About

About Julia

After traveling for several years throughout Europe as a travel agent and creating wine tour programs for escorted tours in Europe, I left the travel industry to focus on the wines of Oregon.  Living in the heart of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley inspired me to open a wine shop and wine bar that focused solely on Oregon wine.  Wine enthusiasts were able to experience wine from Oregon’s best known wineries to wineries that were truly Oregon’s best kept secrets.  After being open for just nine months, my wine shop and wine bar, named Julia’s, was voted one of the top five wine bars in Lane County, Oregon.

In March of 2010, I was offered an opportunity to write for the South Willamette Wineries Association, and I soon discovered my passion for writing about wine.  I sold Julia’s Wine Shop and Wine Bar in April of 2010, and soon after I was offered the position as Food and Wine Editor for a hyper-local on-line news source, where I created and wrote two long-standing columns.

WineJulia.com was a collaboration project started in early 2012, and in June of 2014, an opportunity came my way that I could not refuse:  to work with Snooth as a Correspondent.

With the exciting changes in my career, I chose to end my partnership and enthusiastically moved to a sole proprietorship for WineJulia.com.  I’ve been working hard to give the site a fresh new look that truly reflects who I am.  With help from some valuable friendships I’ve made in the wine industry, a new name was born for WineJulia.com – one that has more meaning than most people will ever know:  TheRealWineJulia.com.

Thanks to several especially good friends in the wine-writing world, TheRealWineJulia.com has become a reality.  Ben Carter of the awesome wine site Benito’s Wine Reviews came up with the relevant and essential new name and designed the fabulously elegant new logo, all while keeping in mind who I am, and where I’ve been in my life.  Nannettte Eaton, also known as the Wine Harlot, had my back when I needed it the most and introduced me to a real life Wonder Woman, Amy Power of Another Wine Blog (one of the original wine bloggers).  Amy literally pulled all-nighters with me while lending a supporting hand and ear during the transition of WineJulia.com to TheRealWineJulia.com.  The people of the wine-writing industry are full of integrity, honesty and ingenuity, and we are one heck of a close-knit group.  I’m blessed to be among them all.

I am a laid back kind of gal, who prefers jeans, tee shirts and flip flops over dresses and heels, any day.  I love traveling, camping, hiking, the beach, craft brews, artisan spirits, and spending time with my three favorite guys – my husband and our two young boys.  I live in beautiful Eugene, Oregon, and I love being surrounded by the bountiful green rolling hills filled with the world renowned winegrowers, winemakers, vineyards and wineries of the Willamette Valley.

I am elated, thrilled and honored to bring wine to life through words, wisdom and wonderful photography on TheRealWineJulia.com.  You can also find me occasionally on Rick Dancer TV, and I make regular appearances on KPNWs Wake Up Call with Robb Holloway and Bill Lundun.

Wine is my passion, but I also enjoy writing about Oregon’s craft beverage movement.  Because of Oregon’s endless bounties, distilleries, meaderies, cideries and juice houses are opening up all over the state – the incredible products that these enthusiastic entrepreneurs are creating are well worth writing about.  So for the love of craft beverage, follow me over to oregoncraftbeverage.com – coming soon!

“There is no wave big enough to knock me off my board; I’ll surf with grace and ride with pride through both smooth and troubled waters.” ~ Julia Crowley