So 2015 brought me a whole lot of great wine, food and friends. It also brought some great travel opportunities to the Willamette Valley (first three posts), the Finger Lakes region of NY, and the great city of Seattle, just to name a few.
In all my travels, I got to hear great people speak. Karen MacNeil delivered an inspiring talk at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Corning, NY that encouraged us to not give up on our aspirations. Kim Severson challenged food bloggers to start thinking like us wine bloggers (my response to that is here) at the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle, WA. I got to meet some great winemakers, like Wayne Bailey of Youngberg Hill, John and Jody Wrigley of J Wrigley, and the two-man crew, Brian Biagi & Dirk Brink, behind one of my favorite wineries, Basel Cellars.
…and the bloggers! Oh my! I met so many great bloggers this year, I don’t even know where to begin! From the Purveyor of Happiness, to learning about wine in a non-pretentious way from Wine Casual, to asking What Are You Drinking?, these wine blogs (and their respective owners) quickly became favorites of mine. Then there are the food bloggers. Decadent “Chocolate Mondays” from The Heritage Cook, to meeting the Foodie Stuntman behind Crazy Foodie Stunts, and to finding happiness in the best freaking cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had from Unicorns in the Kitchen. Yeah. To say it was a delicious year for me isn’t far from the truth.
Awards
This year I got my first big accolade/award, too! Exel Wines, who I talked about in this post, named this li’l ol’ site one of the most influential wine blogs IN THE WORLD! I have to thank my favorite Idaho wino, Matthew, for that connection. Next time you’re in Portland, I owe you! 😀
2016 is looking to be just as amazing and decadent as this year. Keep following me in this adventure here and on social media:
There will be some changes in 2016, though. While there will still be documentation of my adventures in wine, you will also see more food and travel content. Nothing huge, just more consistency in posting and some sponsored content as well. I won’t stray far from my knowledge base, though.
