Live from the Wine Bloggers Conference

Well, this is certainly interesting. I’m in a room with a hundred and fifty other wine bloggers, at the opening session of the WBC. the air is filled with chatter, everyone’s blogging as fast as they can, and my glass is… …empty. Winemakers are supposed to be swapping tables every 5 minutes to pour and explain a different wine, but there appear to be more tables than winemakers. So we’ve started with the “gift” wine that came in our tchotchke bags, and we’re pouring it for ourselves.

Keep in mind that we have just minutes per wine, including listening to the winemaker, so these are hasty sketches and first impressions.

Getting ready for the Wine Blogger Conference

It’s been a crazy week, and every day I look at my blog and think, “today’s the day I’m going to do a little blogging.” I’ve got so many posts running around my head, waiting to come out. And then I get caught up in the myriad business-critical things going on at Able Grape Central, and, well, by 9 pm I just want to chill out with a nice glass of wine and a good book (yesterday’s pairing was the 2001 William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru “Valmur,”, an acidic, minerally, leesy/honeyed bit of yum that I just couldn’t keep my hands off of, even though I really should wait another 3-5 years, and Niccolò Ammaniti’s latest book “Come Dio Comanda,” which won the “Strega” prize for Italian literature. Too early to comment on the book, but so far it seems on a par with Ammaniti’s usual blend of excellent writing and a really sick imagination).

Over the next couple of days I’ll have the pleasure of meeting many of you at the Wine Bloggers Conference, in Santa Rosa. Earlier this year I had the good fortune to attend the European Wine Blogger Conference, the first ever of its kind, and it was fantastic. I look forward to seeing how the two events differ, and to connecting with a lot of you over the weekend. Please say hi!