Hello my people and happy weekend. I’ve got your weekly newsy round up for you, featuring a lot of fun stuff. I’m particularly in love with this new NY restaurant concept. And have totally bookmarked this wine-with-soul-food article.

On a personal note, I’d love to share a bit what I’ve been working on. Coming up next week, Wine Industry Network is hosting its annual (virtual) leadership conference. I’ll be moderating the session about Wine Business HR. Registration is FREE. I also just finished recording a podcast for the Green WineFuture, along with Jason Haas (Tablas Creek) and Richard Leask (a man with MANY talents in the viticultural sphere) all about—you guessed it—regenerative agriculture. You’ll definitely want to listen in on the podcasts leading up to this one. Ours will be released in just a few weeks (episode 6).

At the end of the month, I’m moderating the 2022 Rhone Rangers event seminar “Rhone Essentials.” Tickets are still available. This is an in-person event, so if you’re local or in the area the weekend of the 20th, pop by! There’ll be a Grand Tasting and you’re sure to see yours truly wandering around and sipping some of my favorite wines.

I’ll also be judging at a few local wine competitions, including East Meets West (let the battle of the coasts commence!) and the Foothill Wine Competition (definitely looking forward to some interesting wines). Stay tuned for winning results.

And if that’s not enough, I’ve taken my first steps to becoming a WSET educator. More to come on when and where.

That’s all from me. Hope everyone is safe, healthy, happy. Don’t be shy, drop a line. Cheers.

(more…)

Happy weekend-ing. Hope you got a tall glass of wine on hand, because we’ve got a hefty news reel for you this week. Rock on my wine friends…

(more…)

Hello and happy weekend my people. Crazy busy week here and just as an FYI there will be no posts next week, as I will be taking my last WSET Diploma exam (fortification), so you can understand where my focus will be, I hope. This week I want to call attention to an article I wrote for Wine Enthusiast, “The Wine Industry Pledged to Improve Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity. Has Anything Changed?” This piece was a labor of love. I spoke to a lot of people in preparation for this article, some of whom aren’t even mentioned but whose insight and advice were much appreciated whilst researching and writing. I have to say one of the reasons that this piece means so much to me is that I, myself, had to confront this issue—believe it or not—while writing this article. I won’t go into detail about the who, what, where, when, why, but I will say that experiencing first-hand the ignorance within our industry, again, while writing an article on equity in the wine industry, was very telling to me just how much more work has to be done.

With that spirit in mind, I want to call out that Julia Coney—writer, educator, speaker and founder of Black Wine Professionals (who also allowed me to speak with her for the above mentioned article)—has been named one of Wine Industry’s Most Inspiring People by Wine Industry Advisor. Well deserved, indeed. She’s not only an excellent business woman, an extremely intelligent wine educator, and just a down-right nice person—she’s also on the frontlines of confronting the industry’s need for more diversity, equity, and inclusivity. But, as Julia says in this article, she cannot do it alone. We cannot rely on certain individuals to make the noise, raise the alarms, call the industry to action. This as to be a group effort.

As always, there’s plenty more to read. So I hope you have a good glass of wine on hand as you scroll through. Wishing all the best in the week ahead. ✌️🍷💚

(more…)

Happy New Year—I hope everyone is off to a safe and healthy start to 2022. The early part of the year certainly is jam-packed with newsy items to report—so hope you poured yourself a large glass to enjoy as you scroll through.

A few items I’d like to call out—Wine Industry Advisor has announced its top 10 “Most Inspiring People in Wine” awards. I’m super impressed by the diverse group of people included on this list. I, myself, am responsible for the write-up on the beautiful Ali Smith Story. But be sure to check out the features on Marty Clubb, Cathy Huyghe, Ron Rosenbrand, and Alex Ryan as well. The publication will release articles on the last five awardees next week.

Also, a huge congratulations to a personal role model of mine, Elaine Chukan Brown, for becoming a full-time member of the Jancis Robinson editorial staff. She’s now the executive editor of the website’s US coverage. Full press release is below.

And in the entertainment sector—I am super curious: What do you all think about this new TV series Grand Cru? Is it a good representation of the wine scene? Are you upset that all the actors hold the stemware incorrectly and that one of them seems to be drinking water while the others sip on cranberry juice? Or, is it just a comedy plain and simple—enjoy the laughs and, like, why so serious? If you’ve watched it, let me know your thoughts.

Tis all for now. Happy weekend-ing!

(more…)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

(more…)