Meet Dinkinish O’Connor of Purple Reign Wine

Red Wine? White Wine? Kool-Aid? Um, yeah – pass the Kool-Aid please.  I know zilch about wine, except I wish they would add some sugar to it. Of late, a lot of my brides, especially my west coast and international gals, have been importing wine for their special day. Figured I better learn pretty soon. Lucky for me, I am friends with this really cool girl named Dinkinish (pronounced “Din’ ki nesh”) O’Connor. Well, she is more than just a cool girl, she is a fabulous sommelier who has written for publications like Wine Spectator, The Miami Herald (where she authors Wino Confidential - an avant garde wine blog), Conde Nast Traveler, Miami New Times and Time Out New York. Dinky’s ten-year wine career has led her promiscuous palatte across the globe in search of adventures with food and wine. She’s going to help me with my wine adventure too – except in my dining room as opposed to the gnarly vineyards of Bordeaux. She assures me, “there is a bottle for everyone Ma.” I’ll be taking part in Dinky’s innovative Rock Star Wine Tasting, where the wines will be disguised in the identity of a particular rock star. The goal is for me to have no external influences, like how pretty the label is, and hopefully figure out my personal wine palette. She’s done this for companies like Bloomingdales and Ernst and Young. It’s an awesome idea for parties too! Stay tuned to find out which music queen my inner wine channels. Maybe Lady Gaga? Doubt it, but yes, I do love her.

Dinky doing her thing: WINE. Photography by Jaime Virguez.