Palate Press: Champagne Wishes!

I’m currently the featured story on Palate Press. It’s a little article I whipped up about Champagne – some differences between the big houses and, my personal favorite, grower Champagnes. I also interviewed a few local retailers, including Ryan from Buttermilk’s Cork-n-Bottle and Jen from Kenwood’s Microwines.

Enjoy!

Under the Weather …

We're on a slight break here at My Wine Education, brought on mostly by the fact that I've been hit (rather hard) by the flu. 

Bleh. 

We'll be back as soon as I can taste wine again.

Cheers, 

Michelle

Happy Birthday to Kevin!

My husband, occasional blog contributor, beer-guy, and wine-event companion (he likes to joke that he is arm candy) is 30-something today.

Happy birthday Kevin!

Technical Difficulties

Forgive our extended lull. Not only am I having some trouble with the host of my blog, I'm also having more localized trouble. I installed Snow Leopard on my Mac last week and, as I saw someone state on Twitter, a real snow leopard would have caused less damage to my computer.

I'm in the midst of downgrading my operating system back to regular Leopard, fighting with my email and calendar programs (that no longer seem to work), finding my various contacts, appointments, emails, etc …

Ethics and Integrity

This isn't a wine post. It's an ethics post.

You see, I just got back from BlogHer, where I was disappointed in a lot of things. In particular, I was a bit floored to find all these women wanting to have sponsored posts. Now, in all fairness, it wasn't everybody, but it was enough to turn me off. In session after session, this topic came up and well, I just don't understand it.

You see, pay for post or sponsored posts mean that someone is being paid (in either product or money or both) to write a positive review post about the product. In my mind, this compromises credibility.  I simply cannot comprehend why anyone would want to do that. With that in mind, I've signed the Blog with Integrity pledge, just to reinforce the Disclaimer & Sample Policy I already have for this blog.

And just so you all know exactly where I'm coming from, here are the key points of my review policy:

I'm also a pretty big supporter of Creative Commons. That means that my blog is licensed under Creative Commons – Non Commercial. Aside from the Enquirer, to which I've granted special permission, you can use my content but you cannot edit it and you must credit me with the creation.

I use Creative Commons photos all the time. Previously I used any and all images licensed under CC, but since the Enquirer deal, I'll only use photos licensed for Commercial use. I will always provide attribution to the photographer as required under the license.

This all boils down to Don't Steal and Give Credit where Credit is Due.

Finally, you all are pretty timid in the comments, often preferring to email me. I've never really had any trouble. "Gentle readers" is a phrase that truly applies to you, and I appreciate that. But just in case, a quick reminder that we live by the Bill & Ted Rule here: Be Excellent to Each Other.