It’s not every day that I have something as exciting to announce as I do today.
So, without further adieu, I’m happy and proud to announce that wine bloggers from across the country (maybe the world), will be descending upon Sonoma County, CA on October 24, 2008 for a three day conference, the first conference of its kind. It’s the Wine Bloggers Conference 2008.
There will be speakers like Gary Vaynerchuk and Alice Feiring, vineyard walks, tasting competitions and wine dinners. There will also be an informal (or maybe even a formal) New York wine tasting if I can get a handful of NY vintners to sign on with me.
Yes, that obviously means that I’m going to be flying out for it. It’s going to be amazing finally meeting many of the bloggers that I already count as friends through virtual interaction over the four-plus years of LENNDEVOURS’ existence.
My flight is booked. I’ve reserved a room at a fellow blogger’s house and I can’t wait for October to arrive.
In the meantime, check out the full press release behind the click. And, if you’re a New York winery interested in sending some wines along with me, just let me know. Something tells me that some cool-climate wines will be very welcome after a couple nights drinkin Somoma wines.
Changing World of Wine Journalism
Focus of
2008 Wine Bloggers Conference
Wine Bloggers from
Across America To Converge in Wine Country
(SONOMA, Calif) America’s new wine
media will gather in Sonoma County, California on October 24-26 for
the first annual Wine Bloggers Conference. As the number and influence
of wine bloggers grows, the Sonoma gathering plans to bring together
hundreds of online wine scribes to discuss their impact, how to better
impart information to wine lovers across the globe, and how to stake
their claim as the next generation of wine media.
Organized by the OpenWine Consortium
and Zephyr Wine Adventures, the three-day conference will take place
at the Flamingo Resort and Spa in Santa Rosa, California. Wine Bloggers
and other attendees will be treated to a series of seminars, vineyard
walks, wine dinners, tasting competitions, and an exposition of mass
wine blogging.
WINE BLOGGING CHANGING WINE JOURNALISM
AND EDUCATION
âWine
blogging in America has exploded in terms of the number of people maintaining
wine blogs as well as their impact on how wine lovers and the industry
get their news and interpret it,â said Joel Vincent, an organizer
of the conference. The wine blogging community has always been close
knit but never had an event of its own or opportunity to all come together
to discuss the state of their efforts. This is that chance.â
In addition to wine bloggers, the conference
is open to wine industry participants and media professionals that want
to learn more about the wine blogging community and how it is changing
the way wine information and news is communicated.
Among the speakers at the 2008 Wine
Bloggers Conference will be Alice Feiring, an award-winning writer and
author who also maintains her own wine blog, and Gary Vaynerchuk, author,
wine retailer and proprietor of the wildly popular Wine Library TV videoblog.
WINE BLOGGERS WIELDING INCREASED
CLOUT
The
sponsors of this yearâs conference indicate the importance and growing
influence of wine bloggers. Among those sponsoring the conference are
Sebastiani Vineyards, the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, the Sonoma County
Vintners Association, and the Sonoma Winegrape Commission.
âFor
literally decades wine writing and popular wine education has been dominated
by a few very visible critics and wine publications, yet the emergence
of hundreds of wine blogs and their millions of readers is changing
that old model,â explained Vincent. âTechnology is changing the
wine industry is and the way it is covered and explored that has broader
and more democratic character. The bloggers attending this yearâs
conference are responsible for implementing these changes.â
More information on the 2008 Wine Bloggers
Conference can be found at: http://www.winebloggersconferen
OpenWine Consortium is a global, non-profit
wine industry association featuring the newest generation of emerging
companies, wineries, publishers, services and a motivated community
dedicated to changing the world of wine.
Zephyr Wine Adventures is the leading
provider of active hiking, biking, and multisport wine vacations in
locations throughout the world.