Happy 13th Anniversary to Texas Wine Lover!

I find it amazing it has been 13 years already since I created the Texas Wine Lover (TWL) blog on March 20^th, 2011. Time sure flies!

When I am asked what Texas Wine Lover is, I say that it started as a blog, but it soon became much more than a blog with many resources such as the Texas winery listings, Texas vineyard listings, and more. Last year was a continuation of the massive additions I did with the website Guide, Plan Your Trip, and the Texas Wine Lover mobile app which further enhances the Texas wine resources available.

I didn’t think of the consequences after I added the new additions because it in effect quadrupled the amount of work I was already doing! I solved a large part of that problem last year when Amie Nemec and I became business partners. That allowed some of the items to be divided among us. At the end of last year, unfortunately, Amie had to stop being a co-owner for personal reasons, but she is still available to consult with me when I need guidance and suggestions.

I retired from my day job last year which I thought would help with my workload. I was spending time on Texas Wine Lover only at night and on weekends, so I thought things would really be easier after retirement. I’m still trying to determine what went wrong with that idea because my nighttime job became a 24 hours, 7 days a week job! I’m working harder on Texas Wine Lover, but as some of my friends have said, I am working on something I love.

If you have been following Texas Wine Lover, we have blog posts, winery listings, vineyard listings, a Texas wine festival list, reviews, trip planning, business listings, and much more. Since I am the only person that has the knowledge of everything on the website, I started writing posts about the different menu items on the website to help you learn what is there. You can find those posts at the bottom of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

The blog has continued to provide information about the Texas wine industry with the help of, coincidentally, 13 writers who make up the Texas Wine Lover writing team. Also on the team is John Harvey, who is our Restaurant Ambassador. He has been working hard trying to get restaurants to serve Texas wine and was instrumental in helping with the Texas Wine Lover Card that can be given to businesses from anybody to suggest they carry Texas wine.

In my spare time, I still visit Texas wineries and have enjoyed visiting new wineries to meet new faces in the Texas wine industry. I enjoy going back to some of my favorite wineries I have visited before or visiting the wineries that are new to me that one of the TWL writers have written about. I am now distributing table tents to wineries for their tasting bar, so their customers can download the Texas Wine Lover mobile app to see their listing and other nearby wineries. If any wineries are reading this, please let me know if you do not have a table tent yet for your tasting bar. As I write this, I have visited 511 Texas wineries over the 13 years of Texas Wine Lover, and I see there are a lot more I need to visit this year.

Paying for the continual expenses for the website and mobile app are not easy, so I would like to first thank our advertisers for their direct ads on the website and mobile app plus those who have used one of our many advertising options so we can help spread the word about their business. Download our advertising package today and let Texas Wine Lover help you. I would also like to thank the wineries and local businesses who have claimed their listings in the website Guide and mobile app, and then selected a paid membership plan. A low $10/month or more membership for a listing helps to pay expenses so we can continue bringing everybody the Texas Wine Lover website and mobile app and spreading the word about Texas wine. Please remember to keep your listings updated with your recent information, days/hours open, and more. Doing that allows Texas Wine Lover users to find you and your business.

Our social media presence is still going strong with a strong following on our Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Our Facebook group was renamed last year to Texas Wine Friends and is extremely active. I know I’m biased, but I think it is the best Texas wine Facebook group with an excellent mix of consumers and industry people.

Thank you to everybody who has supported Texas Wine Lover through the years. Let’s work toward year fourteen!