Untitled-1By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor

The wine bloggers are coming east — and it's about time.

The Wine Bloggers Conference 2010 in Walla Walla, Washington concluded on Sunday with organizers announcing that next year's conference will take place in Charlottesville, Virginia
July 22-24, marking the events first non-West Coast location.

Virginia beat out Paso Robles in California and New York's Finger Lakes region to be awarded the conference.

I applaud the folks behind the event for breaking out of their West Coast rut and bringing the conference to the East Coast. I think it's an excellent choice and know that the folks in Virginia will put on a good show.

When I was in Virginia this spring for Drink Local Wine 2010, sure I  enjoyed some of the wines that I tasted, but more importantly I came away thoroughly impressed with the people behind them — a diverse, talented group of people who will no doubt continue to develop and solidify Virginia's place in the wine world.

It's more than a year away, but I plan to be at WBC 2011 and hope that the East Coast location means that more — and different — bloggers will attend. Heck, hopefully we can get a few European wine bloggers to fly over. That's one big advantage of the location I hope!

In the meantime, if you're looking for great information on Virginia wines, there are some very well-done blogs that either occasionally delve into VA wines or focus on them entirely: