WINNER, Jancis Robinson Wine Writing Contest
After starting my Art Predator blog November 2007, I began Wine Predator and attended the First Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma in 2008, followed by the second in 2009.
In November 2009, I went to the European Wine Bloggers Conference then to the Alentejo Region of Portugal on a wine tour sponsored by Enoforum WInes.
In 2010, I won a scholarship to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla as well as a pre-conference trip to learn more about Washington wine.
In 2011, I explored by VW van the wine regions of the Northwest: Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Northern California. I also spoke about wine and food pairing at the International Food Bloggers Conference in Santa Monica.
In 2012, I participated in the Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland where I gave an Ignite!Wine presentation.
In 2013 I won a scholarship to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Penticton, Canada; I also participated in a press trip to Lake Chelan, Washington.
In 2014, I attended WBC14 in Santa Barbara and the Wine Tourism Conference in Paso Robles, CA.
In 2015, I continued my wine education by attending numerous industry events in LA as well as participating in various online tasting events with wines from around the world.
In 2016, I presented at both the International Food Bloggers Conference in Sacramento and the Wine Bloggers Conference in Lodi (where I was the concluding speaker of the conference).
In 2017, I published over 100 posts, many with an emphasis on food and wine pairings. I attended the International Food Bloggers Conference in Sacramento and the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa. Press trips took me to LA, Lodi, San Luis Obispo, Napa, Lake, El Dorado, and Mendocino counties.
In 2018, in addition to attending industry wine events in LA, I joined the LA Wine Writers group for luncheons and a week long press trip to Oregon. With help from Sue Hill, I published almost 100 articles.
In February 2019, I graduated from the VinItaly Italian Wine Ambassador Course in LA.
In July 2019, Sue Hill and I competed in the US Wine Tasting Championships. Our second place finish put us on the US Wine Tasting Team to compete in France in October 2019.
In 2020, I participated in many ZOOM tastings with wines from around the world, I attended the virtual Wine Media Conference, and we published over 150 blog posts.
In 2021, I joined the Slow Wine Guide team of writers covering regions in the Sierra Foothills, Lodi, the California Central Coast, and Southern Oregon. In August 2021, I presented at the Wine Media Conference in Eugene, OR.
In 2022, I again served on the Slow Wine Guide team. In September 2022, I won the 2022 Jancis Robinson Wine Writing Contest. In October 2022, I spoke about and moderated a panel about Slow Food and Slow Wine in Lombardy, Italy. I also attended the 43rd OIV Congress in Baja, California.
We publish, on average, two blog posts a week with most of them featuring food and wine pairings as well as tasting notes and information about the winery.
Areas of interest and expertise include biodynamic wine, regenerative agriculture, food, travel, geography, and culture. I have undergraduate degrees in Literature/Creative Writing and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz, and graduate degrees in Education, English, and Ecopsychology; I teach writing at the college level. Sue Hill has a degree in Liberal Studies and a Masters in School Administration; she's an administrator and a teacher at an elementary school.
Who knows where we will prowl next? You can reach me by email: gwendolynalley AT yahoo DOT com.
At the last three wine bloggers conferences, I lucked out both with amazing pre-conference excursions and great conference expeditions as well. In 2010, a small group of us traveled on a press trip Seattle to Walla Walla and back, tasting along the way. In 2012, on our pre-conference excursion we dined at King Estates then learned about pinot noir with Robin Pffeifer, then went by TRAIN from Eugene to Portland where I was on the infamous #cuffedincarlton bus.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 