Hell’s Kitchen Season 7 winner Chef Holli Ugalde  is all set for the 3rd edition of the International Wine Tourism Conference and a packed Blogger/Media programme of winery, restaurant and hotel visits.

“I’ve been finishing all of my last minute preparations for my trip this Friday. I have my bags packed full of chef coats, high heels, and hiking boots… Everything a traveling chef might need. Friday morning I’ll leave Los Angeles and start my long journey to Portugal… Why Portugal you might ask? Well my great friends from Celebrity Wine Review and I are headed to the 3rd Annual International Wine Tourism Conference in Porto at the Palacio do Freixo. We were invited by Anthony Swift from Wine Pleasures who has set up the event for the last 3 years.

Anthony has arranged the most incredible tour of the best wineries that Portugal has to offer. I am going to dig deep into the heart of their wine, food and culture. And to make everything just a little better I will be accompanied by a camera crew. Yes we will be filming everything!

So here is your insider information… this is the beginning of a new show: food, travel, wine and me! I couldn’t be more excited. I will post pictures of everything very soon and will write all about the trip when I get back. I have a feeling that this will be a whirlwind of an experience so expect a bunch of great stories!”

Registered conference delegates will get to meet Chef Holli on Monday 31st January. Together with Chef Holli Enterprise Manager Inc, James Love she will be delivering a talk titled “Travel Fusion: Wine and Food Tourism Working Together” and will be working Chef Álvaro Costa of the conference venue, Palacio do Freixo. Together they will be combining experience and know-how to prepare conference delegates a delightful lunch served with wines from California and Portugal. Online delegate registration ends today and on the door tickets will be considerably higher and subject to availability.