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.
