The Wine Bloggers Conference 2011 took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, an area known for its close connections to wineries and history. The majority of events took place in the Omni Charlottesville Hotel located near the University of Virginia campus.
The downside was the record-breaking temperatures on the East Coast. The upside was the opportunity to listen to keynote speakers Jancis Robinson and Eric Asimov and taste many different local and international wines.
International Wine Tasting
On Thursday night, bloggers who arrived early to the conference were treated to an International wine tasting. Several wine regions from around the world were represented and each table had several wines to taste. South Africa and Chile tables offered detailed brochures on the wine regions. Vibrant Rioja, one of the event sponsors, was very pleasantly proactive about their wines.
Friday Events Included Keynote by Jancis Robinson
Three hours on Friday were set aside for registering, picking up a promotion bag and visiting with the many sponsors of the conference. Registering was quick. Besides the usual printed material, the promotion bag included a green stainless steel water bottle, small notebooks, a 500 ml boxed Chardonnay and a jar of Raspberry Pinot Noir jam. Meeting the sponsors gave bloggers the opportunity to network with organizations as well obtain information and taste wines.
Friday afternoon began with a keynote address by Jancis Robinson, a prolific wine writer. Her address emphasized that wine bloggers need to discover their own voice. Bloggers are writers and should seek to improve their writing.
The keynote address was followed by two breakout sessions. Bloggers were able to choose two of five topics: Millennials and Wine, Aromas of Wine with Winebow Wines, Online Technologies and Wine, Drinking Local and the Legalities of Wine. Of all the sessions, most informative and fun was the Aromas of Wine session.
Live Wine Blogging
After the breakout sessions concluded the next event was the Live Wine Blogging session. Particularly well organized, one wine was presented to each table of participants. Questions could be asked and the wine tweeted about. After five minutes another wine was presented. It was fast paced and fun.
The ultimate experience was attending the Monticello reception. This after-hour's event took place on a recording breaking heat wave day on the lawn at Monticello. Despite the heat, bloggers talked with 32 Virginia wineries that were pouring one red and one white wine. The Virginia Secretary of Agriculture spoke to the crowd. Hors d' oeuvres and small desserts were available. Some of the bloggers walked the grounds of Monticello and enjoyed visiting the lower level of the mansion as well as the living quarters. Some found their way to the vegetable gardens at a distance from the mansion. Located in the gardens are two small vineyards. Although Jefferson was never able to successfully grow vineyards and produce a bottle of wine, he did enjoy wine.
After arriving back at the hotel, those who were not exhausted from the day's activities and heat visited the hotel event room where wines were presented from the Other 46 states. Considering there are wineries in every state of the Union, the few states represented were surprising.
Saturday Events for Wine Bloggers with a Keynote by Eric Asimov
Saturday began with a presentation by several speakers about the Virginia wine history, terroir and wineries. After this presentation, bloggers quickly boarded buses knowing only that they were on their way to visit wineries. A luncheon was to be served at the last winery. The size of the conference meant that each busload went to different wineries. Visiting the wineries was a good way to get to know more about the Virginia wine story.
Upon returning to the hotel, Eric Asimov, a writer for the New York Times, gave a keynote address. Asimov suggested that wine bloggers be creative in writing about wine.
Soon it was time for another Live Wine Blogging event with the focus on red wines. This was as successful as the one the day before with white wines.
An elegant dinner was served at the hotel. Wine bloggers awards were announced at this time. The Fermentation blog received two of the awards.
For those who had a reserved amount of energy the night was still young. Vibrant Rioja Crawl was for those who were adventurous and willing to contend with the heat. Maps were distributed showing the location of five restaurants, all within walking distance. At each restaurant the map was stamped and bloggers received a glass of wine and perhaps an appetizer. The first four restaurants were easy to locate but with determination one could find the fifth restaurant located on the second floor near the hotel.
Sunday Morning Wrap-up
The last day of the conference began with Blogger-Led Community Discussions. The topics were The Present and Future of Wine Blogging, Wine Blogging and the Wine Industry and Reaching Outside the Wine World. These discussions should have had more direction, as the discussion seemed to stall or stick on one point.
A fun event was Ignite Wine! Several slide presentations took place with restrictions including a time limit of five minutes and the presentation was timed to slides that changed automatically every 15 seconds. While some of the presentations were serious others sought to be humorous.
The conference ended with a windup talk and the announcement of the location and dates for the Wine Bloggers Conference 2012. The next Wine Bloggers Conference takes place in Portland, Oregon in August 2012.
Wine bloggers may well want to consider attending the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference.
Kathleen Sullivan - Kathleen Sullivan is the co-owner and writer for Wine Trail Traveler, a winery and vineyard virtual visitor center. The Wine Trail ...
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