After the Medlock Ames virtual wine tasting, I was on the lookout for similar events. My father-in-law had mentioned Venge several times when discussing Napa/Sonoma trips so I decided to explore if there were any virtual tasting available. While Medlock Ames had sampled full bottles that I already had as a wine club member, I was looking for wine tastings where little kits are mailed out with 3 oz pours. This would be more in line with a normal wine tasting and I had seen a few wineries advertise it.
So, in mid-May, I searched for Venge virtual wine tastings and found an event on 3 June! Success! Best daughter-in-law ever! There was a pretty basic page asking for my name and address, which I filled out. It was under the domain name Lessonly, which sounded about right. Wine lessons, Lessonly, online learning- it all fit! No other information was required so I figured it was a request/mailing list/something? I wasn’t sure it would work but since no significantly personal information was asked for- no credit card, birthday, etc- I felt ok.
So, out of sight, out of mind until the next week when I got an email from Lessonly saying they were looking forward to the event, but would I mind providing the company I worked for? I ignored that email, thinking it was a bit weird when, the next day, I received a shipping notification from FedEx that I would have a package the next week. Specifically, a 22-lb package from Venge. Uh oh, that’s a lot more than 3 oz wine samplers. And again, I had not provided any form of payment!
So, I wrote to the woman asking for the company name saying that there may be a mistake in that I thought I was signing up for a routine wine tasting and this seemed to be an industry/corporate event. Well, to summarize a few emails, it turns out that the wine tasting was a customer appreciation event by Lessonly for its corporate customers. I think the wine was already paid for and I was told to enjoy the wine, but I wasn’t invited to the actual virtual event (this was said very nicely). It still seems super-weird to me that a tech company wouldn’t be able to keep out unwanted people from subpages on their website but, *shoulder shrug*, I got wine! Retail value $300+, omg.
I liked the Croix wines the best. I brought over the Venge to my in-laws’ house where we enjoyed the three. SMS and I liked the Merlot the best while my father-in-law liked the Cabernet the most. I wasn’t as big a fan of Venge as some other wines. I thought they were super-jammy and almost too rich. But it was still delicious- I just mention my rank order in a way that I would rank a day of wine tastings. Some places I like better than others but they’re all really good.
