wine making, don't forget our forum! We have almost 750 registered members with over 45,000 posts! We have some extremely knowledgeable wine makers with loads of valuable information willing to assist you in your wine making needs. Responses to most posts are made within minutes. We are also known to have an occassional contest available to forum member only with valuable gifts, savings and coupons!
Whether you are an expert or a novice, it is an excellent place to ask questions, exchange ideas and meet other home wine makers. If you haven't logged into the forum, try it sometime. I think you will find it most informative and enjoyable, as well as, a great place to meet fellow wine makers.
 
Toy of the Month
 
This month we are putting all of our Stavin Oak Cubes on sale for over 10% off.  If you like the wine kits, but want more oak and/or body, these cubes will do the trick.  You can also use these cubes to add oak flavor and tannins to your fresh fruit wine and avoid the mess and hassle of oak barrels.
 
Part Number
Image
Description
Regular Price
Current Price
Order
6344B Stavin Oak Cubes 

American Oak Cubes (1lb.) Medium Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $21.99
$19.49
Order
6351B Stavin Oak Cubes

Hungarian Oak Cubes (1lb.) Medium Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $27.99
$24.99
Order
6353B Stavin Oak Cubes

Hungarian Oak Cubes (1lb.) Heavy Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $27.99
$24.99
Order
6343A Stavin Oak Cubes

French Oak Cubes (3oz.) Heavy Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $7.99
$6.99
Order
6343B Stavin Oak Cubes

French Oak Cubes (1lb.) Heavy Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $37.99
$33.99
Order
6349A Stavin Oak Cubes

American Oak Cubes (3oz.) House Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $4.49
$3.99
Order
6341A Stavin Oak Cubes

French Oak Cubes (3oz.) Medium Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $7.99
$6.99
Order
6341B Stavin Oak Cubes

French Oak Cubes (1lb..) Medium Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $37.99
$33.99
Order
6342A Stavin Oak Cubes

French Oak Cubes (3oz.) House Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $7.99
$6.99
Order
6342B Stavin Oak Cubes

French Oak Cubes (1lb.) House Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $37.99
$33.99
Order
6344A Stavin Oak Cubes

American Oak Cubes (3oz.) Medium Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $4.49
$3.99
Order
6349B Stavin Oak Cubes

American Oak Cubes (1lb.) House Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $21.99
$19.49
Order
6352A Stavin Oak Cubes

Hungarian Oak Cubes (3oz.) House Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $5.49
$4.79
Order
6352B Stavin Oak Cubes

Hungarian Oak Cubes (1lb.) House Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $27.99
$24.99
Order
6353A Stavin Oak Cubes

Hungarian Oak Cubes (3oz.) Heavy Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $5.49
$4.79
Order
6350A Stavin Oak Cubes

American Oak Cubes (3oz.) Heavy Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $4.49
$3.99
Order
6350B Stavin Oak Cubes

American Oak Cubes (1lb.) Heavy Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $21.99
$19.49
Order
6351A Stavin Oak Cubes

Hungarian Oak Cubes (3oz.) Medium Toast

Recommendation: 2-3 oz. per 6 gallons for 2 months

 $5.49
$4.79
Order

Wine of the Month

For early drinking wines, we are offering the Chablis and the Domaine Des Brumes as this month's featured wines. The Domaine Des Brumes (Bruilly) is a "nouveau" which means it does not require very long to age. This wine decants well and is nice after only one month of aging and 30 minutes in the decanter. This wine is very similar to the Bergamais, but with more flavor.
 
The Chablis on the other hand is a known crowd pleaser as even the most descriminating wine lover will enjoy this wine. This wine will also be pleasant to drink after only one month in the bottle. Both will improve with time, but if you can't wait, here are 2 wines sure to please your palate and your pocket book.
 
Part Number
Image
Description

Brand
Comments
Regular Price
Current Price
Order
3170 VR White

Chamblaise (Chablis)

Crisp, semi-dry wine with a clean, refreshing aftertaste.

 Vintners Reserve Wine of the Month $49.99
$44.99
Order
3257

Domaine Des Brumes

Robust, fruity, deeply colored red wine that can be enjoyed young.

Winexpert Selection Premium Wine of the Month $80.99
$64.99
Order

NEW PRODUCTS

Not too much, this month, but you can always find out about all of our new products as they become available on our New Products Page whenever you visit the web site.
 
If you are looking for a product that I do not carry, my primary distributor is LD Carlson and you can see their complete product list at their public catalog. If you find anything you would like me to add, please let me know.
 
DISCOUNTS
 
We like to reward our loyal customers with lots of opportunities to receive discounts. Since you can receive multiple discounts on the same order, we thought it would be a good idea to explain the heirarchy so you will understand how they are calculated.
  1. The multi-kit discount on wine kits is calculated first,
  2. Then any gift certificates or other promotional codes like the registration discount (first time orders) and birthday club coupons,
  3. Lastly, is the Grower's Club discount.

The most common discounts are listed below:

CUSTOMER REFERRAL PROGRAM
 
In case you missed it, we have a customer referral program that provides additional discounts to registered users. We will give you a coupon worth 10% of the first order placed by any person that you refer to our web site. The stipulations are as follows:
  1. You must be a registered user of finevinewines.com,
  2. The person placing the order must register and provide your full name in the appropriate field on the registration screen, and
  3. The discount is only good for future orders with finevinewines.com and is not redeemable for cash.

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION PROGRAM - FVW GROWERS CLUB

Please check out our FVW Growers Club. You can get all of the details on our web site, but the bottom line is we want to buy your loyalty! Once you spend $500 with us, you get a 5% discount on everything you buy from us. Find out more on the web site.
 
MULTI-KIT DISCOUNT
 
Order two or more kits and get 5% off all ingredients kits included on the same order. This includes all Winexpert, Mosti Mondiale and RJ Spagnols Wine Kits.
 
REGISTRATION DISCOUNT (FIRST TIME ORDERS)
 
To receive this 5% off, all you have to do is register with us and place an order for $50.00, or more (excluding shipping and taxes). When you register, you will also be given the opportunity to sign up for our monthly newsletter, which is the only recurring email we send. We will not blast you with email after email touting our current specials. We encourage you to register to make the ordering process easier on you.
 
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
 
We appreciate all of your comments, whether good or bad. To demonstrate our commitment to outstanding customer service, I have created a web page with your feedback. As we receive emails that comment about our service, I will post them on this page.

 

Contact Information
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George Cornelius - President
Mark Cornelius - Shipping Manager
phone: 1-800-417-1114
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