Hello my people. This will be the last post for a few weeks, as I’ll be traveling off and on the first two weeks of August. First stop, Paso Robles for our annual media conference; then, Healdsburg to help out with the Murphy Goode Really Goode Job scholarship program where I’ll get to help select the next interns for 2023. In the middle of all that I’ll also be speaking at this year’s Wine Writer’s Symposium about “The Art of the Interview.”

And, another professional announcement: As of this week, I’ve been honored to add California Wine Reviewer to my role as Senior Editor for Wine Enthusiast. This will encompass Lodi, Mendocino County, Lake County, Central Valley, Sierra Foothills, as well as California appellated wines. My colleague Jim Gordon will step into reviewing wines from Napa and Sonoma; Matt Kettman continues to tackle the Central Coast and Southern California wine scenes.

Oh and my birthday is on Tuesday.

That’s all. Cheers!

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Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Happy Passover to all who celebrate. Happy weekend to all who celebrate. No matter what you’re celebrating, even if it’s just life in general, I hope you’re having a good time of it and have a lovely glass in hand. We have modest plans at my place, and that has not stopped me from putting together my weekly shortlist of wine-newsy items. Some good stuff on the list, but one in particular I want to highlight, written by yours truly, is a feature interview with Vivianne Kennedy—the only openly Transgender winemaker in the US. If you’ve not yet read this piece, check it out. And then when you’re done, travel on over to the RAM Cellars website and pick up a few bottles of amazingness. (Or better yet, join the wine club—that’s what I did!)

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This week was one of those crazy busy weeks. What month is it? What day is it? What time is it slash what time zone am I living in—mentally, emotionally, physically? Yah. But one must keep up on the wine news. So here it is. I do hope you appreciate and enjoy. Cheers to the weekend.

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Hello and happy weekend and wine-news-round-up day. Lots of great stuff to scroll through this week. A personal highlight of mine is this podcast I conducted in honor of Women’s Wine Month, interviewing Dr. Lucia Gilbert, professor of psychology at Santa Clara University and author of Women Winemakers: Personal Odysseys. I’m so happy I got to connect with her and learn from her research and expertise. If you haven’t yet, take a listen directly on the Wine Enthusiast website or wherever you download your podcasts.

I’m also happy to say that I’ve taken the next steps to becoming an instructor at my WSET alma mater, Napa Valley Wine Academy. While I so love teaching for Odyssey Wine Academy in Healdsburg, it’s truly a pleasure to give back to the school that gave so much to me. So, stay tuned for upcoming classes—in-person and virtual.

This weekend I’m attending my first wine club pick-up party at Smith Story Wine Cellars, also located at Bacchus Landing in Healdsburg (just across from the Odyssey Wine Academy). I’m so stoked: I’ve known Ali for so long and for some reason just never joined her club. Truth be told, I don’t belong to a lot of wine clubs. But the ones I do are very purposefully selected—typically small-batch, female-owned businesses making innovative wines that just don’t compare to those I’ve found elsewhere.

That’s all from me (for now). Hope everyone has a lovely lovely weekend.

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