Please The Palate January 2020 Winter Newsletter

Written by Allison Levine on January 7, 2020

Travel Lifestyle Food Cocktails Wine

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2020! We have officially started a new decade. It really is hard to believe that another year has passed.

As I look back on 2019, I am thankful for such a full year! 2019 marked the 8th anniversary of Please The Palate. I spent 91 days traveling to Austin, Houston, Dallas, Boston, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Paso Robles, Pebble Beach, New York, New Jersey, and Oregon and also spent three weeks in Italy, traveling through Campania, as well as to Rome, Milan, Vercelli and Asti. I organized and promoted more than 27 events around the country for a variety of clients including Dao Wines, the Brotherhood of Port, Wines of Setubal, Catalan Wines, Albeisa Association, Seven % Solution, Effervescence and more. I interviewed 60 winemakers and winery owners for the Wine Soundtrack podcast. I wrote 187 articles which appeared in the Napa Valley Register, California Winery Advisor, BIN Magazine, Daily Ovation and the Please The Palate blog. And, I returned as a wine judge at the Central Coast Wine Competition.

In addition to interviewing winemakers for Wine Podcast, I was honored to be invited to be a guest on two podcasts: Hit The Bottle Podcast in which I spoke about event planning tips and Money Matters Top Tips Podcast in which I shared the story of my journey.

Phew! 2019 was an exhausting year but I am ready for 2020 and hope that it is even better. On deck for 2020 so far is more travel, more events, more writing, and more podcasts. And, I will be a wine judge at two more wine competitions! The McMinnville Food & Wine Classic Wine Competition, part of the 27th annual charity fundraiser for St James Elementary School, will take place in McMinnville, Oregon in January. The San Diego International Wine Competition will take place in San Diego in April.

Wishing everyone a wonderful, healthy, happy and successful 2020! May this be the start of an amazing decade!

Read the full Please The Palate January 2020 Winter Newsletter.

Please the Palate October 2019 Newsletter

Written by Allison Levine on October 3, 2019

Travel Lifestyle Food Cocktails Wine

And..WOOSH….just like that, summer is over! Whatever kept you busy this season, I hope you had a fantastic summer. As Please The Palate celebrated its 8th anniversary, I continued on at lightening speed. The summer months were filled with travel….first to Sonoma to visit winemakers and interview them for the Wine Soundtrack podcast. Then it was off to Oregon for almost two weeks, starting off with more interviews for Wine Soundtrack and then a three day deep dive into the region with the Wine Writers Educational Tour. As soon as I came home, I was off to Dallas to attend TEXSOM for the first time. Immediately following the great seminars at TEXSOM, I was off to Italy for three weeks. My time in Italy included exploring Campagna (Sorrento, Capril, Amalfi Coast, Naples), tasting wine in Asti and visiting friends in Milano, Roma and Vercelli, the town where I used to live. After coming home from Italy, I took one more trip….a weekend getaway to Santa Ynez Valley to close out the summer. This summer provided lots of great content for stories and the podcast!

Heading into the fall season, event season is picking up. I am looking forward to traveling with two regions in Portugal, first to Houston and Austin with Wines of Setubal and then to New Jersey, New York, Boston and Houston for Dao Wines.

As the weather starts to charge, the holidays will soon be here. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of great wine, food and friends that will please the palate.

Read the full Please The Palate October 2019 Newsletter.

A Legoland Adventure: So much family fun

Written by Allison Levine on July 25, 2019

Travel Lifestyle

Taking my nephew to Legoland was one of the most memorable of weekends. Watching the joy and excitement in him as he saw his favorite Ninjago characters come to life was priceless. Legoland was a 6-year-old’s fantasy world come true and I wrote about our trip in the Napa Valley Register, which I share here. If you are looking for a fun family activity, make sure Legoland is on your list!

Legoland California, located in Carlsbad, on the north side of San Diego County, just turned 20 years old.

While Legoland may be 20, its biggest fans are between 4 and 10 years old. So, when I went down to Legoland to celebrate its birthday, I had to bring two of Lego’s biggest fans, my 5 3/4-year-old nephew Harrison and his friend, Thomas.

We arrived in the evening, just around bedtime. But when we pulled up to the Legoland Castle Hotel, which opened last year and sits next to the Legoland entrance, bedtime was put on hold.

The 250-room hotel looks like a Lego castle and inside the lobby, a child’s fantasy came to life. A large Lego pit sits in the center of the lobby and there is also a slide. While the adults stood in a long line to check in, the children were running, playing and exploring.