Wow!  That’s all I can say about the blur that was the 2nd annual Wine Blogger’s Conference held in Sonoma, CA.  As a first-timer, I was very impressed with the agenda and the events that were held… and I was even more impressed with meeting my fellow bloggers face-to-face for the first time.  To share everything with you may take a few posts, but don’t worry, we’ve got nothing but time in this world, right?  And as long as you have a glass of wine in your hand, it’s all good.

First, I need to thank the Open Wine Consortium and Zephyr Wine Adventures for orchestrating such a jam-packed weekend.  The only feedback I have is that wi-fi and bandwidth availability should be a pretty high-priority on the list for next year’s event and let’s please add in some time between sessions for networking and collaboration.  Additionally, all the sponsors listed here must be thanked for making this thing even possible.  Thanks to them, all our glasses were kept full and several wineries allowed us to visit.

Here are some wineries and winemakers I was able to chat with and get a feel for what it’s like standing in their shoes and hopefully they were able to get a feel for what social media can do for them.  Please check them out!

   Randall Graham (“The Original Rhone Deranger”) – Bonny Doon — Great website, by the way!

   Jennifer Higgins – Lancaster Estate - So laid back and fun… I’ll have more on my visit to Lancaster Estate later…

   Peter Spann – Spann Vineyards - Great engagement story, just ask @RickBakas

   Lesley Russell – St. Supery- Recently hired a Director of Social Media (Rick Bakas)

   Greg La Follette – Tandem – Just love the cycling reference

   Linzi Gay – Clif Family Winery & Farm – Here’s another extreme sport reference, I can’t help it.  Here’s an earlier interviewwith Sarah Gott — p.s. her Syrah at the WBC rawk’d!

   Jac Cole – Spring Mountain Vineyard- One of the oldest wineries in the area and Bee-you-tiful!


YouTube - Link toWBC09 Montage

Finally, here are some new friends that I met that you should definitely follow online if you want to know anything about wine or social media in the wine industry… I can say I learned quite a lot by talking with these wonderful people – again, this may not be a complete list and may take a few posts to share:

   Jim Morris – Michel-Schlumberger – @sonomawineguy

   Shana Ray – @Sharayray

   Christophe Smith – Titus Vineyards – @cork_dork and @Titus_TV

   Randy Hall – Wine Biz Radio – @randyhall and @winebizradio

   Rick Bakas – St. Supery - @RickBakas and @StSupery

   Frank Gutierrez – @FrankLovesWine

   Paul Mabray – VinTank – @PaulMabray and @VinTank

   Ashley Bellview – VinTank - @ashleybellview

   Eric Hwang – @bricksofwine

   Alana Gentry – @girlwithaglass

   Andrew Lazorchak – www.winesoiree.com

   Ken Hoggins – www.KensWineGuide.com

   Michael Bottigliero -  www.windycitywineguy.com

   Fred and Eva Swan – @NorCalWine

   Chris Donatiello – C. Dontiello Winery – @cdonatiello