Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 6:53 PM
Subject: Orangewood Wines Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 4 - December 17th, 2006

Introduction

It has been nearly 2 months since the last edition of this newsletter.  One of the problems with the big delay is that there are so many new locations to tell you about.

The investigation of what I reported in the last newsletter as “knee pain” has resulted, last Thursday, in a diagnosis of a problem that is treatable with inexpensive drugs and will go away in 2 – 3 years.  The Rambling section discusses this more, but I suggest you skip it.

            The holiday season is upon us. We have many of our wines ready to deliver, but we also realize we may run short of some.  My apologies, I have been dropping balls left and right.  Christmas cards are one of those balls.

Box Score

New Restaurants:         6

New Wine Stores/Wine Bars: 5

New Clubs/Hotels: 6

Contents

New Restaurants

New Wine Stores/Wine Bars

New Clubs/Hotels

Noceto Frivolo Express

Rambling

New Restaurants

Cafe Bistro  

5101 North Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale

(480) 949-7301    

Durant's       

2611 North Central Ave, Phoenix

(602)264-5967         

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse

905 North 54th St, Chandler

(480) 813-1364    

Frasher’s     

2122 North Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale

(480) 429-9544    

Murphy's

201 North Cortez, Prescott

(928) 445-4044

Steamer's    

2576 East Camelback Rd, Phoenix

(602) 956-3631    

New Wine Stores/Wine Bars

AZ Wine Outlet       

15001 North Hayden Rd #109, Scottsdale

(480) 423-9305

Blue Sky Coffee House   

34 Easy St, Carefree

(480) 595-6455

Verde Valley Wine Company     

401 Calvary Way #C, Cottonwood

(928) 593-9694

Vino Loco

120 North Leroux St #105, Flagstaff

(928) 226-1764

Wine Brothers

635 West Ina Rd, Tucson

(520) 818-9337

New Clubs/Hotels

Arizona Country Club      

5668 East Orange Blossom Lane, Phoenix

(480) 889-1509

JW Marriott   Starr Pass Resort

3800 Starr Pass Blvd, Tucson

(520) 792-3500

Pine Canyon Club 

3000 South Clubhouse Circle, Flagstaff

(928) 779-5800

San Manuel Country Club

26950 South Redington Rd, San Manuel  

(520) 385-2224

Scottsdale Country Club

11500 North Hayden Rd, Scottsdale

(602) 948-6000

Whisper Rock Golf Club  

32120 North Whisper Rock Trail, Scottsdale

(480) 575-8700

Noceto Frivolo Express

The first winery that we represented was Vino Noceto.  One of their wines is a light white Moscato Bianco wine they call Frivolo (Italian for Frivolous).  It has become very popular in Arizona and we sell out before summer is over. The 2006 vintage was released a week ago.  The logistics at this time of year are such that we are unable to use our regular shippers to get wine here in time for Christmas.  Last year our friend (and part time sales consultant), Jim, and I drove over to collect some Frivolo.  This year Jim and his wife, Karen, brought back the goods.  They also stopped in at several of the other wineries we represent.  We’ll be getting more Frivolo the first week of January, but in an attempt to stretch it through the year we will be allocating it.  Allocating wine means that our customers can be unhappy now rather than unhappy when we run out in the summer.  I noticed that Jim and Karen brought back a case for themselves - I think they knew their allocation was zero. 

Rambling

At the time of the last newsletter, in mid October, I had excruciating pain in my right knee.  With the benefit of hindsight I now believe the pain was due to weakness in my butt muscles.  The muscle weakness is due to Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), which is inflammation of the shoulder and hip joints and the tissues around them due to unknown causes.  The weakness may have started in my butt, but it was extreme in my shoulders.  I was unable to lift my arms more than 3 inches from my sides and I was unable to find any position where my shoulders were not painful.  Nothing helped – even the three A’s (Advil, Aspirin, Alcohol). Sleep was impossible.  Picking up a case of wine was impossible, though I was still capable of raising a glass of wine.  At Thanksgiving my knee specialist guessed that I had PMR and started treatment with prednisone.  Relief was almost instant.  Confirmation of his guess has taken many blood samples, as diagnosis is largely based on eliminating other alternatives and watching inflammation indications in the blood as I take varying doses of prednisone.  Now we are working to minimize the dose as the disease runs its 2 -3 year course.  There, I told you to skip this part.

 

 

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year.

 

 

 

From all of us at Orangewood Wines

 

 

Richard (newsletter writer) and Laurie Corles (editor)

Orangewood Wines