Tag Archives: Wine Blogging Wednesday

WBW #73 “Spark” Round Up; WBW #74 “Sparkling” Announced

In response to Cork Dork’s prompt to write about a wine that connects to what sparked your interest in wine blogging, ten bloggers let him know in time to join in his round-up and a few more bloggers chimed in with posts after–better late than never!

Here’s the Wine Blogging Wednesday #73 “Spark” round up.

Here’s my response to the “Spark” prompt–I mentioned Ridge Zinfandel, Grateful Palate Shiraz, and Enoforum wines from Portugal with a review of Twisted Oaks Tempranillo,

Next up, keeping with the idea of “spark” write about value “sparkling” wine. Hosted by Wine Cast aka Tim Elliot, Wine Blogging Wednesday #74 participants will join the 2011 sparkling wine trend; in 2011 Americans consumed 20% more Champagne; like the recent popular Proseco, Moscato went from an unknown sparkler to one that has been produced and appreciated more (even in a Barefoot Bubbly version!).

In the past five years, I have discovered the pleasures of various sparkling wines with food, not just as a special occasion beverage or for a toast. And so it is with great pleasure that I look forward to participating in February’s Wine Blogging Wednesday. I’ve got a rose cremant in mind to pair with ham as well as trying that Barefoot Moscato, Chateau Ste Michelle’s 2005 Luxxe, and ?? with oysters and ?? After all, this is still my birthday month and I’ve got more celebrating to do!

If you too would like to join in, you are welcome! The prompt for Wine Blogging Wednesday #74 includes these instructions:

Just pick a sparkling wine from any appellation, made from any grape but make sure it sells for $25 or less a bottle (€20, £16). This should open up a lot of interesting selections, from Crémant de Bourgogne, to Cava, to California & New Mexico sparkling, sparkling Shiraz, to even well chosen grower Champagne. Just post your notes by February 15th and ping me @winecast on Twitter or email me with your link at winecast (at) gmail (dot) com.

Oh, and I’ve having a birthday subscription drive until the end of the month! Please subscribe in the box in the upper right hand corner! It’s easy to get Wine Predator in your inbox and join in the Wine Predator fun! I’ve got big plans for 2012 and I hope you will be along for the adventure!

SOPA, PIPA & Wine Blogging Weds #73 January 18: Where’s the Spark?

Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 18 is the first installment in many, many months for Wine Blogging Wednesday. An online event where wine bloggers have gathered around a theme for over six years, I always enjoy participating and while the number of bloggers may have waned, I still think Wine Blogging Wednesday offers value to bloggers and to wine consumers.

Appropriately themed “Spark,” the 73rd event attempts to spark new interest and hopefully light a fire again for this formerly monthly wine blogging event. The “Spark” theme urges wine bloggers to return to that which sparked their interest in wine blogging in the first place.

Host Corkdork  writes, “I know you’ve grown and your wine knowledge has expanded, but it’s time to revisit the kind of wines that sparked your desire to blog, retaste, and share. January’s challenge, “Spark”, is to re-visit the wine that first turned you on to the infinite wonder of the world of wine.”

Post your “spark” story on Weds. January 18; the host will follow-up with a round-up. Let Corkdork know you’re got a spark to contribute to the fire. And come back to read about mine!

Ironically, tomorrow many sites including heavy hitter Wikipedia are going “dark” to draw attention to the SOPA legislation.

According to Gizmodo,  “The momentum behind the anti-SOPA movement has been slow to build, but we’re finally at a saturation point. Wikipedia, BoingBoing, WordPress, TwitPic: they’ll all be dark on January 18th. An anti-SOPA rally has been planned for tomorrow afternoon in New York. The list of companies supporting SOPA is long but shrinking, thanks in no small part to the emails and phone calls they’ve received in the last few months.”

So what is SOPA? or PIPA? At first, it sounds like a good idea–it is supposed to protect content providers. But Gizmodo argues that “SOPA is an anti-piracy bill working its way through Congress that would grant content creators extraordinary power over the internet which would go almost comedically unchecked to the point of potentially creating an “Internet Blacklist” while exacting a huge cost from nearly every site you use daily and potentially disappearing your entire digital life while still managing to be both unnecessary and ineffective but stands a shockingly good chance of passing unless we do something about it.”

So call. Or email.

I am planning on joining in as well and staying off the internet tomorrow. Not sure what this might mean for Wine Blogging Wednesday–or my own participation!

What’s Going to Happen to Wine Blogging Wednesday

Lenn Thompson, the guy who started Wine Blogging Wednesday, is back in action with a plan to get the monthly event going once again! Here’s his tweet to me:

@ArtPredator Already in the works… keep a look out for an announcement in the new year 😉

Here are some more excerpts from Lenn’s twitter feed lenndevours today that tell the story–read up or down, it’s all good!

Hey wine bloggers…#WBW never went away. Was just on hiatus due to low participation. It’s coming back in ’11 with a vengeance. Post soon.
@WineHarlots @RichardPF Wine Blogging Wednesday. Every month a different host and theme. #WBW
@WineHarlots We’re bringing it back! #WBW
@swirlsipsnark I agree. I miss #WBW and I’m glad that there seems to be renewed interest.
@swirlsipsnark Thanks…I hope people participate better than they did in the spring. Samples-based Twitter tastings hurt participation #WBW
@GimmeMoreWine Keep an eye out for a post soon after the new year. I hope you’ll join us! #WBW
@GimmeMoreWine #WBW is a monthly wine-tasting for the wine blogging community I founded years ago! Different host and theme every month. Fun
Follow what’s going on by joining the Wine Blogging Wednesday facebook community, checking the #WBW hashtag on twitter, and visiting the Wine Blogging Wednesday blog (where I am now an author!) One way or another, folks, it looks like Wine Blogging Wednesday is back on for 2011. I look forward to seeing where we all take it this time!

Part Two: What Happened to Wine Blogging Wednesday & Ideas on How to Revive It

Yesterday, in Part 1, I was musing about whatever happened to Wine Blogging Wednesday so I took my wondering self to the world wide web to see if anyone else was missing it.

And I found this blog post from August where, voila, I discovered I wasn’t the only one who wanted to see Wine Blogging Wednesday revived.

Seems Tim Elliot was wondering the same thing and eight or so wine bloggers commented.  Inqvine even suggested a theme: “Fungus Among-us” on botrytis wines.

“I would love to see WBW start up again,” Alleigh of A Glass after Work said in the comments. “It was a wonderful way to really become part of the wine blogging community. It was particularly interesting to see how other wine bloggers approached the same topic or the same wines. Inevitably, I learned something new. Now, as a more comfortable wine blogger, I think WBW would still a great way to meet new bloggers and taste new wines, but it always would be a chance to have further discussions about wine with other bloggers and not just my regular readers.”
So, I propose we get Wine Blogging Wednesday rolling again! I think we need to Continue reading →

Part 1: Whatever Happened to Wine Blogging Wednesday?

This was what I was wondering this winter Wednesday night: whatever happened to Wine Blogging Wednesday?

Tonight I aim to find out and see what I could do to get the ball rolling again–while enjoying the wine of a fellow Wine Blogging Wednesday participant, Jeff Stai from Twisted Oak’s El Bloggo Torcido!

So here’s the back story:

When I started wine blogging back in 2007 (yes!), I poked around the web to find out who was doing what and discovered Wine Blogging Wednesday posts.

And then I was offered a job doing social media and other wine writing (a job which unfortunately went down with the economy in 2008–before I even started–for a company that is now in bankruptcy proceedings–ouch!) But I went to the first Wine Blogger’s Conference in 2008 anyway where I figured I’d find out the secret to participating in Wine Blogging Wednesday (and more, of course!)

On the last morning of the conference, I joined a table of men who were all 5-15 years younger than me. Why? Because they all had their laptops and smartphones out–AND they had bottles of wine on the table.

I didn’t know it then, but I was sitting with the Young Turks of wine blogging and social media: Continue reading →

Green Drinks & Wine Blogging Wednesday October: Blog Action Day 2009

Yes, it’s that time of the month where two of my passions collide on the same day–the in-person Green Activism & Networking event known as “Green Drinks” and the on-line wine reviewing event, “Wine Blogging Wednesday” –both happening tomorrow, Wednesday October 14 which is also the day before Blog Action Day 2009!

Green Drinks is a monthly international networking event for folks in green businesses or with environmental interests. You should be able to find one somewhere near you although getting there may not be all that green! For me, tomorrow, Green Drinks happens at my favorite and local brew pub, Anacapa Brewing Company, right down the street from me on 472 Main in downtown Ventura.

I always ride my bike to Green Drinks and this time I have my new BIKERGO to show off! I am so excited! I can’t wait to see the smile on Tea’s face when I get her on this bike! And I know Rachel Morris of VCCOOL is going to get a huge kick out of it too. Who’s up for joining me there tomorrow when I finish up teaching at Ventura College?

Tonight I’ll be tasting and reviewing and writing my Wine Blogging Wednesday post with help from my visiting from Long Island friend Jane. I’m going to compare a Primitivo from Sobon Family Wines with their Zinfandel. Continue reading →

Are you a Zinner? Wine Blogging Wednesday Celebrates 5th Anniversary with ZIN!

wbw-newSonadora announces Wine Blogging Wednesday #60: I Have Zinned

Host Sonadora points out that this month Wine Blogging Wednesday celebrates its Fifth Birthday! Amazing in that most wine blogs haven’t even been around that long. It’s truly a testimony to the vision of Lenn of Lenndevours –as well as to the legion of wine bloggers who keep it going every month.

The deadline to submit is this Wednesday, August 12th.  If you want to participate, leave a comment on her blog or email her at ctsonadora@gmail.com with a link to your blog post. And let me know too, with a comment here so I will be sure to go see your post.

As a big zin fan who cut her teeth on Ridge zins and who found more zins to love at last month’s Wine Bloggers conference, I’m not sure which zin I’ll write about–guess I better decide on something before the deadline! (Want to know more about Ridge? I’ve written several times about the winery on the blog or check out their blog, 4488, on my blogroll).

BTW, for local readers of this blog, as usual Wine Blogging Wednesday lands on the same night as Green Drinks Ventura County which celebrates its first anniversary Weds from 530-730pm at PURE Life & Home 576 E. Main Street Ventura. The goal of Green Drinks?  Good times shared among people working in, or interested in, environmental and sustainability issues.

Although this Green Drinks gathering is close enough to home that I could ride my bike, I think that’s the day we’re going back to the Ventura County Fair where my son won first place blue ribbons for all four of his artworks we entered!