Seghesio Family Vineyards Launches Dinner Series at Historic Vineyard Sites

PRLog (Press Release) - May 15, 2012 -
Seghesio Family Vineyards offers guests the opportunity to dine and savor its wines at their source — among the vines of the historic properties where they’re grown — as part of its new Chef’s Summer Dinner Series. These dinners, hosted by members of the Seghesio family, continue the winery’s long tradition of sharing wine and food among friends. Guests will be shuttled from the winery to these treasured sites to enjoy special wines from the Seghesio library and seasonal menus prepared by Executive Chef Peter Janiak, formerly of San Francisco’s Boulevard and Presidio Social Club.

Chef’s Summer Dinner Series

Passalacqua Ranch/San Lorenzo, Alexander Valley – Saturday, June 9th
Hosted by Winegrower Pete Seghesio and Uncle Fred Passalacqua
The inaugural dinner series will kick off at the oldest site of the Seghesio farms. Guests will enjoy Chef Peter’s menu with Seghesio’s first vintage of Muscat Canelli and a flight of Old Vine Zinfandels while surrounded by beautiful century-old, head-pruned vines.

Westphall Ranch, Rockpile AVA – Saturday, July 14th
Hosted by Winegrower Pete Seghesio
The second dinner will take place in one of California’s newest and most exciting appellations, Rockpile, situated on a narrow ridgetop with breathtaking views of Lake Sonoma. The winery’s limited-production Arneis and a flight of Rockpile Zinfandels will complement Chef Peter’s menu.
Rattlesnake Hill at Home Ranch, Alexander Valley – Saturday, August 11th
Hosted by Winemaker Ted Seghesio
The series finale will be at Home Ranch, the birthplace of Seghesio Family Vineyards and the home of America’s oldest Sangiovese vines. Chef Peter’s menu, served atop Rattlesnake Hill overlooking Alexander Valley, will be paired with Seghesio’s first release of Vermentino, along with the Home Ranch Zinfandel, Aglianico and a flight of
Venom Sangiovese.

The Chef’s Summer Dinner Series will be limited to 50 guests per event. Tickets are $200 per person and $175 for Centennial Club members (two per membership). A limited number of tickets will be available to Visa Signature cardholders at $175 per ticket. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.seghesio.com/NewsandEvents/Events/ChefsDinnerSeries or call (707) 433-3579, ext. 109.

Other culinary offerings:
Seghesio Family Vineyards offers several other wine and food experiences throughout the year, including its popular weekend Family Tables and annual Zinfandel & BBQ Festival:

New season of Family Tables
Now in their seventh year, Seghesio’s Family Tables are considered by many a “must do” in Sonoma wine country. These private tastings allow guests to enjoy wine the way it was intended, around a table with food and friends. Each Family Tables experience begins with a tour of the historic winery before moving to private tasting rooms overlooking the century-old cellar. A seasonal menu of recipes from the Seghesio family and Executive Chef Peter Janiak is paired with a special selection of library wines.

Family Tables are offered Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Presidents Weekend in February through Thanksgiving. The cost is $50 per person and $35 for Centennial Club members (two per membership). For more information or reservations, please visit www.seghesio.com/wineandfoodpairing or call (707) 433-3579.

Ninth Annual Zin & BBQ Festival – Saturday, July 28th  
Pete Seghesio and the Blaze Pit Crew will put their famous ribs up against the barbecue of two of the best in the business — reigning Memphis in May champion Chris Lilly and Dr. BBQ. Guests will choose the champion in this annual showdown, showcasing some of America’s best barbecue and a stellar lineup of Seghesio Zinfandels. Seghesio’s barbecue tradition began 10 years ago, when Pete Seghesio met Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson’s at Memphis in May, the world’s largest barbecue competition. Inspired by what he saw, Pete headed out to Kansas City to bring back Blaze, a custom-built Jedmaster smoker. Upon his return to the winery, Pete invited Chris and Dr. BBQ to come teach him the tricks of the trade, and thus the Zin & BBQ Festival was born.

Chris Lilly has won 11 World Barbecue Championships and is recognized as one of the top pitmasters in his field. Dr. BBQ has won numerous barbecue awards and published six cookbooks, and he frequently appears as an expert judge at major barbecue events across the nation.

Seghesio’s Zinfandel & BBQ Festival will be held Saturday, July 28th from noon to 4 p.m. at the winery in Healdsburg, CA. Tickets are $75 per person and $60 for Centennial Club members (two per membership). For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.seghesio.com/NewsandEvents or call (707) 433-3579, ext. 109.

About Seghesio Family Vineyards
Founded in 1895, when Edoardo Seghesio planted his first Zinfandel vineyard in Sonoma County, Seghesio Family Vineyards produces critically acclaimed wines that honor the history of Sonoma and the Seghesio family. Collected over a century, Seghesio’s 300 acres in preeminent growing regions — the Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River valleys — represent some of the oldest vineyards and proprietary clones. True to Edoardo’s vision, Seghesio produces Zinfandel and Italian varietals. The winery offers daily tastings and weekend wine pairings with Seghesio family recipes. For more information, visit www.seghesio.com.

For media inquiries, images and interviews please contact Skye Morgan of Charles Communications Associates at 415-701-9463 or press@charlescomm.com.

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Writers Retreat Series Available For Preorder

PRLog (Press Release) - Mar 22, 2012 -
The entire Writer’s Retreat series is now available for pre-order through their Kickstarter campaign, lasting through April 6th. Written by IndieReader.com book reviewer and Reader’s Retreat columnist Juliet C. Obodo, the series includes writer’s guides to cafes, restaurants, and coffee shops in 10 major cities across the country. Included cities are Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland, San Francisco & Seattle.

The New York edition is already available online through several major booksellers where it’s being well received, making #11 on Kindle’s Travel & Dining guides. It’s also available at McNally Jackson Bookstore in Soho.

Listing over a hundred establishments throughout New York’s various neighborhoods, the New York edition is “a fantastic read” that “many authors, college and university students will be rushing out to get,” according to one review.

Juliet chose to raise funds for the remaining books through Kick Starter because it’s the beginning of a new trend in self-publishing: crowd-funding. The ability to determine how well a book will sell before it’s even published. Those who appreciate the project can back it to receive the rewards.

The Kickstarter campaign for the Writer’s Retreat series seeks to raise $2500 in Kickstarter pre-orders to cover design and printing costs. If the $2500 can be raised by the deadline of April 6th, the project will proceed and those who donated will be given rewards based on their levels of donation.
For a donation of only $5, backers receive e-copies of their choice of 6 the 10 cities from the series.
For $10, backers receive e-copies of all 10 books!
For a pledge of only $25, backers receive e-copies of all books, and their choice of print copies of any 4 of the books.
For a pledge of $50, backers receive print and e-copies of all 10 books in the series.

There are also several donation levels intended primarily for businesses.
A pledge of $100 receives not only print and e-copies of all books in the series, but also a sponsor page at the back of the Writer’s Retreat guide to the city of their choice!
A pledge of $250 will receive the print and e-copies of all books, and a sponsor page at the back of all city guides!

If you'd like to know more, or schedule an interview with Juliet C. Obodo, please call GiGi Robertson at (848) 203-0041 or email contact@julietobodo.com.

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Asus ML Series Monitor Winner

Thanks to all those who joined in our Asus ML 229H Monitor giveaway and we now have a winner. See announcement below if you’re the creative and lucky one.

We sent out over 200+ entries to Asus a couple of days ago and they gave me back their Top 10 choices.

Here are the finalists, in no particular order:

1.) A Samsung Monitor: https://twitter.com/#!/Kaichousui/status/103817415225384960

2.) The whole package: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thGjEqPaGDk

3.) An AGV Valentino Rossi Helmet: http://twitter.com/#!/Raikko05/status/106976432848244736/photo/1/large

4.) An old Samsung Monitor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eiter014/6085622173/

5.) My Best Fried: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbgS9Gin9N8

6.) Give up playing Poker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eiter014/6093000317/in/photostream/

7.) An LED Cardboard Monitor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelvinservigon/6102912564/

8.) An old AOC Monitor: http://www.caidoblogger.com/2011/09/ill-give-up-my-world-for-asus.html

9.) A desk space for Asus N43: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54138645@N02/6108818810/in/photostream/

10.) An HP Monitor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jbAWs4Jat8

All the entries above are really cool, funny and creative (props to those who put a lot of effort in their entries). But, we only have to give one Asus Monitor so we randomly picked this one:

Congrats Xtian Capinpuyan!

Please email me your complete name and contact numbers so we can arrange for awarding of your prize. Oh, and don’t forget to pack up all those stuff you said you’re gonna give up, eh?

To the rest who joined — don’t worry, we still have more contests and giveaways. Check out the Sun BlackBerry Plan 999 and the McDo@30 contests we’re still running.

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Samsung Series 7 laptop goes slim and sexy

If you didn’t like the construction of the Samsung Series 9 laptop, I’m sure you’ll probably drool over the recently announced Samsung Series 7, with its sleek aluminum body.

Price starts at $999 (probably be Php49,999 when it hits the Philippines), the Series 7 laptop comes with an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor.

That chrome finish on the lid and brushed-metal finish on the palm rests, all made with aluminum, gives the Series 7 laptop a really cool and sexy look. Too bad they are only available in 14-inch and 15.6-inch form factor (which is a bit too big for carrying around). For its size though, the 14-inch weighs pretty decent at 4.3lbs.

Other specs include an AMD Radeon HD 6750 and 6490M (with 1GB RAM), 750GB SATA HDD and an 8GB SSD (for a really fast boot-up) and up to 8GB of RAM. The complete specs of the 4 variants are outlined in the table below:

Pricing starts at $999 to $1,299 although we noticed they are more expensive once they reached the Philippines.

Photos via Thisismynext.

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