Please The Palate: More Than a Job
Allison Levine is the owner of Please The Palate, a boutique agency rooted in wine, travel, and storytelling. With more than two decades of experience in communications, marketing, and event planning, Allison’s work is driven by curiosity, cultural connection, and the belief that wine is one of the most powerful ways to understand a place and its people. Her journey through wine has been shaped as much by lived experience as by formal training. Allison holds a Master’s degree in International Communications with a focus on cross-cultural training from the American University School of International Service, a WSET Level 3 Certificate, and is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers.
When Passion Becomes a Profession
Before founding Please The Palate, Allison built her career across multiple facets of the wine industry. She led marketing and events at The Tasting Panel Magazine / Blue Lifestyle, producing more than 75 trade events annually across the United States. Earlier, she helped grow a start-up wine education business at LearnAboutWine, organizing classes and private events throughout Los Angeles, and later worked in wholesale sales at importer-distributor Chambers & Chambers. Each step added depth to her understanding of wine – but it was travel and firsthand discovery that ultimately defined her path.
A Global Journey Told Through Wine
A freelance writer with an international background, Allison has traveled extensively and lived abroad in Italy, Spain, and Mexico, where she developed a deep appreciation for how wine reflects culture, landscape, and identity. Her storytelling focuses on immersive experiences – vineyard walks, regional tastings, and conversations with the people behind the wines.
Her articles have appeared in Wine Traveler, Travel Curator, Wander with Wonder, Monarch.wine, California Winery Advisor, Organic Authority, SommJournal, The Tasting Panel, The Napa Valley Register, and more, in addition to her long-running blog, Please The Palate.
Allison is the U.S. host of the international podcast Wine Soundtrack, where she interviews winemakers and winery owners through a signature “30 Questions” format that reveals the personal stories behind the wines. She is also the creator of The Festival of Undiscovered Grapes, an event dedicated to celebrating lesser-known grape varieties and the winemakers who champion them.
A wine competition judge and frequent panel moderator, Allison continues her brightest journey by sharing stories that connect wine, place, and people across the globe.
Her work continues to celebrate discovery, curiosity, and the joy of finding meaning through wine travel.
- Founder of The Festival of Undiscovered Grapes, named #2 Best Wine Festival by USA Today 10Best (2025)
- Recipient of the Brightest Journey Award, Wine Travel Awards (2024-2025)
- USA Today 10Best Expert, contributing to Reader’s Choice Awards
- Member, Circle of Wine Writers
- Member, Women for WineSense
- Top 100 Wine Blog, Feedspot
- Top 101 Wine Writers award, Corking Wines (2020)
