I started this website in 2010 when a friend suggested that instead of boring the pants off her about wine, I should find another outlet.
OK, so she didn’t quite put it that way. And I hope I misinterpreted the boring bit. But to be honest, when I started, I bored myself a bit.
Reviewing bottles of wine quickly become dry and tedious in isolation. When I placed it in context, though, with travel or food, it was a far more enjoyable experience for me, and hopefully for my reader (s). Stories are what make wine fascinating.
Wine has now taken over my life. After a long career in journalism, PR and corporate communications, I now own a wine shop called Park+Bridge in West London, and now a nearby wine bar called Vindinista!
As a result I no longer cover specific retailers – though I will give my perspective as a retailer.
I will, however, continue to write about wines and producers irrespective of whether I stock them or not, so long as there’s a decent story there.
Paola.
Oh, and you can email me at paola at parkandbridge dot com.
Please note: Due to high levels of spam, I do moderate all comments I receive. I also edit comments where necessary, if I think some of the contents may cause offence.
Hi Paola
I’m writing to you with you wearing your ‘wineblogger’ hat and me wearing my ‘wine pr’ hat 😉
We work for various wine clients among them The Wine Society and Wines from Spain (Spanish Government funded generic body) and I was wondering whether anything we do would be of interest to anything you do? We organise tastings, trips, disseminate interesting and relevant (we hope!) info from time to time. If it is I’d love to meet up in town and we can discuss further.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Alison
Sounds great! I will send you an email.
Hi Paola
I’m organizing this year’s Co-operative Spring PressTasting. If this is of interest could you supply an email / postal address so I can send an invitation.
Regards
Lisa Paton
Rumpus Communications
Hi Paola
Thanks for your review on wines tasted at the Wines from Spain Fair last week. Glad you could join us. Other dates for your diary :
4 May : Le Cinq (Bordeaux Grands Crus)
18 October : Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux
Hope to see you at one or both events. Invitations to follow.
Sue
Hi Paola,
I just wanted to bring to your attention an Australian wine tasting evening happening at Made in Camden (NW1) this month. The restaurant is now featured in the 2012 Good Food Guide, so we really are growing in popularity!
Wine in Camden… wine tasting events at Made in Camden
Following a summer break, Made in Camden and Bibendum Wine Ltd present their next wine tasting event – Aussie Road Trip on Wednesday 7 September, 7pm.
So the big land down under is calling but you’ve not quite made the once-in-a-lifetime trip – how about a 3 week holiday for a small fortune… maybe you’ve been and fallen in love… maybe you’re homesick… one reason or another, why not join us for an express ‘on the budget’ tour around Australia’s most celebrated wine regions – Barossa, Margaret River and many more… Wine in Camden gives the opportunity to explore new wines, or taste old favourites, in fun and informal surroundings. Each month we look at a range of wines, some from the restaurant’s list, loosely arranged around a theme and accompanied by delicious samples from the Made in Camden menu.
The evenings are a great chance to socialise, have fun and discover more about wine and food/wine matching. No experience is necessary but be quick – they always sell out! £20, 18+
Book Tickets at http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/wine-in-camden (no booking fees apply)
Website: http://www.madeincamden.com
With Kind Regards
Eleanor
Hi Paola,
Here at Café Rouge we are organising the following competition and thought you may be interested to feature it in your blog, or enter it yourself:
France and good wine go hand in hand and, at Café Rouge, we’re as crazy about our wines as we are about our delicious food.
So, to celebrate French wine we’re searching for local Francophiles who share our passion.
You could win a £200 gift card to spend at your favourite Café Rouge, plus the chance to host your own wine tasting session in the restaurant.
To enter, and for more information please visit http://www.caferouge.co.uk/masterofwine
So Many thanks!
Hi Paola,
My name is Joanie- I also have a wine blog (www.ItalianWineGeek.com), and follow yours regularly! My day job is with an Italian wine importer called Banville & Jones Wine Merchants.
I got an email from my contact at the Terlano winery this morning. She had a list of bloggers who were signed up for a conference in Brescia this October, and your name was on it! I was excited to see so many people whose blogs I follow, so I thought I’d reach out and introduce myself to you.
Terlano is sponsoring a short day trip in conjunction with Tramin winery and they are trying to get a few people signed up. If you’re interested please do let me know. If you’ve never been to Terlano before I know it is something you won’t want to miss- truly spectacular. They will also be opening some very old, rare wines back to 1959!
I would love to reserve a spot for you with the winery. If you send me your email I can shoot you the details for the trip.
Grazie!
Joanie
We invite you at Friuli Venezia Giulia tasting, we’ll be in London on Monday 24th of October.
TRADE TASTING
Monday 24 October 2011
11.00am – 4.30pm
Seminar with Peter McCombie MW
11.30am – 12.30pm
Friuli is Italy’smost famous white wine region, offering wines made with a cornucopia of grapevarieties. To discover “real” Pinot Grigio, with authentic tasteand style, Friuli is the place to go.
DiscoverFriulano, too, the elegant native-grape wine that is emblematic of the wholeregion. Not to mention the multi-grape “Collio blends”, or a hostof red and white varietals, too. From Cabernet to Merlot, from Chardonnay to SauvignonBlanc, with native varieties like Verduzzo, Refosco and Schioppettino, as well,there is something for everyone.
To meet 30 producers in person and taste over 200 outstandingwines, register for this free trade tasting and seminar at http://www.decanter.com/events
A consumer tasting will take place in the evening from 6.30pm– 8.30pm and tickets will cost £20. To book tickets call +44(0)20 31484513 or visit http://www.decanter.com/events
For further information please contact: Emma Franc Tel: 0203 1484507.
email: emma_franc@decanter.com
Follow-us on Twitter: @Decanter_Events
I hope to see you in London,
Kind regards
Hi Paola,
My name is Max Palmer and I am writing to you from SlurpVision – one of the newest ventures from Slurp.co.uk. Driven by our shared passion for wine, we have created a fresh new YouTube channel delivering informative and enlightening content to our viewers. We produce a whole range of videos including reviews, insider tips, winemaker interviews, wine terms and regional trends. Some of the industry’s top wine personalities have joined us in this video project, such as Steven Spurrier, Serge Hochar, Peter Gago, Dave Powell and Tim Atkin.
We have been reading about the European Wine Bloggers Conference, and were impressed with your blog which features on their website. We are always keen to get involved with innovative wine projects and network with like-minded people, and we were hoping you could check out our channel and possibly review it on your site. We believe that SlurpVision fills a vital gap in the way people learn about wine and could prove to be a useful additional resource for your avid readers.
The link to our channel is http://www.youtube.com/SlurpVision and you may wish to contact us on Twitter, or follow for updates, news and reviews – http://twitter.com/slurpwine.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing back from you.
Kind Regards,
Max Palmer
Media Intern for SlurpVision
Just chanced upon your blog via your Twitter stuff! It is an excellent blog. I really like the lay out. Keep up the good work. Cheers Hamish
Hi Paola – I have been following you on twitter recently. I love your style of story telling and really enjoy your honest and accessible approach. I’m also an amateur, also with the WSET Advanced but working in a very different industry, with a keen passion and desire to write about wine experiences & use and find some creative outlet. I’m moving to Malaysia (yes, not clever from a booze point of view!) next year and I wondered if you knew of wine bloggers in the far east? I’m also interested in how one ‘makes a living’ from blogging – sorry if that’s crude or ignorant, and not that I’m planning on it, I’m just very curious!
Thanks!
Jack
Hi Jack – in terms of connecting with bloggers out East, I’m happy to ask around via the European Wine Bloggers Forum. I’ll send you an email on your other question. Best of luck with it!
Hey Paola, I’m looking forward to seeing you once again at my pop up blind tasting “Savouring Syrah”.
The event hashtag will be #SavouringSyrah
Follow on Twitter @rovingsommelier
Best wishes
Robert
Hi Paola,
I organise events and tastings in the UK from time to time for clients in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Chile. If you would be interested in being invited, could you send me your email address?
Thanks – hope to stay in touch
Richard
Hi Paola
I wanted to reach out and say hi, I’m Alaina the editor at eVines. We just launched our site a few weeks back – a wine bloggers collective involving people like Old Parn, Graped Crusader, Miss Bouquet and many others.
We love your blog and have just listed you in our Best of British wine blogs on evines.co.uk. I hope you like the article – if you are interested in contributing your own stuff to eVines from time to time please let me know. We’d love to have you on the site!
We’re doing quite a lot of social media push around this article so you may want to mention and link it to your readers? Any help on FB and Twitter would be welcome as well.
Please let me know whenever you’ve got anything of interest on your own blog that you’d like extra exposure with. Anyway, congrats on being in the list and hope to hear from you soon.
Alaina Henderson
Rumours of a wine shop in Acton opening up in February . Are they true ? in desparate need of a good wine shop
The rumours are true. Though it won’t open ’til March now. Hopefully in time for Easter. So glad you think one is needed. We’re looking forward to opening.
Being wine enthusiasts, it’s nice to discover bloggers as passionate as we are!
Would love for you to write some posts on our up and coming blog. Do let us know if you’re interested!
Hi Paola I’d like to send you some info about an inovational new wine from Origin in SA, The Stormhoek Stack. may I have your email address pls
rosie
Hi Rosie
My email address is in my bio above.
Thx
Hi,
I hope you are well. My name is Niklas Ridoff. I am co-founder of a project called WineTourism.com, a global marketplace for wine tourism.
Recently we did a survey to understand the Covid-19 impact on Global Wine Tourism. I want to share the survey with your blog.
We have published the report on our website – winetourism.com/reports/
In total more than 1200 wineries participated from 34 different countries. I think the report gives a good overview on the topic, especially about the recovery time and the long-term expectations on wine tourism. We have also segmented the survey result so you can browse it on country and wine region level.
I hope you take the time to brief it.
If you want more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best Regards/
Niklas Ridoff