So guess who’s going to Australia in 2019?

WINE BLOGGERS ATTENDING THE WINE BLOGGERS CONFERENCE!

That’s right, the organizers of the long running Wine Bloggers Conference just announced two days ago that the 2019 conference will be held in a region to be named in AUSTRALIA! 

• The event will very likely be in the month of October or November and take place in or near major wine regions.
• Longer overnight pre-conference and post-conference excursions will be added.
• Orientation of the conference is not just to North American and Australian/New Zealand attendees but also to folks in Europe, Asia, South Africa, and other wine regions.

I don’t know all the details yet — not sure if anyone does — but as I wrote right after the Super Bowl in this post, “Wine Australia partnered with Tourism Australia in a $36 million marketing campaign in the USA aimed at boosting interest in Australia as a tourism destination with a Super Bowl launch.” It’s had almost a million views.

And who is partnering withThe Wine Bloggers Conference? Wine Communicators of Australia!

AUS Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston says that the wine industry is one of Australia’s most important, and they expect their investment to bring in up to $170 million to the economy via 40,000 additional international tourists visiting the AUS wine regions by 2019–20.

‘This campaign puts the spotlight on contemporary Australia and we hope it inspires Americans to discover the beauty and sophistication of our wine regions and try some exceptional Australian wine,” says Ruston in the press release.

I had no idea about this when, in my own pre-game coverage, I featured a competition between two wines from the US made in bourbon barrels and two wines from AUS made in a similar fashion and we asked which went best with pulled pork!

For more information and to view the campaign visit Twitter: @Wine_Australia; Instagram: @WineAustralia; Facebook: WineAustralia; Website: www.wineaustralia.com.

So now guess who else is going to AUSTRALIA?

The Wine Pairing Weekend Crew this June!

Okay not literally, although I bet some of us WILL be getting on a plane to head to OZ in 2019 — and I sure hope I will be one of them! I mean figuratively — in our imaginations that is — as we will be focused on wines from Australia to pair with foods on the grill.

Can you say: SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE?

I know, someone had to say it so I figured it ought to be me and we’ll just get it out of the way. Although shrimp on the barbie is ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES (hint hint) and for some reason we really make it around here… but we better get on it quick because the season in the Santa Barbara Channel closes in a few weeks!

Anyway, if YOU want to join us, it’s easy!

• Contact me to tell me you’re in by commenting on this post below! You can also email me. Include your blog URL, Twitter handle,  and any other social media details. If you know your blog post title, include that…but you can also send that closer to the event. We’d just like to get a sense of who’s participating and give some shout-outs and links as we go.
• Prepare a dish on the BARBIE (preferable AUS regional!) to pair with your chosen wine from Australia. Write up your experience and get ready to post and share.
• Consider discussing whether you’ve been to AUS, and whether you’ve been to a WBC, and if you got to WBC19 in AUS, where do you think we should go and what should we do?
• Send your post title to me by midnight Tuesday, June 5 to be included in the preview post. I will prepare a preview post shortly after getting the titles, linking to your blogs. Your title should include “#WinePW.”
• Publish your post between 8am Friday June 8 PDT to 8 a.m. PDT Saturday, June 9. You can always schedule your post in advance if you will be tied up.
• Include links to the other #WinePW participants in your post and a description of what the event is about. I’ll provide the HTML code that you can easily put in your initial post — which will link to people’s general blog url — then add the updated code for the permanent links to everyone’s #winePW posts.
• Get social! After the posts go live, please visit your fellow bloggers’ posts to comment and share. We have a Facebook group for participating bloggers to connect and share, too. (If you aren’t a part of this and want to be included, please mention that when you contact me.)
• Twitter chat 8am PST Sat. June 9: Please join us online for our monthly twitter chat. I will create a set of questions to guide our discussion which will be posted in our Facebook group. You can schedule your answers but it’s more fun to join us live! All are welcome — you don’t have to have a blog post.
• Sponsored posts are OK if clearly disclosed. Please be sure to disclose if your post is sponsored or if you are describing wine or other products for which you have received a free sample.

See you Down Under!