If you have found this online magazine and want to know more, here is a little bit of detail about my writing, wine and life.
I am a journalist (trained at Wellington Polytechnic on an old fashioned typewriter in 1989), author (15 published books, all about wine) and wine writer (first column in 1994 for Capital Times newspaper, now Capital magazine, in Wellington), the city I currently live in where I love the hills, the harbour and the great outdoors. When not writing, tasting wine for work or enjoying it for pleasure, I love music, cooking for friends, travelling (who doesn’t?) and walking in the hills.
I adore Wellington’s physical beauty but my turangawaewae is the South Island of New Zealand.
Like all published authors, I am working on the next book…
Enough about me. If you’d like to get in touch, contact details are below.
My bio
- I am a journalist, wine writer and author and remember the first moment I fell in love with wine on a dark and stormy night, literally, when I was bitten by the big buttery Chardonnay bug at a cafe in Wellington, New Zealand, in the late 1980s.
- I trained in journalism on an old fashioned typwriter at Wellington Polytechnic in 1989.
- I currently work as a wine writer and update this website every Friday.
- I work as a wine advisor at Regional Wines & Spirits; writing and tasting wines from around the world on an (almost) daily basis.
- I am on the judging panel at the 2019 Marlborough Wine Show.
- I have judged at wine shows regularly since 1995; mostly in New Zealand and also in Australia and South Africa.
- I hold the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s highest qualification, the Level 4 Diploma.
- I write for Good magazine, NZ Winegrower, Drinksbiz, Capital magazine and www.joellethomson.com
- I wrote my first wine column in 1994 and am the author of 16 wine books (published by New Holland and HarperCollins), including 10 annual wine guides.
- I regularly host wine tastings for private and corporate groups.
- My teaching spans many years at the New Zealand School of Food & Wine in Auckland where I taught certificate wine courses (both New Zealand and the WSET – Wine & Spirit Education Trust).
If you have found this online writing portal and have ideas, need advice on wine or want to make contact, email: mailme@joellethomson.com
