Wine Bloggers from around the globe descended on Portland, Oregon and were greeted with open arms and open bottles of Oregon wine. Read here for a report from the Oregonian.
This was my first time attending the Wine Bloggers Conference but it felt more like a family reunion than anything else. Here are some highlights:
Many wine writers arrived early and took advantage of pre-conference excursions that included trips to area wineries and visits with the wine makers. The Oregon Wine Board hosted a pre-conference reception that included over 30 Oregon wineries pouring some of their best wines and talking about what they loved about their Oregon wines. Old friends reunited. New wine writers put a face to the names of many of the blogs and twitter names they follow.
Randall Graham opened the conference with a moving discussion on his life in wine making but then he stuck around and sat down with many of the bloggers and joined them for the live blogging session. When I asked him what his advice would be for the 21+ something crowd who were just getting into learning about, and appreciating, wine he replied “Drink slow and drink really good wine”.
The next day the conference goers were treated to an afternoon with Rex Pickett, writer of Sideways. It was an informal conversation led by Alana Gentry that kept the room laughing for almost an hour.
The days started early (although mercifully not too early) and went all day with a fantastic combination education and wine socializing.
Saturday evening King Estates Winery took over the kitchen at the DoubleTree hotel and presented a five course gourmet dinner for all. It was an elegant evening that featured the Wine Blog Awards presented in a full on Oscar style presentation.
Wine tours, education, interactive sessions, and lots of camaraderie were the order of the day.
That is how the entire conference went. Wine makers were accessible to the wine writers. New and old friends exchanged tips and ideas for better wine blogging. And then there was the wine.
In the end what everyone was saying was that they wished this weekend could last longer. As the conference wrapped up Sunday afternoon the team from Zephyr Adventures and Penticton Canada announced plans for the Wine Bloggers Conference 2013.
And even though the 2012 conference is over the conversation is not. Bloggers have been blogging, tweeters have been tweeting, and many attendees have already registered for next years event.
Actually, this is a really fun event to attend whether you are a wine blogger or not. Thanks to Zephyr Adventures and everyone involved with putting together this amazing weekend.
This guest post was contributed by Mary Heston, a wine blogger and friend of Zephyr Adventures!
@maryheston
@womenwhowine