Our Tales
Meet "The Girls"
The "pin-up girl" theme evolved from our love of vintage things - art, posters, dress, and wines! They seem to represent what is basic to our mission - expressing the fun side of our product. Each shipment will be represented by our rendition of a vintage pin-up girl.
Brix -- Wine Goddess (Tour Guide): Brix is the spirit of Vine Tales. She is a bon vivant. She represents the traveler, the scholar, the adventurer and entertainer in us. She can take your hand and bring you into her travels with a word, a story, a bottle of wine. She understands that life is for loving and living. This is her gift to all of you.
Meet your Tour Guides
Topaz Conway, foundress, adventurer & epicure
Vine Tales is Topaz's self-diagnosed, midlife crisis, culminating a 20-year career in corporate business and bio-medical and bio-technology industries. Curiosity never killed this cat, (only encouraged her!) with a passion for wine driving her as she lived, traveled, and drank extensively throughout the world, leaving a trail in Tuscany, Burgundy, Australia, New Zealand, Oregon and Washington. Being an Australian/US citizen makes her slightly schizophrenic - does she drink Shiraz or Syrah? Does she speak Australian or American? Is it g'day or howdy? - all we can say is, "one of us will let you know!"
Ole Thompson, chief guide & quaffer
Legend has it that Ole swam in wine in the womb - we support this theory! His wine knowledge and palate make women (and men) swoon!
Ole is Vine Tales' wine consultant. He has been the Wine Director at the Wild Ginger Restaurant and The Triple Door Theater & Musicquarium in downtown Seattle for four years. The Wild Ginger's wine list was recently recognized by the Wine Spectator with its prestigious "Best of" Award of Excellence. Under Ole's direction, the Wild Ginger has earned this accolade as a destination not only for its superlative Pan Asian cuisine but also for its extensive and distinctive wine cellar.
In addition to thinking and drinking for Vine Tales customers, Ole is currently working towards his Master Sommelier Certification. These days (and nights), he estimates that he tastes close to 1,000 wines per month.
Nancy Patterson, cruise director, bohemian, gastronome
Nancy fell into the vat of Vine Tales after a sketchy past. She claims to have had various illustrious careers in biology, environmental management and engineering. After nurturing the left side of her brain for so long, she naturally turned to drinking ... er ... to wine. This extensive research led Nancy to her 'people' and a means of pursuing her hedonistic ambition of developing oenophilia. Her passion for good wine and food, computer skills, and organizational abilities are what keep Topaz in line.
Terese Flaherty, Vaniman, circus master
Terese comes from years of marketing experience in the wine, food and travel industries. She has been bringing people together over wine for far more years than most - serving on the local board of The American Institute of Wine and Food and founding the Seattle Area Chapter of Women for WineSense, which involves monthly wine dinner organization! Our busy gal has also worked in the PR field, promoting some of Seattle's most famous fine dining restaurants and regional food & wine events. Terese can move mountains, single handedly, and make everyone completely happy at any moment! Vine Tales has the good fortune of completely exploiting her addiction to wine!
Meet our Treasured Team of Experts
Dave Soto, maker of wonderful websites
David Soto is an extremely talented web developer that has worked with many high profile companies including Microsoft and The Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. His web design\development company www.htmlfx.com was able to take all of our needs and create a custom application that redefines perfect.
Amy Wheeler, designer of alluring artwork
Amy came to Vine Tales in the usual way - through the back door! She has taken on the direction of creating the wonderful images for every Tour, and making all of Ole's notes, and Topaz's whims, look stunning! Amy is the calming influence that keeps Topaz sane. (big job!)
Avalon Project Partners is a design firm dedicated to great design, with a special understanding and dedication to the business of their clients.
Wine Panel, a.k.a. the purple-teethed squad
All of our selections are pre-screened by our "panel of experts" consisting of wine makers, grape growers, food critics, and free-loading drinkers. This way, we get both the educated evaluation and the lay person's feel for the product. We include all views in our wine tasting notes.
