The SKY IS FALLING!

Or at least it feels that way. We are doomed, we are ok, doomed, ok … ok?

Regardless of our nation’s economic future, we are all feeling the pinch, and many of us are wondering how to cope. How on earth can I keep supporting my local businesses, my culinary habits and stay green?

I for one have a hard time giving up eating out at my favorite places. And I especially refuse to give up my weekly wine explorations.

So in my, ‘we are all in this together’ mentality, I asked several of my favorite eateries and wine shops what changes they have made to help ease the pain.

Denver:

Z Cuisine - If you haven’t been then you are really missing out. Happy hour is a great time to visit with specials offered from 5 pm - 7 pm and 10 pm to midnight.
- Check out the Z Plate of Paté, cheese, dessert for $12. Glasses of wine for $ 5.
- 2239 West 30th Ave. in LoHi.

Lola - Another LoHi staple and now a great place to watch Monday night football. Appetizer, mini-keg and sangria specials compliment the big screen TV.
- Normal Happy Hour is Mon-Friday 4-6pm and weekends 2-5pm. Beer starting at $2 and glasses of wine at $5. The cilantro-lime tilapia taco for $3 is amazing.
- 1575 Boulder St.

Sunflower Markets - These grocery stores are where to get the best produce at the best prices. As farmers markets come to a close, this is a great place to shop. There are online coupons and weekly special. If you love Whole Foods you will love these stores.

Drink Local Wines

Check out this great website about local wines: http://www.drinklocalwine.com

The Party

“Anything for Obama," I said. 15 cases of wine later we had secured our spot in this historic moment- The Party. The Manifest Hope was the location, Unconventional 08 was the party.

Silversun Pickups, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Cold War Kids, Nada Surf, Zooey Deschanel, Death Cab, Johnathan Rice, Sarah Silverman… All absolutely wonderful and amazing. Shepard Fairy played DJ and 600 people danced.

Wine flowed; celebratory citizens from around the country came together and well, celebrated. We had huge hopes for the speech that would take place the night after. Its finally our time.

Click HERE to check out videos and more pics.

Manifest Hope Gallery

The HOPE poster of Senator Obama created by Shepard Fairey has wrapped up national sentiment across generations. The strikingly diplomatic yet urban and progressive feel of the poster has helped turn Obama’s campaign into an iconic moment in history.

Shepard and several others brought grassroots activism and art to Denver through the Manifest Hope gallery. Artists including Ray Noland, Sam Flores, David Choe, and Ron English were a few of the artists showcased.

The Manifest Hope gallery was created because “art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The Manifest Hope Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists across the nation who use their voices to amplify and motivate the grass roots movement surrounding the Obama Campaign. The Manifest Hope Gallery highlights the central themes of the progressive grass-roots movement- Hope Change, Progress, Unity and Patriotism.”

I had the privilege to watch the artists create their pieces. Knowing how strongly I feel for the democrat candidate, I found the creative process mesmerizing.

SunFest

SunFest occurred on Wednesday, August 27th 2008. Robert Kennedy was the keynote speaker. He told me exactly what I had hoped to hear. Facts. Not just promises of what our country needs, but facts on how to make those changes and what the results have been in countries that have made significant energy policy changes.

Real capitalists vs. polluters. Great thoughts that make you shake your head and think, Yeah, that’s exactly what I have been trying to say…

Click on the links below for videos and more information:

Robert Kennedy SunFest speech

SunFest Video

More Information

DNC Denver 2008

I believe that there are only a few times in your life when you feel that you are part of something monumental. My experience at the DNC was just that- monumental. I was lucky to be a part of an event that comes along only once in a generation.

Living in Denver during the DNC was one of the most memorable and enjoyable weeks of my life. Being one of thousands of people celebrating an opportunity for significant change for their country gave me a sense of pride. I have never felt more American and more proud of my country in my life.

Green Festivals, free concerts and art shows- galleries and galleries of expression. Parties, dancing, speeches, comedy, drinking, singing, protesting, learning and laughing. It all came together beautifully.

Coming Home Crazy

My search led me to London where I volunteered for the Fairtrade Foundation. I learned more about the benefits of treating people who produce the goods that you consume more fairly. It was an amazing experience.

I was moved by Oz Clarke’s eloquent speeches and vigorous promotion of Fair Trade wine. Wine + Fair Trade. This was starting to sound really good.

I traded in the rice wine for lager, I bought an umbrella and I bought wine at the grocery store. They had Fair Trade wine and lots of it.

I figured, if the Brits can drink Fair Trade wine, why can’t we? The US wine market has been growing for 16 years, we were really learning to appreciate the once overly exaggerated snooty beverage. My MOTHER was drinking wine more than once a year for goodness sakes!

I was feeling less of a wine snob and more like an entrepreneur.

I came home and well, you know the story from there.

Now we are growing and I am trying to keep up. There’s so much work to be done domestically too. We have created new labels and found more amazing wines.

Any partners out there?

Ready to join the wine revolution?

China

This is the land of “stuff”. Not that the Chinese are all too consumed with the consumption of “stuff” but rather the economic driver of selling it to the rest of the world. It seems that until recently most of us just ate it up. Now that gas is so freaking high I think some of us Americans figured out basic economics. (Why this isn’t a class in every high school is beyond me.)

So here I am. I have a degree in international trade and China is the land of “stuff”. I move and teach and learn that everything I learned in school was actually useful. I’m glad I had the economic background but I somehow still stereotyped 1 billion people. Eventually I learned that living is learning.

American companies lined up to sell their wares to the billion people who were, we hoped, dying to get more “stuff “for themselves. “Stuff” made us happy so “stuff” will make them happy too.

A little leery of how the impact of a billion “stuffed” people would affect the rest of the world, I started looking for more sustainable business models.

“Stuff”

Long story short I was a history major in college. Obviously a great degree with no likely job or career direction in sight. So I went to graduate school to get myself further in debt. I loved the history of trade finding it mind boggling that “ethnic stuff” made in one country could be a huge hit in another. People who made “the stuff” didn’t know much about the people who bought “the stuff” and vice versa. I was a child of the ‘80s- Pier One and Multiples and there was so much “stuff” everywhere.

I day dreamed about “stuff” and soon became a consumer of “stuff”. If I had $5 I was shopping in an antique store buying weird Chinese or Japanese statues, trinkets and cheap goods that looked exotic and cool.

I wanted to get a degree in Marco Polo but instead read riveting books about trade treaties. When I learned how much “stuff” had an impact on everyone, I was hooked and wanted to figure out how.

And did I ever.

In the Beginning There Was Rotation.

You know the feeling when you are going, going, going and then all of a sudden you realize that the Earth started rotating the opposite way of your go? You obviously get it after its too late and everything that was going your way is now, well, not going your way.

I figured I might as well start at the beginning. This is the story about the most unlikely, wine non-diva on Earth. No matter which way is go.

Changing the world one bottle at a time

By BILL WARD, Star Tribune
April 23, 2008

Perception is everything, Tiffany Tompkins acknowledged, even for those doing "good work."

"When most people hear 'Fair Trade,' they don't necessarily think quality," said Tompkins, president of Etica, a Twin Cities-based Fair Trade wine distributor, "and the wine business is tough. So it was essential that we have good wine.

"People might buy one bottle because it's for a good cause, but after that ..."

Tompkins, 31, knew when she co-founded Etica (the Spanish word for "ethics") that all the good intentions in the world wouldn't matter if she didn't have a tasty product. It's all well and good to be funneling extra money to peasant farmers, helping sustain local environments, yada yada yada. But the wines had to deliver, even in their consumer-friendly price range ($10 to $25).

In a word, or actually two, they do. Etica imports and distributes some decent-to-delightful bottlings from Argentina (Soluna and Viñedos de la Posada labels), Chile (Calesa) and South Africa (Goue Vallei), no mean feat in the latter case at this price point.

"Most people aren't fans of [the South African varietal] pinotage," said Tompkins, "so we wanted to make sure we found one that was actually good."

That kind of attention to detail, especially that most important detail, has helped make Etica the nation's largest importer of Fair Trade wines. Etica's wines are distributed throughout the Midwest, and Tompkins is working on expanding to the coasts.

More distribution means more money for the Third World growers, whose cooperatives get an extra 5 percent after the price for their grapes has been determined. More than 1.5 million farmers and laborers have benefited from the Fair Trade program.

The movement aims to help the laborers become self-sufficient stakeholders in their own organization by paying fair prices along with the extra 5 percent; it also advocates sustainable, environmentally friendly farming practices. In 2006, Fair Trade sales totaled $2.3 billion worldwide, a 41-percent increase from 2005. The primary goods are handicrafts, cocoa, bananas, sugar, honey, fresh fruit, cotton and sundry beverages.

"We were already getting Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate here, so it seemed like wines were a natural next step," said Tompkins, who has worked in Beijing for the World Trade Organization and London for the Fairtrade Foundation. While in London, she was working up the business plan for what became Etica.

In November 2006, Tompkins and Shannon Sandelands started Etica, importing and distributing eight wines. (Minnesota is one of the few states to allow a wine business to be both an importer and a distributor.) Once they found the wines, their company had to come up with brand names and design the labels.

Their first customers: the eco-centric Birchwood Café and the African American-owned Ken & Norm's Liquors in south Minneapolis. "Ken & Norm's liked the notion of wine from post-apartheid South Africa," said Tompkins. "They still sell more of our wines than anyone."

During the ensuing 18 months, Etica's distribution reach has expanded to dozens of stores and a like number of restaurants, from the obvious targets (Masa, Lucia's) to a few surprises (Murray's, the Big Bowl chain).

"At first the business plan was geared toward the organic niche," said Tompkins, "but it's really opened up."

And still is expanding. Tompkins is particularly excited about a new rosé from Chile. When will we be seeing it on the shelves?

"As soon as we can come up with a label."

Bill Ward • bill.ward@startribune.com Read Ward on Wine at www.startribune.com/blogs/wine.

MN Crazy

Yesterday was one of those days when I thought everyone might be right.

Minnesota?

Are you crazy?

April 26th, the first day of the Minneapolis Farmers Market and it is snowing. It is snowing hard.

Although not in the most pleasant of moods I do want to embrace my fair weather friend and explain to others what it is that draws me to the land of a whole lot of lakes.

Food!
 We have lots of farmers and they go to market.

 Minnesota has a state fish that makes for good eats and its called
Walleye. I love fishing for them, love eating them even more.

 The amazing array of delicious eateries from the trendsetting likes of Masa and Hell’s Kitchen
to the exquisitely sweet locals like Lucia’s, Birchwood Café and the Red Stag Supper Club.

Music
 89.3 The Curent.
 MN does Rock and we have lots of places to see music. Lots of local bands worth freezing your butt off to see.
Mason Jennings, Tapes 'N Tapes and Atmosphere to name a few.
 Lots of outdoor music festivals- very much worth taking a trip to MN just to experience

Summer
Everything you can do in most other states, you can also do in MN
BUT
+ with less people
+ lots o’ nature
+ and in lots of water for big and small boats. We kind of have our own mini ocean.

I love the Twin Cities in the summer and cannot wait to see the rest of the population again!

Hopefully I will get an opportunity to drink a glass of wine overlooking the mighty Mississippi before I jump back into the beloved VW. I am heading back to Colorado and my summer Fair-Trade-a-thon will begin in a few weeks.

Hello Again

I am back in the swing of ten million things. I'm working on opening up more states and we just sent wines to a few others!
Welcome Maxwell Wine Company of Colorado & Grassroots Wine of Alabama. Lots of yummy wines are headed that way at this very moment in time. I have been in touch with wonderful companies that cover Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. We are searching for investors that want to be a part of the Sustainable Wine Leap Forward and I'm trying to find time to rest in between. All is well, all is fun and I'll be back in touch soon.

A Tribute

How do you really get to honor someone that has given you more than you possibly know at this stage in your life? There is more yet to come.

My Grandad passed away last week but this signifies more than just his death. This is an end of an era. My grandparents knew me my whole life and now all of them are gone. Within a moment someone that loves you unconditionally is no longer there. The person you love and have grown to be more alike - part of the reason you are who you are, is gone.

When I have children my parents will become grandparents and it seems like I just lost all of mine in a flash. I’m not sure what to think about all of this.

I had the best childhood possible. I always got to see my cousins, my cool uncles and aunts, my grandparents. There was Kay-Kay and Pat-Pat on my Mom’s side and Mi-Mi and Grandad on my Dad’s. Spell check keeps the squiggly red line under my spelling of Grandad (should be Granddad) but that’s our spelling- 3 children, 13 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. We can do what we want.

Grandad and I were really close. I met so many people over the years that came up to me and let me know how much my Grandad talked about and cared for me. I knew exactly why- there was a turning point in our relationship.

At 20 years old I had decided to drop out of college for a semester, take my student loan, and head to Africa for 6 weeks. Why not? I had never left the US before (not even Mexico- border towns don’t count). Grandad and Uncle Tom had been to Africa on hunting safaris so I thought it natural that I go to Africa too. I wasn’t in threat of being killed by wild lions so this would be pretty easy for me. I told my uncle and my Grandad my plans. They were not very excited to say the least. I took their reactions as an attack, as a feminine disability – the weaker sex who could never survive Africa but the big men with guns could. I let them know how I felt (no guns and not a lot of money but I will survive!), packed my bags and promised to send post cards. There were tears of frustration on my part and I am sure sleepless nights for my grandparents.

It was that argument- that moment in time that I learned two very important life lessons:

Mi-Mi brought me aside after my argument with my uncle and Gradad and explained 2 very important secrets a woman must understand:
a. Men need to feel like they are protectors. When disagreeing with a man, you should listen, agree with their intelligence and then go about doing whatever you want or need to do.
b. Grandad’s care so much about their Granddaughters that it almost becomes impossible to communicate their true feelings when they are scared.

Mi-Mi was a genius.

That trip to Africa was the only time I argued with my Grandad. When I came back our relationship changed. Grandad respected me. I did what I set out to do, I had the adventure of my life, I learned and appreciated everything I experienced, and lived to tell the tale. He respected me for taking the chance, for the being the gutsy person I soon became, for living a different lifestyle. We remained close friends thereafter. I will miss him, but like all my grandparents, that love will never pass from me. I was able to gain so much and I thank them so much for passing their attributes on to me.

Kay-Kay, Pat-Pat, Mi-Mi and Grandad-

Salud!

I love you.

On The Road Again

I am back on the road and wanted to give everyone an update about our distribution efforts.

We received word that we will soon receive our first purchase orders from Grassroots in Alabama and Merchant of Vino in Oregon. We love these guys for giving us a chance to prove that there is a demand for Fair Trade wine in the United States.

I have met with Whole Foods in Texas and several distribution companies in Texas and Louisiana. We are waiting for everyone to taste the wines and once that painstakingly process is over (a tough job I know) we will have found more homes for these great wines.

Tonight I will be in Denver, Colorado. Monday night I will be back in Minneapolis to get ready for the arrival of Paula Bottero, our Calesa winemaker. We are going to participate in the Twin Cities Food and Wine show and run a seminar on Chilean Fair Trade Wine. If anyone is in the area be sure to stop by!

Last year we won four awards with the Semillion 2006 and Carmenere 2006. We were awarded best imported red and white and best value imported red and white. This was the first time two wines received four awards in the competition’s 13 years.

Twin Cities Food and Wine Experience
Feb. 21 – 24
http://www.foodwineshow.com

All Families are Psychotic

I believe Douglas Copland said it best when he wrote All Families Are Psychotic.

I found out that my Granddad was not feeling well and had returned to the hospital after a mini stroke (an oxymoron?).
I jumped in my car and 8 hours later was in Dallas.

When I got here I realized that real people live in soap operas.

Over the last two weeks that I have been here in Fort Worth, I have learned several important, life changing things:

1. Everyone has an opinion about how their sick Granddad should be treated
2. Every sick person needs a quarterback
3. Consensus relieves stress yet impossible to accomplish
4. Bringing people together at the same time is as difficult as launching a space shuttle
5. Guessing how much time someone has to live is a horrible way to spend time
6. Conspiracy remains a theory until proven factual
7. Granddaughters make vicious watch dogs

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. I loved every moment of the festivities. Parade after parade, crawfish, oysters, marching bands, 80-degree weather in February, make New Orleans one of America’s greatest cultures.

And while all the glitz and outrageousness make New Orleans unique, it really is the people that make New Orleans special.

Resilient, seeped in appreciation for fine food, music and drink, laden in French and Spanish architecture, and understanding and appreciative of history, New Orleans is a melting pot of some of the finest things in life. Always has been and always will be.

I met with a wonderful distribution company while visiting. Fair Trade wine definitely has a place in this lovely city. Most people I talked to already knew what Fair Trade meant and wholeheartedly agreed to the principles and mission behind it. I am excited about the possibilities.

I love NOLA and will be back. I have much more exploring to do.

For Good Reasons

I’m on a mission and am driving all over the country, but where am I going and what for?

Fair Trade Wines- my passion and love. Finding distribution across the USA- my mission.

For me this is a journey that brings so much joy. Not only does Fair Trade help alleviate poverty, it unites us. Fair Traders across the United States and the world share a common viewpoint. We know that our consumption behavior has a large impact on the lives of the people responsible for making the products we purchase. We know that diving down into the depths of the bottom line can lead to economic hardships and we are tired of playing that game.

I love to be inspired. One of the very first Fair Trade wineries I visited was in Chile. The story behind the Cooperative de Curicó still motivates me today.

In 1939, an earthquake shattered small grape farms in central Chile. Houses, barns and winemaking facilities toppled. All that remained were vines.

Farmers worked together to help overcome the tragic events and a cooperative resulted. Building the community was their common goal. Over time the cooperative grew, through good times and bad. Through the Pinochet era, through financial crisis, through drought and through rain, the farmers united.

The Cooperativa is located in the picturesque town of Curicó (Hence the name.) I love it there. The people, the wine festival, the Andes, the food! I love the slower pace and the fact that wine is part of your daily experience.

The Cooperativa de Curicó is a unique anomaly in Chile, and in the world for that matter! A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. (I love Wikipedia).

The members of the Cooperativa also own their cellar- where their grapes are turned into wine and thus sent out into this brave world to be consumed by all those that love wine. Good wine at least.

Although cooperatives are interesting in themselves, the Cooperativa’s efforts toward community development are worthy of attention and definitely respect. A long time ago someone really smart figured out that when workers and farmers are sustainable, productivity increases and the community’s stability is affected favorably. Too bad there are a lot of people that have still not figured this out.

Through the Cooperativa’s Social and Economic Fund, the farmers have been able to assist workers reach their own goals of economic advancement. By paying fair wages, providing educational assistance, opportunities for advancement, access to medical insurance, health and retirement care, and access to loans for improving housing conditions, the Cooperativa has helped hundreds of families.

There are no handouts, just opportunities. For customers the result of technical improvements in the fields, more productive yields, better quality grapes, and a great new winemaker, Paula Bottero, means that the Cooperatva is now selling award-winning wines.

In the US we sell the wines under the brand name Calesa. My personal attachment to Calesa is beyond words. I feel like an ambassador and I am trying to share my love for the wine, the culture, the farmers, the workers, and all their families with everyone I meet.

My mission right now is to open up distribution in Texas and Louisiana. And I am not leaving until the job is done!

To be continued …

Nola Dog Blog

Readers, check out my cuz's blog

Country Western Singer

There are places in this world that I would recommend everyone to visit. Then there are experiences in this world that help make life complete.

Friday luch at Galatoires on Bourbon Street is an experience in which I now feel completed. I can die, it would be okay.

Being mistaken for a country western singer and given a bottle of great wine.

Priceless Completion.

I Love NOLA

When your cousin calls and says she has room for you to stay in her apartment in the Garden District of New Orleans, you jump in your car and drive eight hours.

NOLA, as the bumper sticker on the car parked in front of mine says, is the hometown of my mother's mother. Kay Kay as we called her, grew up not very far from where I am staying now. She lived her life in a culture that seems extremely different from my own. I am a vagabond- this is not the first time I took off on an adventure- and she was a beautiful southern bell.

I loved Kay Kay very much. She desperately tried to teach me how to be a lady. When she visited us in Texas she would always sleep in my room and keep me up really late telling me stories. She would kindly remind me that ladies do not keep messy rooms and taught me the importance of great fabrics. Her love for Asian art affected me so much I moved to China!

To me, Kay Kay is New Orleans and I intend to explore as much as I can.

Keep Austin Weird

Austin is quite possibly the coolest town on Earth.

Boasting bumper stickers that are taken to heart, the Keep Austin Weird campaign seems to be working. It is not that Austin is weird at all but a liberally minded anomaly in Texas, a visionary of art and culture, an explosion of watering holes, and beautifully eclectic.

There is no place like it. Fair Trade wine is going to sell very well here. Everyone has been really receptive. Austonians care about these issues.

My favorite places: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, San Jose Hotel, Austin Java and The Garden Room.

I cannot wait to go back and meet up with newfound friends and all my family I keep dropping in on and accidentally staying with for a week.

I will be back to finalize meetings with distributors. Keep your fingers crossed!

Home

I am originally from the country of Texas. Although I am an American, I am in fact also a Texan by birth. I crossed the border with the sun shining and Kashmir on the radio. It was a really great feeling.

No offense to all the other countries I drove through- I just wanted to get to my family and eat some real Mexican!

My first stop was Granbury, a once tiny town outside a huge Metroplex. Granddad lives in Granbury and now a Home Depot does too.

I pulled up around 5:30pm, got out and instinctively locked my car. The alarm beeped and the cows mooed. They wanted to make sure I knew where I was.

Beeping cars have no place here.

Go South- Find Warmer Weather

The very first goal of my journey was to get out of 12-degree weather as quickly as possible. Who could blame me? I could always pull off the highway and sleep in a warm hotel but I was not about to move 25 cases of wine out of my car…again.

(One case of wine equals 37.5 pounds- give or take depending on the size of the bottles. Wine is my workout.)

Besides, who in their right mind could sleep while 25 cases of gorgeous wine slowly froze to death? This wine is my livelihood. This wine is really special.

This wine's final home matters to a lot of people- those that planted the vines, those that cared for them throughout the years, those that picked, those that transported, those that helped turn grapes into wine, those that bottled and labeled, those that packed, those that drove, those that sailed, those that delivered the paperwork, those that unpacked, those that sold, those that bought and those who will drink.

I made it to Wichita, Kansas. 37 degrees. Relief.

Vagabond

I am a vagabond. More like a wine vagabond on a mission.

Wikipedia identifies one such being as a (generally impoverished) itinerant person. Such people may be called tramps, rogues, or hobos. A vagabond is characterized by traveling, lacking a fixed home, abode, or residence. Vagabonds are not bums, as bums are not known for traveling.

SWEET! I am not a bum.

A week ago I packed up my apartment, coxed my father in to helping me move everything into his barn, filled my car full of wine and hit the road.

“When you coming back?” Dad asks.

“I have no idea.”

I left Hudson, Wisconsin, waved goodbye to my old Minneapolis apartment, and headed down south on interstate 35W.