Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 1:03 PM

Subject: Wine at Orangewood Consulting - 10 - Breakthrough/Wine Tasting

To our wine aficionados,

Over the last 6 days there have been two breakthroughs. We have been working with a lot of restaurants and stores, but none as hard as Richardson's. I must have been there 40 times. This morning they asked that I deliver cases of both Noceto wines. The Normale should be on the "by the glass" list, while the Riserva should be on the Reserve list. Sounds appropriate. Richardson's is at 1582 W Bethany Home Rd. They do New Mexico style cuisine (read spicy). I have been spending some time there over there since August. I haven't found anything bad on the menu. I especially recommend the Noceto Sangiovese!

The other breakthrough was at Pizzeria Bianco. Pizzeria Bianco is in Heritage Square at 623 E Adams St. I visited there last Wednesday, they loved both the Noceto and Il Poggiolino wines and are now serving the Noceto Riserva and the Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico Riserva. Laurie and I have eaten at this Phoenix New Times Best Of Phoenix restaurant once. We arrived 20 minutes before they opened, waited in line and just managed to get a table. The place is owned by Chris and Susan. Chris's brother Marco also works there. He was there when I delivered the wine. He helped me get the cases delivered, sat me down and gave me a shot of espresso which was sorely needed at 9:00am. Their pizza is the Italian style thin crust - takes only a minute or two in the brick built, wood fired oven. It's great. Chris Bianco/Pizzeria Bianco is starting to appear in national magazines as a place to eat in Phoenix. I asked Marco when is a good time to avoid the lines. 5:00pm on Tuesday or Wednesday is apparently the best bet - but don't tell anyone else. Consolation prize for waiting for a table is their wine bar next door - where wines by Orangewood Consulting are available.

Continuing with the normal other stuff, we have ordered our first RustRidge shipment. It should arrive this Friday. We are planning a tasting on Tuesday December 18. The event will start at 3:00pm – to allow store and restaurant people to get there - and continue on until say 8:00pm. All of you on this mailing list are welcome to attend. I will have all of the wines in our portfolio (how grand that sounds) available for you to taste. This includes Noceto, Il Poggiolino and RustRidge. I will even open the remaining bottles of Noceto Frivolo. A little food will be available. It will be of the genre "slab o' cheese" so if you expect more food groups than the essential alcohol and fat you should plan to get a bite before or after. I am hoping that those of you who are interested will stop by to try the wines you are interested in. I expect that some people will be here only briefly, others will hang around and chat. Orangewood Consulting is located at 7334 N Central Avenue, Phoenix. We are half a mile north of Glendale and on the Southwest corner of Central and Orangewood.

Hope to see you there, but if not, our best wishes for a Happy Holiday.

Richard and Laurie Corles