Welcome to the 4th of July weekend, people!  Time to win some sweet shiz!

To celebrate Independence Day, PersonalWine.com (owned by the same folks who pay me to contribute to the Wine Crush Blog) have teamed up with me to give away a bottle of red, and a bottle of white – each personalized with the winner’s own design, and delivered in a classy sheer blue bag!

Specifically, the red is a 2006 Wattle Creek Syrah Winemaker’s Barrel Selection ($24), and the white is the 2008 Wattle Creek Sauvignon Blanc Barrel Selection ($26).  Both will come in the sweet blue bag pictured on the right, after you design your own super-cool label for your winnings.

Red, white & blue.

Get it?  C’mon, work with me here!

Anyway, winning is easy – here’s how it works:

• Leave a comment on this post, describing what design you would go for if you had your own wine brand/label.
• In one week, I will randomly choose a winner from the commenters, who will work with PersonalWine.com to design their prize!

To get us started, I used PersonalWine.com’s handy on-line label designer to upload a preview of one of the new 1WineDude.com review badges that will be coming to the website in the future (more on that in a future post), and create my own kick-ass wine label (literally kick-ass – see below).  Sneak peak after the jump.

Ok – get commentin’!…

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CNBC.com has updated their annual expert recommendations on wines for the holidays – and this year, there are a few interesting parties among the panel of wine smarties contributing their wine picks for your 2009 fourth quarter celebratory dining table.

Like me, for instance.

I know what you’re thinking.  How the hell did YOU get on the same list as Jancis Robinson?!??

I had the same reaction, my friends!

I’m in great, great company on this one, with quite a few fellow bloggers gracing the CNBC.com lineup, most of whom I’m happy and proud to call friends of the Dude:

• Paul Mabray of VinTank
• Bill Daley from the Chicago Tribune
• Jancis Robinson (www.JancisRobinson.com)
• Ryan Opaz of www.catavino.net
• Gary Vaynerchuk (www.GaryVaynerchuk.com)
• Craig Drollett (Bin Ends & Taste Live)

There are some great wine picks offered up in the list, so head on over to CNBC.com and check it out before you do your holiday dinner shopping this year.

Cheers!