14 Year Anniversary Achievement
Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 14 years ago.
Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.
Wine Predator Gwendolyn Alley
That’s the message WordPress sent me today because fourteen years ago I signed up as Art Predator at WordPress for my Art Predator blog. I started blogging at Art Predator on the night of the Time Change,November 4, 2007. By summer 2008, I had quit my job teaching writing at Ventura College to go into wine writing and blogging full time working for the Grateful Palate. Unfortunately, the economy crashed and so did my job — and that company.
Because of this wine blog, I taste wine samples from all over the world that arrive at my door– and I’ve traveled abroad to France, Portugal, and Canada as well as California, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington to taste wine and visit wineries.
Because of the tasting opportunities presented to me as a wine blogger, I made the US Blind Wine Tasting Team. In 2020, I was slated to travel on press trips to Germany, Italy, and Bordeaux … but COVID. I’m looking forward to traveling again soon. I’d love to help in the vineyards in various places also. With this expertise, in May 2021, I joined the US edition of the Slow Wine Guide and I write for the VeroVino blog. I’m also a cellar rat at a small winery in Santa Paula, and I’ve been doing freelance for VC Reporter and Ventana Monthly. Soon I’ll be blogging for 1000 Corks.
Who knows how my life would have gone if I’d watched a movie as planned on that fateful night of the time change rather than starting Art Predator…
A huge thank you also goes out to Sue Hill, the magic chef who helps bring all this food and wine pairing together with her prowess in the kitchen and her keen palate AND who takes notes and helps us stay on track during our weekly tasting sessions. Sometimes she is juggling as many as four different blog posts at once!
Thanks also to Marshall, my patient baseball, beer, and music loving spouse who is amazing on the grill, with the instant pot, and the fry pan.
Dead & Co Halloween 2021, Hollywood Bowl
Coming up:
- Barbaresco with bolognese #ItalianFWT (11/5),
- 3 Napa merlot by women winemakers paired with a festive seasonal winter squash menu for #MerlotDay (11/7),
- 2 sherry wines with pairings for sherry week (11/8-14),
- 2 posts with pairings about two Slow Wine Guide wineries from Paso Robles, Castoro Cellars and Villa Creek/MAHA #WinePW (11/13),
- 2-4 posts about Zinfandel Day (11/17), maybe Tempranillo Day (11/11), maybe Beaujolais Day (11/18), maybe Carmenere Day (11/24)
- 2 Cremant from Bordeaux #Winophiles (11/20)
- Organic wine from Castilla La Mancha #WorldWineTravel (11/27)
- Barolo (12/4
- and sometime between the two Nebbiolo posts, I have ones from two wineries in CA, Madrona and Soquel Vineyard
I’ve been participating in these wine groups for five years now:
- Read more Italian food and wine pairings #ItalianFWT.
- Read more general wine and food pairings #WinePW.
- Read more French wine and food pairings #Winophiles.
Plus the new one this year: - Spanish wine and food pairing #WorldWineTravel.
Just as I did in 2020, I’m on track to publish 150 or so articles on Wine Predator, averaging 1500 words each. That’s the equivalent of writing three novels!
But first for me, getting my Slow Wine Guide entries finished and submitted!
So don’t miss out on another wine! Subscribe! Cheers!
Cheers! Thanks for joining me on the journey! photo by George Rose, tiara by Lisa Stoll
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 