Tasting Notes and Zaleo at the Scottish Poetry Library

This coming Saturday (i.e. tomorrow!) 15th December sees the launch of two new HappenStance pamphlets by Jim C Wilson and Jim Carruth at the Scottish Poetry Library, starting at 1 p.m..

As part of these two launches, there will also be a tasting of Zaleo wines and a short reading from my own pamphlet, Tasting Notes, all to be done in my absence, as I just can't get away from work at the moment.

This is a terrific chance to get hold of some new poetry from HappenStance, while also trying some Zaleo alongside the poems that invoke and evoke it. There are more details here on the Scottish Poetry Library blog, together with a lovely photo of the poetry and wine that await you!

An ideal Christmas gift

Poetry and wine...wine and poetry...they make a terrific combination and an unusual, original Christmas gift.

Fifteen quid gets a bottle of Zaleo Tempranillo 2011 and a copy of Tasting Notes (the poems about the wine) delivered straight to the door of your choosing by courier service, p&p included, see here.

47.50, meanwhile, includes a whole mixed case of six bottles (Zaleo Premium, Rosado, Pardina and three bottles of the Tempranillo) along with the book, see here.

Sipping the wine while reading the poem about it - now that provides a great talking point around the dinner table!

Dr Fulminare on Tasting Notes

As part of its ever-expanding review section, Dr Fulminare has published a very positive and thought-provoking piece on Tasting Notes. You can read it in its entirety here, but I'd like to highlight the following extract:

"For this reason I feel safe in closing this review with a shopping advice. Buy a bottle of Zaleo (or all four of them)...and have the pamphlet as a crowning touch to the wine – it will make for a gift of inimitable class."

On that note, I'll just point you in the direction of the links to the right of this piece - Christmas is creeping up on us!

The tie-in

As Tim Love remarked recently in a comment on one of my posts, poetry benefits from a tie-in with the physical world. Such tie-ins not only cast a new light on verse for lovers of the genre, but they also gain new readers for it, people who thought poems could bring little to their lives beyond weddings and funerals.

To that end, I'm delighted that my partners (Ben and Emma Robson from Bat and Bottle Wine Merchants), are offering a mail order package of my poetry with wine (or wine with poetry!) at a specially reduced price. In other words, Tasting Notes can be delivered to a doorstep of your choice together with the wines that speak for themselves in the book. It's now possible to read and taste at the same time! There are two packages available, as follows:

1 x Tasting Notes, plus a bottle of Zaleo Tempranillo 2011, including p & p, down from an official price of 18.75 to 15 quid.You can order it here.

1 x Tasting Notes, plus a 6-bottle case including all the wines from Tasting Notes (i.e. 1 x Zaleo Premium 2010, 1 x Zaleo Rosado 2011,1 x Zaleo Pardina 2011 and 3 x Zaleo Tempranillo 2011), including p & p, down from 55.25 to 47.50. You can order it here.

If you know someone who like a glass of wine but thinks poetry is irrelevant, this is an ideal gift to surprise them. It also goes without saying that the package should go down well with poetry lovers who enjoy wine. Here's to a successful tie-in. Cheers!

The wines

Tasting Notes draws on wines as a point of reference, but not just any old plonk:  I've been working in the wine trade down here in deepest Extremadura (Spain) for longer than I care to remember, and these days I earn my living as the blender and export manager of Viñaoliva, a local co-operative, selling our Zaleo wines globally.

I write the back labels, brochures, website copy and, of course, the tasting notes. If you'd like to find out a bit more background about the wines, why not visit the website here? On the site there are also some lovely shots of the beautiful scenery (all those rolling vineyards!) in this part of the world.

What's more, you'll soon be able to taste the wines alongside the poems, both at two imminent launches and in your own home! More exact details in the next couple of days about those launches.