- $500 or an all-expenses paid trip to France for the Cognac Blues Passions Festival and tours of Cognac. An amazing five day festival of music, sponsored by the finest spirits in the world. Tour the vineyards and Cognac houses, listen to the music, find your next great story.

- $500 or an all-expenses paid trip to France for the yearly charity auction with the most prestigious brands, La Part des Anges (Angel’s Share). Enjoy a fabulous gala dinner in one of the famed Cognac houses. Tour the vineyards and Cognac houses and meet the legendary Cognac producers.

There are very few limits (please see the rules, below) to what you can write about Cognac. Write about the product, the grapes, the wine that makes it different from every other distilled spirit. Write about the terroir, or Cognac cocktails. Just write to win.

The Rules

The contest is sponsored by The Cognac Board, with the support of the European Union and France. There are a few legal requirements for your story to be considered by the judges.

1. Please, no talk of sex.
2. Please, the stories should not be about, or mention, “white” Cognac and/or any specific brand.
3. Only U.S. bloggers may participate without pre-approval. Non-US sites with significant readership and 50% or more US readership interested in participating should send the information to Cognac@palatepress.com for pre-approval.
4. Please submit stories to Cognac@palatepress.com prior to publication. The Cognac Board’s legal department will quickly review to assure they can include the entry in the contest and affix their logos. Upon approval from the Board, we will respond with the logos and legal disclaimer to be included with the post, as well as unique StatCounter codes for each entry.
5. The first round of judging will be based upon how many page views the post receives, so the sooner you post, the more you can promote the post and get seen.
6. The second round of judging will be done by a panel of judges from the U.S. and France.
7. The last day to enter is March 15, 2012.

Good luck.

CAMPAGNE FINANCEE AVEC LE CONCOURS DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE ET DE LA FRANCE

Palate Press is excited to announce a new kind of flash sale, Palate Press FLASH!. In the past, flash sales were controlled by the flash sites. They demanded huge discounts, took a big cut off the discounted price, and kept all the customer contact to themselves. With The Palate Press Advertising Network, we can create a new kind of flash sale. The winery picks the discount, the winery keeps the profits, and the winery gets the customer contact. Here’s how it works:

First, decide how many views you want and whether you want to run your sale for one day or two:

24-hour flash sale

• 10,000 impressions – $110*
• 25,000 impressions – $250*
• 50,000 impressions – $475*

48-hour flash sale

• 20,000 impressions – $200*
• 50,000 impressions – $450*
• 100,000 impressions – $900*

*Take a 10% discount if you refer another winery for a Palate Press FLASH! sale and they participate in the program.

Second, pick your geo-targeted area, telling us just the States you can ship to, so you don’t waste a single impression.

Third, pick your discount. We ask for a minimum 30% discount based upon our experience. Flash sales have spoiled consumers, and 20% discounts don’t draw any click-throughs. People also like free shipping. Put the discount on the wine, not the shipping.

Fourth, create a piece of art. We suggest a bottle shot, label, or logo, the discount percentage in large letters, and some copy about the wine. The copy usually includes a description, a review, a score, or a combination of the three. We need the art in all four standard sizes, 120×600, 160×600, 300×250, and 728×90. The art need to be place in these four frames. We will send you the frames when you inquire about Palate Press Flash.


  728×90

120×600                160×600                         300×250

Fifth, give us a date range for your sale. These are work-intensive campaigns for us and we prefer to load them at least a week at a time, with two week’s lead time. Once we schedule the sale we will give you the date it will run. Then just wait for it and sell your wine.

Sixth, change the price on your website for the scheduled date and, if you can, add the Palate Press FLASH! Logo. The sales and the customers belong you to, not to Palate Press.

Palate Press FLASH!, a flash program for wineries, not flash sites.

Sign up today for Palate Press FLASH!

Welcome to Palate Press FLASH!, the only wine flash sales program designed around the winery, not the flash site. With Palate Press FLASH! you only pay for the notice to customers. We don't take a cut and we don't get between you and the customer.

*(denotes required field)

Name: *

E-Mail Address: *

How long do you want your Palate Press FLASH! sale to run? *

24 hours 48 hours

How many impressions do you want for your 24 hours campaign?

10,000 ($110) 25,000 ($250) 50,000 ($475)

How many impressions do you want for your 48 hours campaign?

20,000 ($200) 50,000 ($450) 100,000 ($900)

What month do you want your Palate Press FLASH! sale to run?

What is your website?

What is the best way to contact you?

CAPTCHA Code: *

Powered by Fast Secure Contact Form

1. Tell us how many shares you want to buy, from one to ten. Every share costs $30 and gets 2500 page views in a month.
2. Tell us how when you want the ad to start, and where you want it to be viewed. We can geo-target by city, metro area, State, and country.
3. Send *.gif, *.jpg, *.jpeg, or *.png graphics for at least two of our three standard ad sizes, 160×600, 728×90, and 300×250.
4. Tell us where you want the ad to link.
5. Tell your friends and associates about us, because the sooner we sell all ten shares, the sooner your ad will run.

The form to participate in a Palate Press Advertising Network Time Share campaign is below.

By purchased a share of advertising in The Palate Press Advertising Network, you will be seen on the broadest, deepest wine advertising network on the internet. Your advertisement will be seen on more than 100 different wine websites, including Palate Press: The online wine magazine, CellarTracker, Wine Berserkers, 1WineDude, The New York Cork Report, and more. The Palate Press Advertising Network serves more than four million ad spaces per month to over two million unique wine viewers. Our readers are educated, wealthy, and they love wine.

For more information about The Palate Press Advertising Network please upload our most recent MEDIA KIT.

Read more about Time Share Ad Sales on The Palate Press Advertising Network. we look forward to working with you to create a successful campaign.

Each share costs $30 and guarantees 2500 impressions in a month. We will load each Time Share campaign once we sell ten shares. Each submission should include graphics for at least two of our three standard sizes, 160x600, 728x90, and 300x250, as a *.gif, *.jpg, *.jpeg, or *.png.

*(denotes required field)

Name: *

E-Mail Address: *

Company *

Company Address *

Number of shares: *

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten

Link to which the ad should redirect *

First graphic *

Acceptable file types: gif,jpg,jpeg,png.
Maximum file size: 1mb.

Second graphic *

Third graphic

I only want the ad seen in (cities, metro areas, states, countries)

I will pay via:

PayPal
Credit Card via PayPal
Check

Message:

CAPTCHA Code: *

First Prize - An all-expenses paid trip to France for the Cognac Blues Passions Festival and tours of Cognac. From Asa to ZZ Top, an amazing five day festival of music, sponsored by the finest spirits in the world. Tour the vineyards and Cognac houses, listen to the music, find your next great story.

Second Prize - $500.00

Third Prize - Three bottles of fine Cognac.

The following wonderful stories were accepted as entires for the contest:

• Solace & Comfort, by Nannette Eaton
• Finding Solace in the Big (Cognac) House, by Alice Feiring
• I Was Never Much of a Fan: Learning the Nuances of Cognac in my Ever-Evolving Palate Experiences, by Kevin Keith
• Cognac: Pleasing to Any Palate, by Robin Austin
• A Dashing Way to Kick Off an Evening-With … Cognac?, by Wini Moranville
• Well Who Knew: I Like Cognac, by Ed Bell
• The Sleeping Spirit, by Kyle Branche
• Waiter, There’s Wine in My Cognac; A Wine Blogger’s Take on Cognac, by Clive Pursehouse
• Cognac: The Spirit and the Place, by Bill Eyer