Welcome to 2019! Another year has flown by and we are wondering where it went. 2018 was a year of many challenges in the world but it was a good year for Please The Palate as it celebrated its seventh anniversary and continued to work at a never-ending pace.

As 2019 begins, I have hit the ground running and look forward to lots of exciting projects ahead! Two big announcements for 2019 are:

1) I am proud to be the host of the wine podcast Wine Soundtrack USA. Wine Soundtrack originally launched in 2017 in Italy and is now available in the US. In each podcast, wine producers share the story of who they are and about their winery through a series of 30 questions. Wine Soundtrack was created to bring to life an idea of sharing and insight. It allows wine lovers to listen to the hopes, dreams, intuitions, prospects, loves and passions of the protagonists of the wine world, directly from their own voices.

2) I have taken on the role of General Manager of Effervescence, a Champagne and Sparkling Wine Festival that will take place in Los Angeles May 3-5, 2019. Stay tuned for information on a Champagne tasting on May 4th and a Sparkling Wine Brunch on May 5th. And, if you have a Champagne or Sparkling Wine brand that would like to participate, contact me!

Looking Back at 2018

Travel
It seemed like I was on the road for most of 2018, especially towards the end of the year. In total, there were 136 days of travel. Domestic travel was to Oregon, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Washington DC, Napa, Pebble Peach, Sonoma, Mendocino, Paso Robles, San Diego, Chicago, Michigan, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Scottsdale, Phoenix  and Miami. On the international front, I traveled to Chile and Croatia for the first time and returned to Italy and Portugal. I am looking forward to seeing where 2019 will take me!

Writing
2018 brought 66 published articles in outlets including the Napa Valley Register, California Winery Advisor, Caviar Affair Magazine, ATOD Magazine, Wine Industry Network and Beverage Industry News, as well as more than 50 blog posts. I also continued doing one-minute wine videos with the Wine Weirdos and I became the host of the podcast Wine Soundtrack USA.

Events
From planning events to marketing and promoting events, I worked with Madeira Wines, Wines of Setubal, Tunisian Wines, DoctorWine’s Essential Guide to Italian Wine, Inter Rhone and more, totaling more than 40 events across the U.S. in 2018. I also worked with the Gelato Festival America, traveling across the country to seven cities where I managed all of the activities in the Gelato School, as well as played MC for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Read the full January 2019 Newsletter.

As the year continues to rush by, I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing summer! Now that we are entering Fall, event season starts to pick up and Please The Palate is looking forward to a non-stop couple of months.

Summer was busy for Please The Palate. While I did not travel internationally, I made numerous trips to Napa Valley for various events, such as Festival Napa Valley, a lovely classical music festival, and wrote some stories about where to eat, drink and sleep in Napa. I also judged my first wine competition, the Central Coast Wine Competition, which was a great learning experience. I continued to try to new restaurants in between all of the travel. And, I was in New York, Chicago, Washington DC and Dallas for the Gelato Festival America.

As I look forward to the coming months, I continue to work on the Gelato Festival with three more cities to go! Gelato has been a departure from wine but it has been so much fun and quite tasty! Lots of trade events are coming up across the country as well. Madeira Wines is coming to San Francisco and Seattle, Wines of Setubal is heading to Houston and Miami and DoctorWine will return to San Francisco and Los Angeles in November for the Essential Guide to Italian Wine 2018 book launch and wine tasting. All trade events, and consumer events, can be found at www.pleasethepalate.com/events.

I am also excited to announce that I am now the American host of the podcast Wine Soundtrack! Established in Italy in 2017, Wine Soundtrack shares the stories of winemakers and winery owners. The American version will be launching this Fall!

Upcoming Events

The Many Faces of Madeira Masterclass & Food Pairing
Featuring Rubina Vieira, Madeira Wine Institute
Sunday, October 14
5:00-7:00pm
San Francisco Wine School 
$95pp

Gelato Festival America 2018
The Gelato Festival, the most important event dedicated to artisanal Italian gelato continues its tour across America. First stops were New Jersey, Chicago, Washington DC and Dallas and there are still three more cities! The Gelato Festival brings goodness, joy, experience and culture to America.

Purchase your ticket and you can taste all the flavors in the competition as well as other special flavors (as much as you want), attend the courses and play games in the delicious Gelato Village. You can also vote for your favorite flavor!

Use the code PLEASETHEPALATE to save $5.

October 13-14 Santa Barbara
La Cumbre Plaza, 121 S Hope Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105

October 20-21 Scottsdale
Kierland Commons, 15205 N Kierland Blvd Suite 150, Scottsdale, AZ 85254

October 27-28 Tucson
La Encantada, 2905 E Skyline Dr, Tucson, AZ 85718

Check out www.pleasethepalate.com  for upcoming events and if you want to be notified of blog posts when they go live, please sign up on our site, here.

Read the full October 2018 Newsletter.