A Good Book and a Glass of Fine Wine by Jeff Bailey

Piper Street Display

I’ve entered into a new marketing program with a good friend of mine, Victor Palencia. I believe that marketing two products in a joint campaign will reach far more than twice the visibility. Victor Palencia is one of the fastest rising young stars in the Pacific Northwest (possibly, the national) wine culture. I, of course, am a writer of nuclear thriller novels. Interesting bedfellows for a joint marketing venture, huh? The theme of our project is ‘A good book and a fine wine.’ We will promote the image, what could be better than sitting down to read a good book with and enjoying a glass of premium wine? We also plan a couple of fall book signings for my latest release, The Defect, either at Victor’s winery in Walla Walla or at a December wine event. I’m so looking forward to the next four months

Jeff and Victor, Working

Wine EnthusiastsMagazine just named Victor and his wine labels one of the 'Top Forty (wine makers) Under Forty (years of age)' in the United States. That sounds to me like he is on the verge of becoming a De Facto U.S. Ambassador to the world’s wine culture. I’m not a wine critic or aficionado. I don’t even know how to speak ‘wine speak,’ but every time Victor and I sit down to work, we have a glass of his latest wine release. The wine is always excellent. I know that I’m impressed. As I listen to Victor talk about his wine and his labels, I am amazed at his depth of knowledge of, not just wine, but of wine history and the growth of the Pacific Northwest wine industry.

Promoting the idea of ‘a good book and a glass of fine wine’ is not our only joint effort. Victor is also providing technical support for my current book project, Wine Country. Victor describes his daily routine, some of his special wine projects, and the backroom processes that it takes to produce a fine wine. I, then, weave his ‘insider glimpses’ into the main story-line of Wine Country. I’ve also taken our collaboration a step farther. I’ve used Victor as the character model for one of the protagonists in the book. In Wine Country, domestic terrorist want to destroy the reputation of our regions wine industry and specifically one, leading wine label. They want to blame the disaster on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation nearby. Keep in mind, I write nuclear thrillers. The fun thing is that Victor’s character makes the perfect good-guy, target victim for Wine Country.

Victor and I also plan to coauthor a book. The book, titled Over a Glass of Wine, will be a biography of Victor, his family, and his meteoric rise in the wine industry. Over a Glass of Wine will be told as a story rather like Alex Haley’s Roots. I’m an amateur genealogy buff anyway, so I’m looking forward to a fascinating project. I’ll post the estimated release date when we’re further along with the project.

Palencia Winery on Piper Street

Read more about Victor Palencia, visit his virtual winery, or order his fine wines at http://palenciawine.com. A trip to his Palencia Winery, 600 Piper Ave, Walla Walla, WA 99362 is an experience. Check out his collection of long play, vinyl records.

Read the opening pages of Wine Country. Read the opening pages of The Defect. Deer Hawk Publications released The Defect in June of 2016.

 I normally close with the phrase, 'Welcome to my world.'

Today, I will close with:

Welcome to our World.