"Chat Princess" Chat Princess Cynthia Although one of our primary mottoes is "no points, no gurus, no royalty," we see no inconsistency in declaring Cynthia Wenslow our "Chat Princess." In this role her simple duties involve reminding WineLovers Discussion Group members when it's Chat time, beating the drums to draw up a crowd, and gracing the Chat room with her presence, when she can, whenever we assemble in regular session. Cynthia hails originally from western New York state, and she says her interest in wine goes back to childhood. "Along with his gig as a university math professor, my father was - and remains - a home winemaker. Put this together with my geeky love of the 'Net and my affinity for people, and WLDG Chat is a natural fit!" Cynthia's varied career path has ranged through emergency medical services, teaching, photography, music and book restoration to web and graphic design and network administration. She is a working and exhibiting artist, and her poetry, photographs and artwork have been regularly published. She adds, "I prefer to think of myself as multifaceted, not unfocused!" Among her many interests are wine and food, cooking, reading, gardening, hiking, technology, philosophy, microfinancing, and vernacular photography. In addition to pursuing artwork and other creative outlets, Cynthia currently works as an administrator of a non-profit institution in Santa Fe, N.M., serving a worldwide clientele. We're mighty happy to have her as our Chat Princess. You can find her online on WLDG at just about any time, and in Chat during our regular Sunday and Wednesday sessions. (See the schedule at left)

Welcome to WLDG Chat, the WineLoversPage.com Chat Room!

We schedule formal "online tastings" and "meet-the-expert" sessions from time to time, but we always have informal gatherings, scheduled for the convenience of participants in different parts of the world, twice each week. The following schedule prevails during Northern Hemisphere Daylight (Summer) Time:

• SUNDAY: Primarily for participants in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the UK, this session begins at 4 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time, 1 p.m. Pacific, which is 2000 GMT (9 p.m. in the UK, 22:00 in Western Europe, 8 a.m. Monday in New Zealand, and 6 a.m. Monday in Sydney.
• WEDNESDAY: This session begins at 9:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (0130 Thursday GMT), 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time, and is most convenient for participants in the Western Hemisphere, although folks in Asia and Down Under have been known to join in - it's 2 p.m. Thursday in New Zealand, noon in Sydney, 11:30 a.m. in Adelaide, 11 a.m. in Tokyo and 10 a.m. in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Other organized groups may use the chat room at other times, and these chats are generally open to the public. If you're not certain about the time in your local area, try the World Time Server or the Time Zones of the World Page.

Please feel free to check in at any time and see if you find anyone around; impromptu chat sessions are always welcome. On every page of the WineLovers Discussion Group you'll see a counter that will tell you if anyone is in the Chat Room; clicking that link will take you directly there. As with our interactive forums, we welcome new participants regardless of your level of expertise, asking only that participants use their own real names, avoid commercial or off-topic subjects, and refrain from personal attacks or "flaming."

We remain grateful to Roy "PortoLover" Hersh, who took time out from his many other responsibilities for many years to host the forum's Wednesday chats.

Roy, who is considered one of the leading Port wine authorities and writers in the United States, is a passionate student of wines from around the world. You will find a number of his Port reports online in our Words About Port files. Roy is always welcome in our chats, but if you'd like to find him with a Port question, or read his voluminous writing on the subject, we suggest you check out his major Port Website, ForTheLoveOfPort.com.