ZINO VINO

ZINO Life Seattle a Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:27:00 +0000

Yesterday at the beautiful Pan Pacific Hotel, ZINO Society was the proud presenter of ZINO Life: Life Sciences Investment Forum along with our partner, WBBA. We were very pleased to have around 120 members and guests in attendance to hear 15 entrepreneurs present their companies’ needs divided into three dealflow flights: Seed Stage, Launch Stage and Expansion Stage. (See alphabetical list and links of the 15 presenting companies below at the bottom of this blog post.) Each of the entrepreneurs was carefully screened and then coached to be successful in presenting their pitches succinctly and clearly in 7 minutes each with 2 minutes following for questions and answers. Though we are usually quite time sensitive and strive to stay on the agenda schedule at all of our events, we were thoroughly impressed with the results and that we were able to stay completely on schedule for the entire afternoon with Events and Marketing Manager, McKenzie Powell’s chimes warnings and agenda timing tools. Or maybe it was the delicious chocolate treats that brought people back to their seats so effectively that sponsor, Stoel Rives, shared as part of the coffee break they sponsored.

In addition to the entrepreneur presentations, we had the opportunity to hear insights and experiences from keynote speaker Patrick Jensen of SpaceLabs during the “Fireside Chat” portion of the afternoon (see top photo above). However, in the spirit of full disclosure, there was NOT a fireplace in sight! Following the keynote, the expert panel discussed some of the opportunities and the challenges facing life science companies and included David Schubert, President of Accelerator Corporation; Marty Simonetti, President of VLST Corporation; Chris Rivera, President of WBBA; Michelle Burris, COO of Trubion; facilitated by ZINO Life major sponsor Alan Smith, Partner at Fenwick & West, (see 2^nd photo above). Alan did his usual great job of extracting and managing the plethora of information that our expert panelists were ready to share.

Patrick Jensen then joined the expert panel to participate in the Due Diligence LIVE! process to question the three entrepreneur finalists (see 3^rd photo above) selected by the ZINO Life 2010 Investment Fund investors. The three finalists gracefully surviving their due diligence grilling were Kevin Connolly of SRS Medical, Carole Spangler of Seattle Sensor Systems and Paul Slowey (aka “Dr. Spit”) of Oasis Diagnostics Corporation, who was also last year’s winner of the ZINO Life 2009 Investment Fund.

The ZINO Zenith Award winners were selected by all the attendees at the event via written ballot. Winning the award for Best Presenter was Richard Lazar of DeltaPoint and for Best Investment Opportunity was Carole Spangler of Seattle Sensor Systems (see 4^th photo above).

The event concluded with fantastic passed hors d’oeuvres provided by our venue sponsor, Pan Pacific Hotel, and wine and beer courtesy of our ZINO Society Wine/Beer Professional Members, Don Wood of Icicle Ridge Winery, Joseph & John Miglino of Martedi Winery, and Charles & Rose Ann Finkel of Pike Brewing Company (see 5^th, 6^th and 7^th photos above). Along with the excellent beer and wine selections, conversations flowed!

Next stop is ZINO Life Portland on April 29^th with a new set of sponsors, expert panelists and keynote speaker, but the same screened and coached presenting entrepreneurs. Click here for registration info.

ZINO Life Presenting Companies:

Empowering Engineering Technologies

Guided Therapeutics

Impel NeuroPharma

Oasis Diagnostics Corporation

OnPoint Medical

PredictDent Corporation

Seattle Sensor Systems

SRS Medical

Sweet Spot Diabetes

ThermImage

Valant Medical Solutions, LLC

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:03:00 +0000

ZINO Society was thrilled to partner with four fabulous Oregon wineries at our inaugural Portland event, ZINO Green Portland! They showed us why Oregon is known for their Pinot Noir! First at the pre-event wine reception held at Chez Joly, Chris Hayes of Archery Summit poured their 2007 Red Hills Estate, a quintessential Dundee Hills Pinot Noir. Margie Olsen, owner of Torii Mor, explained how their winery is using sustainable farming practices, matching the event’s “green” theme. The following day, Solena Estate’s Emily Stoller Smith shared a 2006 Pinot Noir crafted by wine maker Laurent Montalieu. As it turns out, Laurent was also the wine maker for the Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir brought by Arborbrook Wines. Both wines showed beautifully with completely different flavors, and as Arborbrook’s owner Dave Hanson pointed out, the grapes and the finesse can make all the difference!

Lunch with Allen Shoup

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Holmes) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:01:00 +0000

Lunch with Allen Shoup, by ZINO Society Member Skip Walter

One of the delights of the ZINO Society is brightening up a dreary, rainy January day with a great speaker, great food, and networking at an intimate KEYNotable luncheon. Twelve of us gathered at the John Howie Steak restaurant in Bellevue to listen and engage with Allen Shoup, formerly CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and currently founding CEO of Long Shadows in Walla Walla, WA.

For too many years I’ve wanted to meet Allen to understand his life’s journey with fine wine and to thank him for all that he has done to promote Washington State wines. Through his work and instilled ethos at Ste. Michelle, Allen shared sponsored research and technology with Washington wineries as he noted “anybody making good wine in the state helps our brand and anybody making poor wine in the state hurts our brand.”

Allen immediately made everyone feel welcome and like an old friend. As he grasped my hand and looked me in the eye, he observed “You look a lot like Joe Gallo. Are you related to the family?” I laughed and replied “I can only wish.” I watched him so graciously greet each of us around the table as if we were doing him a favor by coming by to share a meal.

During the next two hours, Allen cut a wide swath over forty years of his professional life with stories about his career in marketing at Amway personal care products, Gallo Wine, Max Factor cosmetics, Boise Cascade, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Long Shadows. He shared “One of my greatest memories is being selected to give a eulogy at Bob Mondavi’s funeral. I consider him to be a very important mentor of mine. Bob was the one that realized that to gain instant credibility for US wines he should partner with the famous European houses. He partnered with the Rothschild’s to do Opus One . It is one of the big reasons that we partnered with the Antinoris and the Loosens at Ste Michelle. I wanted to name my new winery venture after Bob Mondavi, but we couldn’t get through the legalities. So I named it Long Shadows as Bob cast such a “Long Shadow” on the wine industry.”

There was a lively interaction between Allen and our group. One attendee asked “Why don’t you have the Long Shadows name on your facility near Walla Walla, WA?” Allen gently replied “I’m trying to brand the individual wines, not the facility. For those of you who have been to Bordeaux you’ll note that Chateau Lafite does not have a name on its property as well. It’s a quiet marketing thing. I want to put all my time and effort into the packaging and promotion of each individual wine. At heart I’m a packaging guy.”

Allen continued “I try to edit out all the superlatives in our own literature. I think that is wrong for you to talk about your own wines and use superlatives. The superlatives are for the critics and the wine experts and the customers. “

After the session I went online to search for additional biographical information on Allen and came across a wonderful lesson on his approach to quiet marketing and letting others speak to his wines. In episode 407 of Gary Vaynerchuck’s Wine Library, Gary gave a very negative review of Long Shadows Pedestal 2004. A week later, Gary generously acknowledged Allen’s response on the show by reading Allen’s letter to him on the air about 18 minutes in . Instead of arguing about the negativity of the review, Allen expressed strong support for what Gary does to promote wine and how his show is “changing the wine world”. Allen went on to acknowledge how Gary is constantly urging his viewers to develop their own palate and his review of the Pedestal wine was a good example of Gary’s palate. Gary was blown away. This lesson in encouragement and extraordinary respect in the face of very direct negativity will stay with me in my future business interactions.

During the lunch, Cathi Hatch complimented Allen on his direct contribution to the ZINO Society . “I’ve always appreciated Allen’s ability to market and brand products. So when we were coming up with the idea for this group, we selected the name ZINO. As Allen listened to our aspirations, he suggested adding “Society” to the name to clearly indicate that we were a group that likes working and socializing together.”

One of the attendees asked Allen about starting or investing in a winery. Before he answered he looked over at Shannon Jones from Hestia Cellars , shook his head, and got very direct: “Whenever somebody comes up and asks me ‘should I start a winery?’ I just want to grab them by the collar and shake them. The wine business is the world’s most competitive. There are 500,000 labels from tens of thousands of wineries. Externally the wine business is seen as a romantic life. The analogy I use is people wanting to start out as a hobby and then the hobby overwhelms and consumes them. I have a good friend who got into orchids. He quickly built a green house. But then it got to the point where he couldn’t travel. He was a captive of his orchids, his hobby. Hundreds of things that can go wrong and you have to be ever vigilant. The wine business is a lot like that. You start to fear leaving. You have to always be there. I thought I could delegate lots of the work. But people always want to meet the winemaker and the owner.”

Allen then turned to Shannon and asked for his thoughts. Shannon confirmed that starting a winery was the hardest work he has ever done.

John Howie walked in to thank us for coming to his restaurant and Allen immediately went into market research mode asking John to share with us how John was seeing wine ordering trends in his Seattle restaurants. A lively discussion ensued about the relationships between John’s different restaurants and the types of wines he selects for each restaurant and how consumers purchasing habits vary.

John observed: “There are a lot more educated wine palates in our consumers than we’ve ever seen before. The sommeliers are a lot more respected and I have more and more of my wait staff getting certified as a sommelier. The comfort level with wine of the wait person has a lot to do with how much wine is sold.”

As John left to attend to his other guests in the restaurant, Allen took another question from the group: “What do you think of Charles Smith’s wines and his branding and packaging?”

Allen looked wistful for a minute and then answered: “I saw my parents grow old and inflexible in their ways when I was growing up and I vowed never to let that happen to me. I’ve always tried to stay abreast of the latest trends. But when I was with Charles on a recent marketing jaunt, I realized I was getting old. I know that what he is doing is right, but I could never do the same thing.”

“I am more interested in creating the classic wine. But that is very difficult. Think about the things we think of as classics – fragrances and novels. With wine you are always hoping for a classic. Wineries can transcend from a business to something sacred. Think about Chateau Latour the French government would never let them be sold. It’s a classic. I’m still hoping I can build a classic. Charles is not trying to do that. He’s also a lot more successful than I am.”

All too quickly our two hours were over – great company, great food, great lessons.

Thanks Allen Shoup for all you are doing to promote fine Washington wines. Thank you ZINO Society for creating intimate KEYnotable events for learning, working and socializing.

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Holmes) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:14:00 +0000

Question: What do you get when you have four consecutive years of Saggi, Jake Kosseff and a chef on a mission?

Answer: An evening to remember.

Sommelier Jake Kosseff began the ZINO Society Master of Wine Monday evening at The Capital Grille with a little background about Long Shadows Winery and the brilliance of Allen Shoup in bringing highly acclaimed wine makers from around the world to Washington to collaborate with him. We tasted 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 Saggi vintages paired with food creations from Chef Paul Vigit of The Capital Grille. Our taste buds were first entertained with pan-seared prawns with goat cheese gnocchi and then French beans and smoked tomato butter. Next, the eggplant and prosciutto parmesan with slow-roasted tomatoes and burrata cheese was served on a piping hot staub dish that created a light parmesan crust. As the vertical tasting progressed the final course of herb-marinated filet of beef with roasted peppers , grilled crostini and herb vinaigrette received a collective “ Ahhhhhhh!”

Photos! "Stairway to Heaven Holiday Party" at Club Cielo, December 2nd

noreply@blogger.com (McKenzie) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:15:00 +0000

James Bond is dropping by the penthouse suite.

noreply@blogger.com (McKenzie) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:10:00 +0000

A $5 million dollar penthouse suite

Martinis (shaken, not stirred)

Stella Fino Wines

Jazzy tunes

James Bond

An amazing view of Elliott Bay and the city

A few surprises

Your Tuesday night plans!

(Nov. 10th)

(And on a side note, I think Stella Fino is the PERFECT wine for our Bond gathering. Afterall, the man seemed to go for the beautiful woman in the little black dress.)

Intimate, intriguing, educational and oh so delicious....

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Holmes) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:31:00 +0000

Intimate, intriguing, educational and oh so delicious…. The ZINO Society KEYnotables Luncheon in the private dining room of Seastar Seattle with Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges was all that and more. We enjoyed a 2008, CMS Chardonnay with crab bisque and a 2006 Hedges Family Estate, Three Vineyards red wine with chanterelle mushroom risotto while discussing everything from Old World style wines, opting out of the Parker point system to using excess wine to keep the dust down on gravel roads.

The Hedges have been growing wine in the Red Mountain AVA in Washington state since 1987 with the philosophy that the wine begins with the land or terroir. We had a lively discussion on the high alcohol content of New World wines, Tom was asked why some wines have more alcohol and how this is achieved. Tom explained that the longer the grape is on the vine the higher the alcohol content in the bottle. He went on to explain that when making wine, picking the grape at its optimal ripeness is key. I loved his analogy to think of a grape like a banana, if you eat it while it is green it is bitter, if you eat it while it old and brown it loses flavor and the same is true of grapes.

Tom and Anne-Marie don’t just grow, make and sell wine, they live it. The whole family is a part of the process and after spending an lunch hearing about the progression of the Washington wine industry I can assure you that from vine, to barrel to cork to bottle, everything matters. The next KEYnoteable Luncheon is January 14, thank you to Key Private Bank for making this possible.

We love our Wine Professional Members!

noreply@blogger.com (McKenzie) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:55:00 +0000

And this year at our ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum, we were honored to have three stellar wineries and even a brewery pour last Thursday during our Awards & Wine Reception. These winemakers and brewers are awesome, taking a break out of the craziness of harvest to join us at the Four Seasons.

Yvonne Swanberg of San Juan Vineyards (photo 1) traveled from Roche Harbor to Elliott Bay to pour for us. Her chardonnay was cool and refreshing and was my first glass of wine of the day and the perfect way to kick off the wine reception after a day packed with presentations.

We were thrilled that our newest Wine Professional Member, Doug Petersen of Edmonds Winery, chose ZZIF to show off his lovely handcrafted wines. If you attended ZZIF, I hope you made it to his table to taste!

Jeff Sully (photo 4), winemaker of 428 Wines, drove all the way from Walla Walla just for us. This was his second year pouring at ZZIF, and we are glad he came back to continue the tradition!

And yes, for the first time in ZZIF history, our “Wine Reception” included brews by The Pike Brewing Company, owned by Charles and Rose Ann Finkel (photo 3). It was obvious I was not the only one excited about this new beverage option, and I know that The Pike Brewing Co. and ZINO Society are going to be very happy together...

So thank you Charles, Rose Ann, Jeff, Doug, and Yvonne for helping to make our 2009 ZZIF Wine (and Brew) Reception such a success!

Are you interested in pouring your wines at a ZINO Society event?
Please contact McKenzie Midboe Powell for more information. 206.621.0466 or m.midboe@zinosociety.com

Couvillion Winery What to Choose?

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Holmes) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:25:00 +0000

ZINO Society Sommelier Kurt Krause, Four Seasons Hotel Seattle Director of Catering Kirk Sugamele, Couvillion Winery Winemaker Jill Noble, and I (Mary Holmes, VP Business Development, ZINO Society), had a wonderful afternoon tasting the four award-winning wines Jill Noble has created. The goal was to taste all four and develop a menu for the annual ZINO Zillionaire VIP Entrepreneur and Investor Dinner. It was a difficult choice determining which wine would be served with the main course; when Kurt asked Jill what her favorite wine was, she said, “That is like asking who is your favorite child!” Needless to say, she did not reveal any one selection. Chef Kerry Sears is working on the menu, soon to be listed along with the wines on our website. If you wish to attend the ZINO Zillionaire VIP Dinner you may do so at: http://www.zinosociety.com/calendar/908/.

Magnums, Birthdays, Winemakers

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Holmes) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:32:00 +0000

ZINO Society’s 4^th Birthday and Magnum Party at DeLille Cellars on August 13, 2009 at 8pm. Jake Kosseff and Kurt Krause will be pouring as Matt Loso, wine consultant, Chris Sparkman of Sparkman Cellars, Kathleen & Tom Schafer of aMaurice, and Marty Clubb of L Ecole and other winemakers, guests and ZINO Society Members gather to toast ZINO Society’s 4^th Birthday. A little known fact, ZINO Society advisory board member Greg Lill will be celebrating his 50^th Birthday that evening. Don’t forget to raise a glass and wish him well.

Dog themed wine!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Check out what we’re pouring at our Dog Days of Summer event--wine from Mutt Lynch Winery in Healdsburg, California. Their tag line: “Tail-wagin’ wine made for and by dog lovers!” You know you’re going to enjoy their offerings with such playful labels as Unleashed Chardonnay, Merlot over and Play Dead, or Fou Fou le Blanc. They even offer custom labels on their Leader of the Pack gold medal wine-- featuring a photo of your pooch! If any of our canine-lovers have had a chance to visit this winery, we’d love to hear about your experience!

FW: Fun at First LOL tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Cathi Hatch
Founder & CEO
ZINO Society, LLC
(206) 621-0466 business
www.zinosociety.com

From: Cathi Hatch
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:50 PM
To: r.brown1.zinovino@blog.com
Subject: Fun at First LOL tonight!

I was impressed with the interesting mix of ZINO Society members, entrepreneurs and friends that attended our first Libations on Location this evening at the new Grand Cru Wine Bar in Bellevue. There were some wonderful wines offered by the five presenting winemakers (Sparkman Cellars, Di Stephano, Brian Carter Cellars, Novelty Hill). One of my personal favorites was Kingpin by Sparkman Cellars, a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon.

It was great to catch up with some of the entrepreneurs who have presented at ZINO Society Roundtable meetings and/or Investment Forums over the past year or so and fun to introduce them to one another, particularly if they were offering a product or service that would be of use to another entrepreneur. Connecting Teslavision and Enroute appeared to be a good connection for both.

Allan Aquila and the folks at Grand Cru did a great job of hosting our first LOL. I look forward to going back to Grand Cru at another time to indulge in a flight of wines paired with one of their delicious food offerings.

ZINO Marketplace - What an amazing day!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Thank you to all our members and guests, sponsors, panelists, and stellar presenters who attended ZINO Marketplace yesterday. We hope you all had as much fun as we did! The 12 presenting entrepreneurs were simply outstanding, and hopefully everyone enjoyed the samples and demos, from educational electronics to global baby foods. It was wonderful to see so many people having fun at an investment forum.

Congratulations to our three Fund Finalists – Oh! Shoes, Point Inside, and Zero Crossing. Point Inside and Zero Crossing did well in the ZINO Zenith (audience choice) Awards as well, with Point Inside winning Best Investment Opportunity, and Sam Sudore of Zero Crossing winning the Best Presenter Award. They were in good company yesterday, as the quality of companies represented was excellent all across the board, and competition was as tough as I have ever seen. Our investor members and guests were blown away!

For those of you who weren’t there: 12 companies had five minutes each to present their business plans to a room of angel investors and business experts. ZINO Marketplace Fund investors then selected 3 finalists, who then had a chance to respond to due diligence questions from our panel of industry experts. The panel included: Walter Schoenfeld, founder of Britannia and former CEO of Vans, Michelle Gass, Senior VP Category & Marketing; Starbucks, Jason Stoffer, Senior Advisor, Maveron; Dori Karjian, Managing Director, G2 Investments; and George Bonini, Attorney, Monahan and Biagi.

Stay tuned– our fund investors are now in due diligence and will be awarding the $25,000 investment and $10,000 services package in about 30 days. In the meantime, we’re basking in the glow of happy ZINO Society members and ZINOpreneurs.

Rebecca "RJ" Humphries

Director of Entrepreneur Development

ZINO Society

$12 million in angel funding to date

T: 206.621.0466
C: 206.366.5960

F: 206.621.1070

W: www.zinosociety.com

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