WBC 10: Top Gun Blogging

The last formal breakout sessions of the 2010 Wine Bloggers Confernece in Walla Walla WA are Top Gun Blogging with Andrew Lazorchak, Ben Simons and Joe Herrig and Bloggers, Wineries and PR Firms with Beth Cotenoff, Grace Doyle and Michael Wangbickler. Continue reading →

WBC 10 Effective Writing

On the home stretch here at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla WA. I’m packed up and outta my room thanks big time to my roommate Erika Szymanski willingness to ship a bunch of wine and materials home for me. (Whew!)

And I’ve made it to the 9am session: More Effective Writing in Your Blog with Meg Houston Maker, Andy Purdue and Hardy Wallace and wrote as much of it down as I could as usual. I’ll add the links as soon as possible.

Meg says there’s two ways to learn how to be a better writer: read and write. And pay attention to what you read and write. She has 24 Points to get better: Continue reading →

Live Tasting & Blogging: 12 Red Wines 5 Minutes Each

This is wine blogging as speed dating…fast and furious! I sat with and compared notes with Christopher Watkins who blogs for Ridge at 4488, one of my favorite wine blogs. I also sat with Amy Cleary who works for UC Press. I’d met Christopher before and only knew Amy through twitter; it was fun sitting with them as we queried the wineries and learned to find wines to fall in love with and I look forward to reading their blog posts and will link up to them asap.

Nicholas Cole Camille Bordeaux blend

Nicolas Cole Cellars focuses on bordeaux style blends. 2004 was supposed to be first harvest but weather said no.  I think I couldn’t quite hear him. It’s all estate grown except for the merlot. All hand harvested and minimally irrigated. 1150-1275 elevation and the way the cold circulates they do pretty good. They sell also. Whole berry, free run juice, french oak new and neutral. Not native yeasts at first and now to make sure but getting started and soon will use all native yeasts.

Spofford Station 2004 Cab Sauv

James Lee Cellars & Spofford Station–she grows the grapes and does all the schlepping. Highly impacted by the Missoula floods. Underwater. 36′ of top soil. classic bordeaux style. Cab, merlot, syrah plus some wines for blending and some for bottling. Farming integrated and for three months her cattle gets the leftover grapes stuff. So her cattle come pre-marinated. Branded cows.  In this area.

2007 Belnero Tuscany Castello Banfi

Under $40 but she says it’s a great value. Second vintage. Goes well with food. How did we end up with Italian wines here? Kate Corcocoran enjoyed the conference so much last year that she asked if she could bring some to this year’s. Note to self: learn more about Horizon Project.

Monthaven 2008 Cab sauv from central coast

Octovin is a bag in a box packaging. Yesterday we tasted a Big House White bottled in this way. Artisan wine cool package. $24 for 4 bottles worth of wine. How’s the wine? Good value

Worthwhile Wine Dark Lady of the Labrynth from South Africa: Pinotage

Wine from the area of South Africa Doolhof from Wellington area. Aged in heavily oaked barrels. Wow. Wow. Mocha! For real. In the nose, very exciting. Meaty rich. Herby. makes me want to just start drinking. And once I taste it I just want to keep drinking it.  $19. Not in California yet. NOTE: At the end of the tasting, I tasted it again and found the oak overpowering and a little too molasses-y.

Magnificent Wine Co’s House Wine from Walla Walla 7 grape blend $13

32 Cab 30 merlot 31 syrah some malbec etc. 50,000 cases in Trader Joes. All Columbia Valley, this is Charles Smith second label from K vintners wanted to make wine that was drinkable approachable etc. 13% alc but tastes hotter than that. Great pizza wine easy choice. Made at Waterbrook.

Ortman Sangiovese 2008 Paso Robles around San Miguel

Wine making philosophy is more about balance making the fruit the focus of the wine of that particular varietal and to use techniques to show that off and add complexity. Hand picked, destemmed, fermented in tank, handled like pinot noir, punched down in open top to manage tannins. Innoculate with a strain of yeast. It reminds me of a blood orange or like a chocolate orange.

Lot 1 Louis Martini

Retails for $120 a bottle. Been in the valley forever and has access to some amazing fruits. Winemaker wanted to make something that captured a sense of Velvet. 15.48% alcohol. everything is hand done. Submerged cap for a bit then punch down on the top that makes it so extracted. All punch down will make the tannins too harsh so did the combo. Racked. Egg white fining. Getting back to the old school tradition like between his grandfather and his great grandfather. Nationally available n small amounts. A shame to taste a wine this great in this setting. I’m putting my glass aside for later! Continue reading →

WBC 2010 on Wine Writing: What’s next?

What is the Future of Wine Writing? asks Steve Heimoff, Tom Wark and Ken Payton in the next panel at the 2010 Wine Bloggers conference in Walla Walla Washington. These three will make a few statements and then open it up to the floor for conversation, debate, and discussion.

Tom Wark of Fermentation doesn’t think there’s any value in making a distinction between wine writers and bloggers. He suggests that the conference is misnamed: instead of Wine Bloggers Conference, it should be the Wine Writers Conference.

What goes around comes around, says Steve Heimoff. There will always be new wine drinkers so there will always be a need for wine 101 and writing that teaches people about wine.

But how will wine writers in the future make a living? Not likely to make much from wine blogging, but what you do with it or where you take it. More likely for bloggers to get picked up by wine companies to work for them or to do other kinds of writing that pays the bills. Some folks, like Hardy Wallace, have used their blogs to move into other areas of the wine industry, for example, wine making.

Ken Payton of Reign of Terroir makes the point that wine writing isn’t just one genre but that there are multiple genres: from people who write reviews to those who focus on environmental issues to those who avoid reviews to those who are educators. Some people are generalists and some are specialists.

Ken Payton suggests we think of our readers as people who are not customers or consumers but fellow travelers.

So who’s the audience? Consumers? Fellow travelers? Professionals? He thinks that as wine consumption increases, there will be more interest in wine, and reading about wine, more readers and ample opportunities to explore more topics online and educate consumers.  Avoid the ghetto of simple minded wine writing, encourages Ken. Continue reading →

WBC 2010: If you post it, they will come… NOT!

3:10 PM   Breakout Sessions:
• Growing Your Audience From Other Bloggers To Consumers with Andrea
Robinson, Barbara Evans and David Honig – Main Ballroom
OR
• The Washington Wine Industry with Paul Gregutt, Coman Dinn and Sean
Sullivan – Renaissance Room

So I’m over at Growing Your Audience listening to Andrea Robinson. She says it takes credentials, voice, and experience to be a successful wine blogger, but that applies to any kind of blogging.

For examples, she offers Gary Vaynerchuk for voice, Jancis Robinson for credentials, and Robert Parker for experience. Which one you emphasize will play to your strengths, but if you don’t have a voice, you probably won’t get much i teh way of readers.

David Honig is up next. He’s over at PalatePress.com. He says

don’t just blog, write. Continue reading →

WBC Panel Discussion: 7 Hills, Saviah, Sleight of Hand

“All ships ride with the tide” is the modus operandum in Walla Walla Valley and, it seems, in Washington as a whole. This is a story and theme repeatedly told in a myriad of variations and specifics.

Three Walla Walla wine makers are joining our busload of wine bloggers, nicknamed the Jackpot Bus, for a panel discussion and tasting in the barrel room’s nice cool interior.

Walla Walla wines have nice structure, aromatics, good with food, and according to more brighter palate, more food friendly. It’s a lot easier and cheaper to get a wine going here because land is inexpensive and makes excellent wine. But possibly the most important element is that people here are a community working together helping everyone succeed. It’s been an era of entrepreneurship. Continue reading →

Live Wine Blogging Session #1 White wines

This is a the wildest way to taste wine ever. Each winery has 5 minutes to tell their story and pour their wines. Then they switch and move on to the next table. I think I tasted 13-14 wines; below I mention and blog about 13 of them!

Big House White 2009

White wine in a box that’s shaped in an 8 sided container called Octogon. One Octogon has 4 bottles. Stays fresh for 6 weeks instead of a couple of days . Made by Adam Richardson senior winemaker, but a local artisan wine maker makes the wine Georgetta Dane from Romania. But there’s some gal she mentioned too. Malvasia, muscat, viognier, gruner, pinot gris, reilsing. Very aromatic, really unexpected that it’s quite decent. $20 more or less because it’s a lot cheaper to produce and distribute. People will like this and change their opinion of wine in a box.

2008 Viognier from Maryhill in the Columbia Gorge

and you can see the Columbia River there and they have lots of concerts and stuff.
Produce 80,000 cases., 4000 of this wine. A bit cold now but will open and warm up. Retails at $12. Stainless steel mostly but one fermented in oak. This wine is distributed in 21 states. Will be pouring a zin tomorrow and they’re the largest producer of zin in WA. Taste like viognier.

2008 Genesis by Hogue Continue reading →