Today is Wednesday, Wine Blogging Wednesday, so last night I prepared for my task of “Got Gamay?” by opening up a bottle which is readily available to most consumers. Wondering what I am talking about? (Cue up Sonny and Cher singing a variation of “I Got You, Babe” as “I Got Gamay, Babe!”)
“Drink What You Like” hosts April’s Wine Blogging Wednesday 68 – Got Gamay? where wine bloggers from around the world taste and blog on a common theme each month (thanks to Lenn Thompson of New York Cork Report who started the monthly event over five years ago!) The host writes, “Gamay is unfortunately best know as the grape that produces Beaujolais Nouveau, popularized by George Duboeuf.”
Since we also had a pork tenderloin planned for dinner, possibly stuffed with canned plums (yum!), I thought I’d double check around the web and see what people had to say about this pairing where I found this article on various chefs’ wine pairings with pork tenderloin.While each chef had a different wine to suggest depending on the presentation of the pork, I found one chef who appreciates beaujolais with the “other” white meat: Continue reading →
Over the weekend, I heard good news and bad: the bad news was that I was on the waiting list for a scholarship to this year’s Wine Blogging Conference in Walla Walla Washington.
The good news was that I was on the waiting list for the Wine Blogger’s Conference Scholarship–and if enough money came into the Scholarship Fund, I’d be on my way to Washington in mid-June!!
You can imagine I was already on pins and needles waiting this past week to find out if I’d won a scholarship, and now, I’d have to wait longer! My mind raced, wondering ho I could help drum up more cash for the conference–and how far down I was on the waiting list.
I am sure you can also imagine my relief and my excitement when I checked my email during a break in my Monday night Women’s Economic Ventures class to discover I’d won!! As soon as I got home, I told my spouse and we popped the cork on the bottle of Domaine Ste. Michelle Sparkling wine I had waiting for this moment! Continue reading →
The Blog “Drink What You Like” is the host for April’s Wine Blogging Wednesday 68 – Got Gamay? a virtual gathering of wine bloggers from around the world who taste and blog about a wine based on a common theme each month thanks to Lenn Thompson of New York Cork Report who started the monthly event over five years ago.
The host writes, “Selecting the topic for this month’s topic was an easy decision as I’ve developed quite a Cru Beaujolais fetish over the last couple of years.” Gamay is grown throughout the world, he points out, and adds “Gamay is unfortunately best know as the grape that produces Beaujolais Nouveau, popularized by George Duboeuf.”
Want to join us? On or before Wednesday, April 21st write about your Gamay tasting experience and post it on your blog!
So what will you drink? Unless I find a bottle of Washington Gamay, I’ve got a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais right here which I found at my local grocery store and which might work to get something posted next Wednesday…but the following day, April 22, I will be attending the Delicious Wine Tour in Los Angeles and will have the opportunity to taste a lot of French wine.
I hereby declare that it will be my duty to focus on Gamay Beaujolais and report back here the most memorable Gamay they got.
And in the meantime, I’ve got a backlog of Washington wines to blog about as I sit here on pins and needles waiting to hear whether I got a scholarship to the Wine Bloggers Conference and whether they have enough money to fund me! (So if you can, please contribute!)
The. video above gives you a taste of what a Wine Bloggers Conference is like and why I am applying for a scholarship to attend this year’s conference in Walla Walla, Washington where the emphasis on tasting, tours, and education will be on Washington wines. As a Californian who lives near the Santa Barbara wine region, I have access to tasting and purchasing an abundance of excellent California wines. Being near LA, I am also invited to industry events and wine tastings and can learn about wines from other regions.
But there is nothing like a Wine Bloggers Conference to really get to know the wines of the region that is being showcased. In recent weeks, in order to learn more about Washington wines and to write about them in the hopes of winning a ride on the WBC-Or-Bust bus (see the badge on the side bar?), I’ve been trying to find and taste Washington wines and have come up woefully and surprisingly short. Trader Joe’s and Vons offer little in the way of Washington wines (they offer mostly the same ones!), and my favorite wine store, the Ventura Wine Company, carries mostly California wines with only a smattering of wines from other places, and very few from Washington. And I’m not one of those wine bloggers being bombarded with wine samples either!
Even a trip on my own to Washington wouldn’t provide me with anything close to what the Wine Bloggers Conference can do when it comes to tasting a large variety of Washington wines, getting to know the different regions and what they have to offer, meeting the wine makers, and touring the facilities.
However, if you still want to apply for a scholarship to the WBC 2010, you can still send in your application over the weekend (like NOW) and it will be reviewed: wbcscholarship at gmail dot com. They need to know the following about you and your blog:
Full Name
Contact information including email and phone number
Blog address and what you’re all about
Requested funds – please be specific, and indicate if you need the registration fee, full or partial hotel, full or partial airfare. Remember, that times are tough and a lot of people need assistance, so please be honest and realistic about your requirements.
In 250 words or less, please tell us why you would like to attend the WBC and why we should consider your application.
I am now working on my application in hopes that I will receive a scholarship and once again attend the fabulous Wine Bloggers Conference. I’d really like to learn more about Washington wines at the source–Washington!!–and share the experience here on Wine Predator with you as I did in Santa Rosa in 2008 and 2009 as well as in Lisbon 2009.
And if you can, please support the Wine Bloggers Scholarship fund and help send needy wine bloggers to Walla Walla Washington! The fund is $1500 short of its goal to fund 10 bloggers (and hopefully one of those 10 bloggers will be me!)
No, I don’t mean the Wine Bloggers Conference has sold out ethically–it’s sold out sold out! That means maybe if you’re lucky, and you join the waiting list TODAY, you’ll get a spot.
Why would you want to go? As someone who has attended the past two years in Santa Rosa as well as the European Wine Bloggers conference in Lisbon, I can tell you attending is an amazing experience. You can read about my experiences via the many posts I put up each year on the pages above.
The first year the conference focused on Sonoma country wines and those from New Zealand. In 2009, we traveled all over Napa to taste that region’s wines and there was a tasting of wines from Portugal also. The Portugal conference highlighted Portuguese wines in a way impossible without traveling all over Portugal. 2010’s conference will emphasize the wines of the host state, Washington with tours and tastings and talks.
These conferences bring to the wine blogger an astounding array of incredible wines. Often the winemaker is in attendance to share more about what makes his or her wines special. If you’re one of the 1,000 wine bloggers out there, you’d have the opportunity to up your game by tasting 100s of wines in the company of wine bloggers and wine professionals.
The conferences are a great value as well. The meals are absolutely fabulous and match marvelously with the wines! So what else could you ask for? Wine, food, friends, plus guest speakers and sessions designed to improve your knowledge of wine and wine blogging. Learn more at the Wine Bloggers Conference website.
If this sounds too good to be true, it almost is. Here are a few more details form the website about who should attend and how much it costs.
Who Should Attend
Citizen Bloggers who write about wine or the wine industry on their own. In 2010, we are also focusing on wine & food pairing and so invite all food bloggers as well!
Winery Bloggers who have a winery-related blog. We will have special content tailored to winery bloggers.
New Media Innovators who work in the world of blogging and social media.
Wine Industry members who would like to learn about new media or interact with bloggers.
Cost, Payment, Cancellation, and What is Included
The cost of the conference is $95 for citizen wine bloggers (those unaffiliated with a business or organization), $195 for industry wine bloggers (those whose blog is affiliated with a winery, retail store, or other business or organization), and $295 for non-blogger participants (industry, media relations professionals, friends and family, etc). We are able to offer a lower price to citizen bloggers and wine-industry bloggers because it is for these folks our sponsors underwrite the conference. If you are a member of OpenWine Consortium, you will receive a discount of $10 (just indicate your membership on the registration along with your member name and we’ll discount it automatically). Payment is required in advance by credit card.
Today is Wednesday, Wine Blogging Wednesday, so last night I prepared for my task of “Got Gamay?” by opening up a bottle which is readily available to most consumers. Wondering what I am talking about? (Cue up Sonny and Cher singing a variation of “I Got You, Babe” as “I Got Gamay, Babe!”)
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 