Where Wine, Travel and Social Media Meet

Some news. Firstly, this is a new website and blog for me, which will keep you up-to-date with everything I’m doing. I’m deserting Blogger and the Winey Wink blog, all the previous posts have been fed in to this WordPress.com blog and I will continue to post here when I have something new to share. Plus, I’ve added pages of information about the projects I’ve done over many years of freelance work and how I might be able to help you in the future.

Other news:

Swirl Sniff Slurp Spit was the logo for the Association of Wine Educators in the UK until  a year ago. Now it’s looking for a new use or home. I also own the domain names SwirlSniffSlurpSpit dot com and dot co.uk as well.

I could use this for merchandising, but if someone wants to make me an offer to buy it outright – the original image, the copyright, the two domains and associated WordPress site and Twitter account – that would be great too.

How about spending the whole winter with this view? Well, you can if you rent the apartment at Chalet Balaena in the French Alps. The apartment sleeps 4 in comfort, with space for guests and is available as a whole winter rental from December – April.

Full details are on the Chalet Balaena website. You will have my company in the building some of the time, but be assured the apartment is quite private – we just share the wonderful view! And, if you’re thinking of next summer in the Alps, I shall continue to offer the apartment on a weekly basis (or just a short 3 day break if it’s quite last minute), so do bookmark the site.

Alpine charcuterie and Savoie Apremont © Brett Jones

For a few years, my partner Brett Jones has been keeping a diary and he usually notes the wines we drink and the food we eat. He also takes lots of photos whenever we eat, drink or travel – this makes me extremely lazy, or rather gives me time for other things! Brett has an inimitable style in the way he shares the wines and food we enjoy, linked with the pictures he takes, and at last he is blogging more at Brett The Wine Maestro. Do take a look – I confess, I share my two-cents worth on the wine notes sometimes and even edit him occasionally.

My plans for the next few months include:

• Learning more about the Jura, the Bugey and other areas in Franche Comté as I’m updating a travel guide – a first for me.
• Keeping up with Wine Travel Guides – two new guides to Corsica about to be launched, a few updates to guides underway, the blog to update …. and most importantly a business partner to find, who will help take this project onwards and upwards.
• A trip to Austria in October and one that I’m looking forward to immensely. The impetus was to attend the third European Wine Bloggers Conference to be held in Vienna and, on the basis of last year’s in Lisbon, it should be a great chance to meet, talk and taste with a crowd of international wine-loving people, something I can’t help but enjoy. But also, we will be visiting several of the major wine regions of Austria, all too briefly, but at least we will be taking a first look at this country that I’ve neglected for much too long. Mountain influences, some unusual grape varieties, a myriad wine styles and dedicated winemakers all promise well.

On September 25th Brett and I will be joining others from the UK Wine Trade for a trek up and down Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. What daunts me in particular is the prospect of doing this in bad weather, because in the Alps we tend to be fair-weather walkers only. It is in a very good cause, in aid of The Benevolent who help out those who’ve worked in the wine trade and fallen on hard times either in old age or through illness. You never know … I would be so grateful for your sponsorship through our Just Giving page that has more details on the trek and on the charity.

I welcome and look forward your comments on my posts – to avoid the inevitable spam, I do have to approve the comments  first so please be patient. And, thank you for being here with me on WineTravelMedia.com.