To me an event represents a celebration of our shared community. What better time for us to come together and socialize than an event with amazing food, wine and friends? Events offer fun, discovery and new social and professional opportunities that we just cannot get by sitting at home or through the virtual world of the Internet.

Purple Boot Trophy
To be revealed at the event!The importance of gathering together to share in celebration with other people cannot be underestimated. We share stories and experiences and create new memories. The “Battle of the Purple Boot Trophy” shares the passion and hard work of two diverse wine regions, the Livermore Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Eight different vintners have submitted their very best wines to be enjoyed and rated by current strangers and soon to be friends.

A genuine piece of Art, commissioned by SignatureWines.com and designed and created through the hands of world-renowned glass artist, Mr. Treg Silkwood of Silkwoodglass.com and the Bay Area Glass Institute. The Purple Boot Trophy serves as a symbol of inspiration and gratitude honoring the hard work of our participating wineries.

This event would not have been possible without the countless hours of my fellow SignatureWines.com teammates, staff from Club Sport, generous sponsors. Below is a picture of the “Purple Boot Trophy and individual awards.

Get you ticket and be the first to see the Purple Boot Trophy. Go here to get you tickets here now! http://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=3328594917

What could be more iconic than the imagery of stomping grapes? I searched for images and discovered a wonderful photo of a large black galoshes covered with purple juice and fragments of little dark purple gems. Pow! The concept of the event now had a name “The Purple Boot”!

Well, a name like that requires a very special trophy to vie for. My passion for art and for supporting artists demanded a commissioned art project. I love glass art. I reached out to Treg Silkwood, an amazing glass artist and instructor at the Bay Area Glass Institute and shared my vision. And so Treg created an iconic award, hand crafted like the wines of the vintners courageous enough to put their wines to the scrutiny of wine lovers near and far. A trophy destined to become a legacy of passion and good natured culinary artisan competition. Like the NHL’s Stanley cup, the Purple Boot Trophy, a chalice worthy of being filled with the nectar of the gods.

The base of the trophy utilizes the staves of an authentic American Oak medium toasted wine barrel. The barrel long retired now, and presently re-purposed to form the base of the Purple Boot Trophy! Nothing wasted, the oak barrel renews it's usefulness ithrough our trophy. The remainder of the barrel resides in the garden supporting the forthcoming summer and fall fresh produce.

As a relative newcomer to the world of wine enjoyment, I enjoy learning my capabilities and current limitations of my olfactory abilities. Initially, as I began to learn the basics of wine tasting especially the five “S’s” ; sight, smell, sip, savor, swallow/spit I liked to guess what the alcohol level was in the wines I was tasting that day. I marveled at my certified sommelier’s uncanny ability to identify the exact alcohol content of the wine he tasted.

I enjoy the original format of the Iron chef and other culinary competitions. So I thought why not combine the very best aspects of these events? An event format being entertaining, fun and social, while simultaneously offering people the ability to discover and improve their own wine knowledge and skills.

California offers so many wonderful wine experiences outside of our “world famous” Napa Valley wine region. Livermore Valley, California’s oldest wine country and the Santa Cruz Mountains are but just two wonderful examples of terrific wine regions. And so the concept of this event was conceived.