Introducing the Weinnotes Oregon 2020 Report

Here we are in 2021. To those of you who are doing Dry January, keep up the good work. Fingers crossed, the remainder of the month will be smooth sailing after a week of INSERT YOUR OWN FEELINGS HERE. It will get better.

I have to admit when I decided to take a couple of weeks off from doing the newsletter, I gave contemplation on doing this every other week. Being away felt weird, and I missed having a deadline every week. I enjoy the accountability, and I downright missed it! Did you miss not getting bombarded every Saturday at 6:10 AM Pacific with another long-winded email from me?

Over the Holidays, I went on 4 mile walks every day and got lost in so many audiobooks. I figured out a couple of inclinations I want to pursue in 2021—more on that in the next few weeks. I also put the finishing touches on the wine report. If you remember, in the last newsletter, I told you this would be a shameless plug, and I have to stay true to my word. You have been warned, and if you’re not interested, I don't blame you one bit. We are constantly getting barraged every day with marketing tactics left and right.

Are you still here? Awesome! Let’s dive in.

I decided to title the report “Weinnotes Oregon 2020” For those who don’t know, my last name is Weinzettel. It is German. Wein is fairly easy to figure out the translation to Wine. Zettel, on the other hand, not so much. It wasn’t until this summer when someone asked me what Zettel translates to. How incredibly freakin pathetic is it, I didn’t know this information until 2020? Sigh. Anyway, Zettel translates to note. I was more than a little astounded to realize my name is A.J. Wine note. Making the title, Weinnotes, felt compelling, heartwarming while giving a great back story for marketing purposes. I have also been thinking about an overarching name for my wine hobby/obsession. My iPhone App is currently called Winederful, but will soon be changed. Anyway, enough about the title.

Getting more into the weeds of what is in this 161-page report. I have taken details from 36 wineries I visited in 2020 and put them together in an easy to follow manner. Now, you might be saying something like, “I have read all of your emails from 2020 A.J., and I don’t need this.” First off, if you have read every single email from last year, “Thank you!” Secondly, the information in the report doesn’t reflect the emails. I wanted to put a brief intro of every winery, along with hospitality info, considerations when visiting, top three wines, and info about memberships. I continue using the same voice you are used to in the newsletters and not some stuffing, boring, put you to sleep textbook speak.

Also, I want to shoutout to Eric Drinker and Juliana Corriveau for helping me. I visited Archery Summit and Fullerton this past year but didn't have much info. Both of them were very generous with their time to do write-ups for both wineries.

I am going for a short, simple, to the point narrative for each winery. Think of it as a wine companion giving you the ins and outs when visiting. For me, it has been tough figuring out where to go at times.

Let me give you an example of how I describe the hospitality at Brooks:

Every time I have visited Brooks, the hospitality has been nothing but top-notch. Victoria is always a solid request if she is available, but seriously everyone has been amazing, and I ask many questions. Some questions aren’t answered, but reinforcements from others quickly help for anything needed. One visit, I sat down with Chris, the winemaker, for a few minutes. I felt bad taking him away from other duties, but it was awesome all the same.

Now it is time to go into infomercial mode!

Not only do I talk about wineries, but I also dive into wines. How could I not!? I talk a bit about Pinot with my tops picks. 2020 was a deep dive into Chardonnay for me. It is fascinating tasting Chards from different producers side by side. I talk a bit about this, along with every Chard I tasted and my top picks. I wanted to dive into Riesling way more, but there is only a short mention of Riesling. Another time and another project.

I provide a score and a wein note, aka tasting note, in true A.J. fashion for my Pinot and Chard's top picks.

But wait, there is more!

I go into details for Winery of the Year along with Wine of the Year!

All of this could be yours for the very, very low offer of $19.95, but that is way too freakin expensive! I decided to price this report at the same price for a decent glass of wine, $10. Why am I charging for this? Well, truth be told, I spent a metric crap-ton on wine in 2020 and popped close to 280 corks. As much I would like to share all of this with you for free, my ask is your willingness to see the value of my long-winded newsletters and report filled with misspellings and every single instance of grammar used correctly. It will also help fund future cork popping, and I promise it will benefit you!

{{ subscriber.first_name }}, you have been incredibly patient, and all the times I accidentally spelled palate like a palette is inconceivable. At least I didn’t spell it like a shipping pallet. I want to thank you for all of this patience, and for the next week, the report will be discounted by $5.00. I can’t thank you enough for including me in your week and joining me on a journey through Oregon Wine County!

End of my shameless email plug and infomercial. Thank you!

Some fine print details, this link will give you a PDF version of the report. I am finishing up a Kindle version and an Apple Books version this weekend. If you want a version in those formats, reach out to me, and I will make it happen.

Here is the link with the $5.00 discount to buy now. Again, thank you!

A.J.

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PS - The next #ajsHappyHour is coming up on Tuesday the 12th at 6:00 Pacific. The theme is a bottle from the New World, excluding Oregon. What? Crazinessness, right?

PPS - Let’s continue a Tom Petty YouTube tribute with Colt Clark, and the Quarantine Kids play "I Won't Back Down" - Tom Petty​

PPPS - David Blaine says bye to 2020