El Bloggo Torcido - Twisted Oak Winery

The Contest is Over! Let's Have a Contest!

poll by twiigs.com

And the Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week 2009 Winner is...

Beauty Salon Rubber Chicken! With luck, a Twisted Posse will be riding down to Modesto to deliver the grand prize - a three liter bottle of River of Skulls!

We'd like to thank everyone who entered (you'll be receiving your prizes soon) and everyone who took the time to vote!

Speaking of contests - the Twisted Contest Season is not over yet! Stay tuned for details coming up next month! (Or sneak a peek at last year's archives to see what we might be up to...)

TYRCTWW Results Coming Soon!

Running around like a... well, you know. Blasting off back to San Francisco for the Dark & Delicious tasting. Results of Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week 2009 will be posted this weekend. Cheers!

No Time To Lose!

Don't miss out on your chance to vote for your favorite rubber chicken, and maybe even win something for the simple effort! Do like these birds are doing, embrace your inner rubber chicken, and VOTE! The voting ends tomorrow!

While I have you here, I (meaning me, El Jefe) will be pouring at the following events over the next two weeks:

February 19th, 6-9PM - Around the World in 80 Sips at Crushpad in San Francisco, put on by Bottlenotes. "Enjoy 80+ wines plus food from Bay Area chefs and award-winning cheeses from Artisanal Premium Cheese." (And if you use the coupon code TWISTED you'll pay $10 less per ticket purchased in advance!)

February 20th, 6-9PM - Dark & Delicious Petite Sirah tasting at the Rock Wall Wine Company in Alameda, put on by PS I Love You.

February 28th, 2-5PM (trade 12-2PM) - San Francisco Chronicle Public Tasting at Ft Mason in San Francisco. "The Public Tasting of the largest competition of American wines in the world is much more than just a wine tasting – it’s a wine and food experience."

Hope to see you at one of these events! (And don't forget to VOTE!)

Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work - The Finalists!

It's time to vote! The esteemed panel of Twisted Judges has rendered their decision and we have our finalists, which are presented below.

This year we have decided to present more than just one of the images and videos from each finalist (when available), to give a better representation of their bodies of work (so to speak.) So, when you look at each entry below in some cases there will be a link to go view the rest of their entry.

After you have viewed all of the entries, we need you to vote for your favorite. And as an added twist, everyone that votes and provides us with a valid email address will have the chance to win a $50 gift certificate good towards your next purchase from twistedoak.com!

Each of the finalists were chosen because they made the judges laugh, and because they somehow embodied the theme of personal rubber chicken growth. When you vote, please keep these considerations in mind.

Go to the TYRCTWW Voting Page Now! Voting ends February 17th! Extended to February 18th!

#1: Henrietta the Rubber Chicken Goes to Work by Christine Putman. "Henrietta came to work with me at the warehouse for Alibris, a used, rare and out-of-print book web based company.  While here she thought she was Douglas MacArthur surveying the troops and then proceeded to take over everyone’s job, from paperwork to shipping…she made a few friends (mostly guys who like bikini clad chickens) and many enemies.  Then there was an accident, we still do not know if there was an attempt on her life or she just slipped when shipping.  She was almost sent to Twisted Oak Winery but was rescued by one of those guys who likes chickens..." More pictures and story here.

#2: Migrating Rubber Chicken by Craig Blett. "I’m a wildlife photographer and caught this image on a recent trip to the coast." (No other images for this one, but click on the image to see a larger version.)

#3: Fire Captain Rocco the Rubber Chicken by David McCrea. A bit of fire control, a bit of paperwork, and getting to drive the truck. More pictures and the whole story here.

#4: Vector Control Rubber Chicken by Eric Ghilarducci. "I am a vector ecologist working at a Mosquito and Vector Control District. My responsibilities include the surveillance and investigation of vector-borne diseases in our county. Part of my work requires conducting annual surveillance for mosquito-borne encephalitis viruses by maintaining 5 flocks of 'sentinel' chickens located in different parts of the county. Blood samples from these chickens are tested biweekly May through October for antibodies to encephalitis viruses. Our flocks are part of a statewide network operated in cooperation with the California Department of Health Services and assist us in tracking and controlling the spread of disease. Once the surveillance season is complete, the chickens are given to families interested in providing a quiet home for them.

"My chicken accompanied me to work and learned what it was like to give blood. Thus, joining the ranks of the thousands of chickens before it, doing it's part in the surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable disease. I salute this chicken and all chickens like it!"

Click here to see the video.

#5: Inertia Rubber Chicken by Jennifer Cheng. All Jennifer said in her email was "%@#%!" so you will just have to go with that. This entry is a PDF file which requires the Adobe Reader to view, and you can view and/or download the file by clicking here. 

#6: Color Guard Rubber Chicken by Lynn Hirth. Last year's TYRCTWW champ takes her rubber chicken to try out with the marching band color guard. This entry includes a YouTube video and more still photos - click here to see them.

#7: Beauty Salon Rubber Chicken by Lynnell Ford. "We decided to bring our chicken to my salon (Creations Salon in Modesto). We put an apron on him and gave him a pair of scissors. We attempted to teach him how to cut hair but as you can see from our photo it didn't turn out so well for the client... Ouch!" (No other images for this one, but click on the image to see a larger version.)

#8: Gynecological Rubber Chicken by Kathy Anglin. This photo is captioned "Come on guys, I told you I was a @($*%&%&$*  BOY!!!" (No other images for this one, but click on the image to see a larger version.)

Remember to vote!

Ah, The Glamorous Wine Life!

In the wine biz, sometimes you find yourself at sumptuous affairs like Dark & Delicious in San Francisco, and sometimes you find yourself in a gymnasium at a Catholic School in Modesto. While the color and dimness of the fluorescent lights in the gym left a lot to be desired (not to mention the acoustics), the crowd of wine and beer lovers at the Bacchus and Brew fundraiser last night were no less enthusiastic than at a big city event.

For a small winery like Twisted Oak, you need to be there in your local markets, no matter what the venue. We caught up with old friends, made lots of new ones, and found plenty of glam and fun in an old gym!

(Speaking of San Francisco, however, I will be pouring at the following events in the Big City, click for details: Feb 19, Around the World in 80 Sips; Feb 20, Dark & Delicious; Feb 28, SF Chronicle Public Tasting. Hope to see you!)

(AND: Coming up locally in Calaveras is the Presidents Wine Weekend on Feb 14 and the Winegrape & Gourmet on Mar 7 - join us!)

(If all goes well, Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week voting starts tomorrow - stay tuned!)

Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work - Extended!

No we're not talking about male enhancement. Since I will be out of town for the rest of the week and won't be able to deal with entries until Saturday anyway, I'm extending this little farce through the end of Friday, February 6th.

So there is no excuse - send me your entries now! For all of the details click here.

NOTE: If you have posted an entry on Facebook, Twitter/Twitpic, Flickr, etc. and you have not sent me an email (and you have not received an acknowledgement from me) I haven't seen it! This is especially true for Twitter and Twitpic entries. Send me an email!

TYRCTWW?

poll by twiigs.com

Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work - Only a Few Days Left!

Remember there are only a few days left to get in your entry for Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week 2009! (Click here for rules and stuff.) Remember, there is a prize just for entering (we're giving like that) and a huge prize for winning - that 3 liter River of Skulls!

We've got some great entries coming in now, and based on what I have seen we will be featuring more than one photo per entry when we get to the voting. (The voting will start next week so stay tuned for that!)

Helpful El Jefe Hint: When gearing up for a big deal like Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week 2009, do not schedule a bunch of travel at the same time. I'll try and remember that next year! Last week was spent mostly in Sacramento at the Unified Symposium and in Reno visiting accounts and pouring at tasting events. The good news for you is that I had Ruben (my rubber chicken) with me and was able to take some of my own pictures at work - a few of which I'm sharing below. (If you are following me on Twitter you may have already seen them - you can see all of my Twitpics here.) Enjoy!

At Klunker's Ice Cream & Sweets (& Deli) 15 Eagle Canyon Rd in Sparks, NV.

Our Sequin Moreau barrel guys...

I don't know who these folks are but the name was too perfect...!