Would you be surprised to hear that 95 per cent of women surveyed “would feel annoyed if their date repeatedly or unnecessarily” used his cell phone? Or that 80 per cent of survey participants would prefer a valentine message delivered in person, not via a phone call or text message? Would it come as a surprise that two-thirds of the women polled agree a bottle of wine adds romance to a date?

With Valentine’s Day only a week away, and as a public service, I thought I would share information in a press release titled “Is your cell phone killing your love life?” which arrived last week.

“We’ve all been there: you’re settling in to a good conversation, sipping on a glass of red, enjoying a delicious meal, then beep-beep-beep goes a cell phone and instantly the moment is lost,” the release begins. It goes on to say that Jackson-Triggs Wines “is launching a campaign that urges Canadians to do something more meaningful than text on Feb. 14.”

“We really wanted to get to the core of what Valentine’s Day is supposed too be about – sharing an intimate moment with someone special,” Rick Fortin, marketing director for Jackson-Triggs is quoted as saying. “We polled a selection of Canadian women and quickly realized the toll technology takes on human interaction. The message became clear: this Valentine’s Day we need to focus on face-time.”

“A phone-free quest for romance? We’ve got a wine for that,” Mr. Fortin added, not surprisingly.

Actually, to support the mission, Jackson-Triggs is awarding “one lucky winner with the tools to create the ultimate Valentine’s Day moment” with a Facebook contest. I’m sorry but it’s too late for you to enter – the press release arrived after last week’s Confederate went to press and the deadline for entering was this past Monday. I immediately went to Facebook and entered. I fully expect to win “transportation to a Jackson-Triggs winery for a private dinner in a wine cellar, plus overnight accommodations at a five-star hotel.” I will tell you all about it in a future Turner’s Tale.

Somehow it seems more likely that I be celebrating Valentine’s Day by having a ho-hum meal a home and watching an old episode of “Friends” on DVD, with the cell phones turned off for the night. Maybe we’ll eat in the “cellar” and split a bottle of Jackson-Triggs red in a nod to what might have been.