RAAM Raffle and Wine Tasting

I am so looking forward to the Race Across America (RAAM) next June! Obviously, I'll be posting a lot more about it between now and then, but for now, here is some basic information:

I'll be racing as part of a four-person, all-women team as the Sorella RAAM Cycling Team 2015. My teammates are Korey Gotoo, Jennifer Klein, and Lauren Schrichten. We'll have a crew to drive support vehicles, navigate, prepare meals, maintain our bicycles, etc. RAAM teams begin the race on Saturday, June 20, 2015. The route goes from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD. We plan to complete the race in about eight days.  One of the four of us will be on the road at all times, day and night.  We hope to partner with a women's charity to raise awareness and money for them; we're close to working that out.

Yesterday we kicked off our fundraising with a raffle and wine tasting. Korey, our multi-talented team leader, created a beautiful sculpture called "Tierra" for the raffle:

We sold raffle tickets for the last few months.  I thought it would be nice to have a special event in conjunction with the raffle drawing. Thanks to my greyhound adoption group (Southeastern Greyhound Adoption), I knew of the Marietta Wine Market.  The Marietta Wine Market holds wine tastings twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, using the occasions to sponsor local charities. They select a different theme, winery, or region for each tasting and provide complimentary hors d'oeuvres.  I contacted Karen Giese, one of the owners, and she graciously set up our tasting for yesterday.

Jennifer, me, and Korey. (Lauren lives in California!)

It was a delightful event all the way around.  When I arrived, I was so happy to see that the featured wines were from the Hess collection. My husband Robert and I visited the Hess winery a number of years ago when we did a bicycle tour of Napa Valley, CA.  Not only were the wines delicious, but also the winery featured an extensive art collection.  The Hess wines at yesterday's tasting were wonderful, too. Larissa Dubose, the Southeast Field Sales Manager for Hess Family Wine Estates, guided everyone through a flight of five Hess wines: chardonnay, pinot noit, a red blend, and two carbernet sauvignons. How wonderful to have a special connection to the wines at our tasting!

We had a suggested donation of $20 per person.  Karen explained that the usual protocol at the shop's wine tastings is to subtract the cost of the wine from the total collected, with the sponsored group receiving the net proceeds.  Yesterday, however, Hess donated their wine, and so our RAAM team received all of the proceeds!  Thank you so much to the Hess Collection and the Marietta Wine Market for your generosity!

The Marietta Wine Market is a great store to visit even apart from the tastings. They feature all kinds of wines, including some from Georgia wineries and certain varieties that I can't find as readily in the shops closer to my home. Robert and I love wine; I wish we could afford to drink it every night! The Marietta Wine Market offers a 5% discount on six bottles and a 10% discount on 12 bottles. I selected the Hess Treo (the red blend from our tasting) and two of my favorite Georgia wines, a cabernet franc from Three Sisters and Inclination, a white from Frogtown. I also wanted to get a viognier, which I don't get to have very often, and a relatively dry riesling. Karen's husband Randall made some recommendations for these and also suggested another red blend to round out my six bottles.  Robert and I are set for a while now!

In addition to a terrific wine selection, the Marietta Wine Market also has some cheeses and wine related gift items. As if that weren't enough, they even have Nelson the wine dog!

I really haven't even gotten to the best part of our event. I was thrilled and humbled that so many good friends came out to support our RAAM team. My Georgia Tandem Rally friends were well represented by John and Mitzi Boland, Eve Kofsky, and Roger Strauss. Robert and I join them and about 100 other tandem teams every May for an incredibly fun, tandem-only long weekend. (Sorry I didn't get any photos of y'all yesterday...)

Also, my friends Felicia and Charles Hardnett came all the way from Conyers to join us!

Felicia and I were high school classmates, and Charles was a year ahead of us. I'm so glad we've been able to keep in touch over the years. That's definitely one of the best things about Facebook!

Two of our RAAM crew members joined us as well, Dan and James.  (We're still assembling our crew but have a great start with these two and Brigette, our crew chief!)  Other supporters included several Sorella cycling club members, some friends of friends, and even a few local people who just like to come to the Marietta Wine Market.

Between the wine tasting and raffle, we made about $1,000 - a great start to our fundraising! Thank you again to the Marietta Wine Market, the Hess Collection, and all of our friends for making is such a fun and successful day.