I  attended the “Valley Young Professionals”  wine tasting sponsored by the Great Phoenix Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday November 17th starting at 5:30pm.  It was held at The Phoenician.  I have lived in the Metro Phoenix area since October of 2000 and this was my first time at the Phoenician.  What took so long?  I don’t know, I guess I’m just a busy person!  Well it was an amazing setting.  Overlooking the pool, at night, sipping on wines, and talking with friendly people.  I was mainly there to review the wines.  8 wines for $15 seemed like a pretty good deal.  First I tasted the wines myself and took some notes, but then I wanted to try and meet a few people and see what they were enjoying.

First I met J.D. Archer who is a financial services representative for Principal Financial Group.  He was enjoying the Markham Merlot.  When I asked him for a quote he said  “I like it!”

Next up was Christopher Cole, he is a salesman for West Coast Turf. He was enjoying the Cuvaison Chardonnay.  He said it had good balance and liked it because it was not too fruity.

I sat out on the patio and was joined by Kelle Goodman.  She owns Garden of England (A Division of Commercial Interiorscapes).  She said the Pinot was average, the Chardonnay was “bold!” and good.  The Sauv Blanc, not so much.  I had a nice long conversation with Kellee.  She is a warm and friendly person.  Kellee bought Garden of England, which is a flower business, about a year ago.  Her family background is in the plant business in Washington State, and she finally quit her corporate job to venture out into the scary world of self employment.  She made it through the first year, intact and wiser, and now she is really looking forward to meeting the challenges of the 2nd year, head on!  You can find Garden of England at 12th street and Glendale.

Next I was joined by Norma Macias, who is the member services director for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.  Norma was digging the Markham Sauvignon blanc.  She says that she has been developing headaches from red wine lately.  I suggested to her something that I had heard Gary Vaynerchuk say: “It’s because you are not drinking enough wine!” I’m not a doctor but the theory is that if you don’t drink wine or red wine often enough you will end up developing a sensitivity to it, which gives you the headaches.  The remedy?  Drink more wine, more often!

Finally, Norma and I were joined by Nina Segovia (I wonder if she is related to Andres Segovia?)  Nina is Senior Marketing Manager for AT&T in the Arizona New Mexico region.  I asked Nina what wines she likes and she responded “I Love Wine!”  That’s funny! So do I!  Nina is a fantastic story teller, and she recalled some wine trips she had taken.  One to Napa, to Hess, where her friends were dropping $6000 on wine and she thought to herself Isn’t it amazing, I’m just a girl from Guatemala, and now here I am in one of the finest wineries in America traveling with people who can spend so much on wine.  Then she told me about her trip to Europe.  To a place called Ville Sur Auzon.  Nina is full of ideas, she suggested that I write some kind of wine ap for the I phone, and also said she would refer her friends to Weeklywinejournal.com !  So if you were referred by Nina, please leave a comment! or shoot me an email

Well last call came and went and the crowd thinned out, I had to bid audieau and good night, and get back to Weekly Wine Journal World Headquarters to begin this blog 😉