Wow!

You people sure do like your ZAP. Or you sure do like your Zinfandel. Or both, probably.

Between the comments, retweets, Facebook Likes, e-mails, and other versions of time-sucking on-line virtual social water-cooler spots, my giveaway of tickets to some of the ZAP 2012 events generated a few hundred reactions (with over 100 coming in the form of comments alone). That is, by far, the the biggest response to a giveaway in 1WD history! A huge THANK YOU to all of you who made the giveaway so awesome – a special shout-out to reader Leilani Carrara who put us over the 100 comment mark, and in doing so was awarded an impromptu prize (in the form of a free copy of the 1WineDude.com Tasting Guide ebook).

For those who have been playing along at home, you know that the giveaway also determined at least two Zinfandels that I will now be on the hook to review – not necessarily an easy task, since I live in the Communistwealth of PA and so do not necessarily have easy access to the wines demanded by the giveaway winners (attention PR folk: if you have samples of any of these winners, I’m willing to talk!).

And so… the winners of tix for two to a pair of way-cool ZAP 2012 events… aaaaaand their Zin picks, which I now need to get my grubby little hands on to review, are…

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Once again, I’m partnering with the venerable Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) to get tickets to the next ZAP festival into your hands (for free)!

In what will be one of the biggest giveaways ever conducted on 1WD, TWO lucky randomly-chosen readers will each receive four event tickets for some of the ZAP 2012 shindigs in San Francisco (by way of two tickets to two separate ZAP events), meaning that you and new or existing BFF can experience some of ZAP together for twice the vinous fun.

Here’s the deal – each of the two lucky winners in this giveaway will receive the following booty:

• TWO tickets to the wildly-popular EPICURIA Food & Zin Pairings event on Thursday, January 26 (6pm-9pm – a $250 value)
• TWO tickets to the Grand Tasting event on Saturday, January 28 (2pm-5pm – a $118 value).

You must be 21 or older (and so will your BFF!), and the giveaway covers tickets only (no travel, lodging, massages…). As I’m not (yet?) independently wealthy, rather than transport winners personally from any destination in the world to San Fran. via my sparkling clean white yacht staffed by Swedish swimsuit models, the winning peeps are totally on their own for any travel/expenses. Also, the giveaway is open to U.S. readers only (sorry again, loyal Estonian readers!). As always, if you win, you’re responsible for any taxes, personal expenses, whatnots, etc.

In last year’s giveaway, we generated a ton of great Zinfandel recommendations in the comments. For this year’s giveaway, I thought that we’d do something a little… different… YOU are also going to determine what Zins I review next on 1WineDude.com!…

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Now that you’ve started planning the vino you’ll be popping open for the holidays, the last thing you want to do is go and spoil all the fun by drinking too much and making a fool out of yourself at your next social gathering (for example, getting drunk enough that you think using the neighbor’s cat as a shot-put sounds like a good idea, or – heaven forbid – becoming the ultimate douchebag and getting behind the wheel when you’ve had a few too many glasses of Port… or too many glasses of anything, for that matter).

Tracking your vino consumption and keeping tabs on when you’re getting too-close-to-socially-embarrassing-moments-for-comfort? Yeah, there’s an app for that.

It’s called Tipple and it’s the brain-child of my friend, developer Sugendran Ganess (who’s also a talented photographer – some of his pics have been featured on these very virtual pages). And we’re giving away a coupon code for a free copy of Tipple to three lucky winners (a $0.99 value – for the app, I mean, not for you winners – you’re priceless, okay?)!

I’ve taken Tipple for a test-spin (because I’ve finally been sucked into the iPhone whirlpool), and it’s intuitive and fun to use – and it makes estimating your alcohol intake during an evening a virtual breeze: you tell it what you’re drinking, and it calculates your booze intake compared to recommended limits. It can then warn you when you’re about to go over some of those limits (and into lampshade-wearing territory, which someone surely will capture on video and post to youtube before you even have a chance to go to the bathroom).

Please notice that I did NOT say this app will tell you when you’ve had so much to drink that it’s unsafe to drive – how about this one, lampshade man: if you’re drinking, give the keys to someone else. But it is a fun way to see what your booze intake really is during the holidays for those times when you’re not driving, and maybe in some small way to experience the true despair intended by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas when he said “An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.”  In other words, this is an app for entertainment purposes only.

Anyway… here’s how to get your chance at a free copy of Tipple so you can keep tabs on what’s going on your tab…

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The 2011 West of West Wine Festival is almost around the corner – held in Occidental, CA, the festival will showcase cool-climate (well, cool-climate for CA, that is!) Pinots, Syrahs and Chardonnays; limited production wines from wineries that are not usually open to the public. These are West Sonoma Coast producers who are making vino that is not easy to get your grubby wine-lovin’ hands on – unless you’re selected as the winner of our latest giveaway, that is.

I’ve got one ticket to the the West of West Wine Festival’s Grand Tasting on Saturday, August 6th from 3:00-6:00 pm in Occidental, CA – a $125 value, which we’re giving away to one lucky randomly-selected commenter! The giveaway also includes free access to the Barrel Tastings & Open Houses on Sunday, August 7th (details to be provided in the Grand Tasting).

The skinny: YOU leave a comment on this post, letting us know your fave Sonoma wine recommendation (in keeping with the theme, Coastal recommendations are preferable but let’s keep it open to all of Sonoma). At 8PM ET on Wednesday, July 20 I will randomly select a winner from the commenters, who will be notified via e-mail.  Easier than suckin’ down a chilled Sonoma Coast Chard on a hot Summer night. So get crackin’, peeps!

The fine-print: This ticket admits one person to the above-described Grand Tasting event on August 6th and includes free access to the event’s Barrel Tastings & Open Houses on August 7th. No travel, meals, accommodations, “escorts,” hovercraft (though that would be awesome, wouldn’t it?), monkeys (also awesome) or anything else provided.

Looking forward to reading about your faves!

Cheers – and good luck!!