Good Grape Wine Company

November 16 2006

A Bottle of Red with Rover

It’s a natural fit, really, dogs and wine. At least three out of five wineries have a dog as a part of their backstory, if not an even five for five.  There are at least two wine dog related web sites that I’m aware of and even a calendar—Winery Dogs of Napa Valley.

I love wine, but, sadly, up till last year the dog part had been missing from my adult life.

My wife, prior to December 26, 2005, had never had a dog and was, frankly, lukewarm about the prospect of a four-legged friend being in our house.  She never grew up with a dog and just wasn’t sure how she was going to acclimate to the slobber and general blusteriness of a dog, especially as compared to the dainty aloofness of the cats that populated her childhood.  I persisted and insisted that we get a dog as couple’s training in advance of family planning.

This is the natural order of the universe.  Get married.  Get a dog.  Have a kid.  Or some order of those three.

My wife gave in, and we decided to get a mixed breed from a rescue organization.

My wife, a short time later, actually right around day nine, became a dog freak.  Actually, it should be “Freak” with a capital “F.”  I was on a business trip in early January and out of town for a week.  I came home and it was game over.  She and the dog bonded and I was relegated to second banana.  To say that she loves our dog is an understatement.  The “bark park,” walking and going on adventures with our pug/beagle mix, Coco, is now her primary hobby and one that I enjoy her enjoying, if that makes sense.

Frankly, it gives me more time to work since my job and this site occupy a lot of my time not otherwise taken up by Notre Dame Football or family.

I love wine.  She loves our dog.  We’re a matched pair.  I love our dog, too, it should be sharply pointed out, but there’s only room for one person’s monomania for Coco right now. 

When I started a new job recently, I was turned onto Windsor Vineyards, a winery that does custom labels for wine. Our CEO received some wine from Windsor with the beautiful face of his newborn son on the label—sent by the winery, a customer.  It was a nice touch and a pretty cool concept. 

Windsor Vineyards was founded by wine industry titan Rodney Strong in 1959 and as the story goes, so many customers asked Strong to hold their favorite wines that he started to put their names on the label.  One thing led to another and Strong decided to ship directly to consumers with personalized labels and the tradition was born. 

There’s a longer, and very interesting story to it, check out the long form version at their site here.

What’s really interesting about this tale of dogs and wine is the fact that my wife truly has become a dog lover of the first order—a passion that equals my love of wine.  So, when I was flipping through her Bark magazine, a kind of Martha Stewart Living for the dog set, what did I see but an ad for Windsor Vineyards.

My worlds are colliding. 

Windsor Vineyards is running ads in Bark magazine with the headline, “Photo for your Fido.”  You can order a case of personalized wine for $99—just $8.25 a bottle and the case is mixed so you get twelve different varietals.  And, the kicker is a portion of the proceeds are donated to ASPCA—The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  The offer is slightly different on the web site then in the magazine, but can be found here.

The good news for me is I’ve now found the perfect excuse to buy a case of wine—a reason even my wife, a relative teetotaler, can get behind. 

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