Didn’t Come Unglued by Challenge

When Gary Heck got the news from Washington in December, he popped the cork on a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Heck, president of Korbel Champagne Cellars in Guerneville, Calif., was informed that Korbel Brut was the champagne officially chosen to be served at President Reagan’s Inaugural Ball--all eight of them, in fact--on Jan. 21.

Then Heck had a sobering thought: He had a heck of a lot of work to do in a short period of time. First, a special inaugural commemorative label had to be designed, approved by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (as are all wine and liquor labels) and printed.

Then came the hard part. Because of their shape, the elegant green and gold labels couldn’t be affixed to the bottles’ necks by machine--they had to be pasted on by hand.

Korbel is a family-owned winery with a small number of employees, and Heck had only a few days to paste the labels on about 20,000 bottles purchased by the inaugural committee. So Heck, his children Richie Ann, 16, and Aaron, 10, and a group of relatives and friends who volunteered joined 25 regular Korbel employees working into the wee hours and on weekends to finish the job.

Heck met his deadline, and the Korbel Brut is now en route to Washington in two large trucks.

“We’re really proud, the exhausted Heck said. “It’s been like a toast from our family to the President and to the whole country.”

Express Card for Rock Fans The Hard Rock Cafe, one of the “in” night spots in Los Angeles and San Francisco, is known for its blaring rock music, upscale crowds and long lines of people out front who often wait for an hour or more to get in.

At this restaurant and other hot spots in town even celebrities seem willing to stand in line on the sidewalk for the opportunity to spend their money and be seen.

Peter Morton, owner of the Hard Rock cafes, will introduce a gimmick this month to lure the customers he especially wants--the “Hard Rock Express Card.”

The silver cards resemble the new premium platinum credit card issued by American Express to its preferred customers, but the Hard Rock Express Card can’t be used to buy food or drink at the cafe. What it does is guarantee “immediate” seating when a bearer presents it. But since the cafe can’t reserve tables for all the holders, the card, in effect, offers a place at the front of the line if no table is available.

Morton plans to issue the cards to about 500 customers whom he considers to have made “positive contributions to the community.” A spokesman says this includes civic leaders as well as some celebrities. The cards will be good at both cafes in California and at other Hard Rock cafes scheduled to open later this year in Chicago and Houston.