About Wink Lorch

Portrait in Jura Wine book © Bill Mattos

I’m Wink Lorch, wine writer, educator and editor. I live partly in London and partly in the French Alps, one hour from Geneva, and am a specialist in the wines of Jura and the French Alps.

I wrote and self-published Jura Wine, at the time the only book in English on the wines of the Jura, which won the award in the Drinks category for the André Simon Awards 2014. I self-published my even bigger, second book, Wines of the French Alps: Savoie, Bugey and beyond in July 2019. Both books were part funded by successful Kickstarter campaigns. The second book was awarded a prize in the ‘Wines and Territories’ category from the prestigious Orginisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) and was shortlisted for the André Simon Awards 2019. I have been writing widely on both Jura and Savoie since 2004. The books are distributed direct to consumers by the prestigious London publishing house, the Academie du Vin Library.

Posts on this blog include articles on wine, travels, and occasionally personal articles. You will also find pages and links for the different wine communication aspects of my work.

You can also support me, by buying the ePub (for iPhone etc) versions of my books directly from this website… if you have to use Kindle, then you know where to go.

I am a committee member of the Circle of Wine Writers, and a founder member of the Association of Wine Educators.

My Background:

• Worked in the UK Wine Trade from 1979
• Achieved WSET Diploma with Honours and passed the Theoretical part of the Master of Wine Qualification
• Own business selling wine directly
• In 1987 became a freelance wine communicator, writing, teaching on wine and working with wine book publishers
• From 1998 divides time between UK and French Alps (now an almost fluent French speaker)
• 2007 launched the online wine tourist website, Wine Travel Guides – active until 2016.
• See full details on my LinkedIn Profile.
• 2011 Wink won the prize for ‘Best Wine Tourism Feature’ in the inaugural Born Digital Wine Awards.
• 2012 launched a new blog, Jura Wine, Food and Travel – I still update this occasionally.
• 2014 published Jura Wine, with local food and travel tips.
• June 2014–March 2015 Acting Editor of the magazine at Wine-Searcher.com, the most visited wine information website int he world.
• July 2015–January 2017 Editor of Circle Update, the magazine for the Circle of Wine Writers.
• Shortlisted in the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards for Online Commuicator of the Year 2017.
• 2019 published Wines of the French Alps, Savoie, Bugey and beyond.

My Work today (click on each link for more details):

• Wine Writing – I am a committee member of the Circle of Wine Writers and contribute to various wine magazines and books.
• Wink Talks – I love to present talks and wine tastings for corporate and social groups. I was a founder of the Association of Wine Educators.
• Wine Travel – I am happy to lead tours in my specialist wine areas or advise on various wine tourism activities.
• Social Media for Wine – You will find me regularly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
• Get in touch with me about any of the above.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

FOR PR PROFESSIONALS:
MY SAMPLES AND HOSPITALITY POLICY

• There is no point sending me wine samples for review as I don’t review wines on this blog – I will get in touch if I need samples for specific articles.
• Do send me press releases about wine or wine tourism, only by email please with small attachments.
• If you want to invite me to visit a wine region, I may be interested in wrting about it on this blog or elsewhere. I cannot guarantee a favourable review and I will always declare that the hospitality has been provided.
• I do not accept ‘placed’ articles. All articles on this blog or my Jura Wine blog are written by me.

Contact Wink preferably by email or telephone on +44 7785 555705.