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
Good stuff Ed. I am trying to urge myself to do a similar video with my shots from the trip. Enjoyed getting to chat some more in Sonoma/Napa. Let’s drink some wine soon.
Cheers, Jimmy
Definitely… you took some great pics, so just throw a collage together and some of your fav music… I have some food friends I want to introduce you to and I think we should have a wine/food get together at my house here in the next month… I’ll be in touch
Ed, this is a great video! Would there be anyway I could convince you to upload it to the WBC video page for everyone to experience? http://video.winebloggersconference.org/
Very easy, to convince Easy E… I have posted the video tot he conference site… thanks for the props…
Ed,
It was a real pleasure meeting you at the conference. I agree, the wine bloggers conference was truly amazing and a great opportunity to meet winemakers and taste exclusive wines that are otherwise hard to find. The only person I missed at the conference was Randall Graham of Bonny Doon Winery. His website rocks and I’ve heard his wines are to die for. Hope to see you next year. Better yet, Hope to be working with you in the Napa valley very soon. Cheers!
Frank,
The pleasure was all mine. Thanks for your generosity and insights into the new social media scene in Napa/Sonoma. Randall Graham was a trip to chat with, he’s got history and character, could spend hours with that guy. Definitely hope to see you sooner than the Holla at the Walla in ’10!