In the process of becoming the world’s most famous cancer survivor and a Tour de France-dominating cyclist, Lance Armstrong acquired a taste for many of the finer things in life, not the least of which was wine.

You can’t live in Italy, France and Spain and not come to appreciate the glories of the grape, no matter how obsessive your fitness routine. So it’s no surprise the seven-time Tour champion is following the lead of many sports and entertainment celebrities, has a wine of his own on the market today, just as he begins what may be one of the most compelling, captivating comebacks ever.

 TANIS VINEYARDS

Ever pick up a bottle of wine and wonder, “How did they come up with that label?”  I do it all the time because I’m always coming across bottles with crazy labels and wacky marketing.  I have to admit I love it.

When you pick up a bottle of Tanis Vineyards wine you see grapes and poison oak, surrounded by a wedding ring.  There has to be a story behind that.  Well, there is.  It’s a love story.

With today’s economic headlines, I submit that a relevant corollary to the adage “necessity is the mother of invention” might be “unemployment is the mother of entrepreneurship”.  This has certainly been true in the case of Pat Brubaker, who after losing his gig as director of operations at local ad agency Oliver Russell went for months without so much as a serious job interview.
 
With little other recourse beyond leaving Dodge, Pat dusted off his “one of these days” business plan, rolled the dice on his 401K, and opened the wine store he and his wife had dreamed of owning since their days in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 
Say hello to Bueno Cheapo Vino, located in an unassuming little storefront at 770 S. Vista.  The store opened in Novemnber with little fanfare beyond word-of-mouth, but a December 16 article written by the Idaho Statesman’s Brad Talbutt “blew the doors off” the business, according to Pat and his spouse and co-owner Heidi Jacobson.

Dick Maher, chairman of Wilson Daniels Ltd., is part of a delegation of wine industry leaders, including the Assembly Select Committee on Wine, on a trade mission to Cuba this week to  promote California wines to Cuba’s tourism industry.

Organized by the California Wine Institute, the trade delegation exploring the local Cuban markets, identifying foreign tourism demands on the local food and wine industry and meeting with potential buyers of California wine, including Alimport, Cuba’s major food import company.

In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed a law to allow the Cuban government to buy U.S. food and agricultural products with direct cash payments. Since then, the U.S. has remained Cuba’s main supplierof food and farm products. The Wine Institute believes that the California wine export potential of Cuba’s prosperous tourism market has yet to be tapped.