13 Things I learned at the Wine Bloggers Conference

Posted by Tom Wark on Oct 25, 2008

13 Things I learned at the first day of the American Wine Bloggers Conference

1. Amy Atwood of Cleanskins & My Daily Wine blog is a fascinating lovely woman whose two websites don't completely scratch the surface of her potential or involvement in the wine industry. She's one of the folks from the Wine Blogger's Conference who I immediately liked and immediately knew was meant for much greater things. Nice handbag too.

2. Quivira Winery in Dry Creek Valley's one of the best defenders of biodynamicism I've ever come across. And this comes from a "Radical Secularist" where things biodynamic are concerned. Their winemaker in particular, Steve Canter, is a fascinating, articulate fella who I'm absolutely sure I'd like to spend some time talking with over a bottle of 16.4% alcohol Zinfandel and talking about the mystical properties of Biodynamically grown grapes.

3. Vino Chapeau, that little plastic disk one places over the top of their wine glass to capture the aroma before it fades, REALLY does work. I thought it a little silly when I first saw it. When I used it I was amazed.

4. Snooth, the wine locating and information aggregation website, continues to amaze me with the time-sucking, worthwhile, innovative all together cool and enormously useful services they provide not only to wine lovers but consumers also.

5. Gary Vaynerchuk's insights and motivational qualities are only eclipsed by his stamina.

6. The folks who run the Flamingo Hotel do a fantastic job of service their guests with one exception. They need to teach their bartends how to make a good, simple pastis.

7. Terroir is a concept nearly as mystical as Biodynamicism, but much more practical to the marketing of wine.

8. Kim Stare Wallace, the lovely and talented woman who runs Dry Creek Valley Vineyards and whose Fume Blanc recently won the coveted Sweepstakes White award at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, and who maintains a terrific blog called Wilma's Wine World, is someone I regret not having gotten to know many years ago.

9. The Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley are a wine association that does not do things in a half hearted way. They are innovative, active, well put together, filled with great representatives, and as an promotional organization, make a great case for driving right past Russian River, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Coast and heading west at Healdsburg.

10. The image of me at the top of this blog is not just too inaccurate, but deceptive. No less than 7 people at the Wine Bloggers Conference came up to me and said, "You look nothing like your picture." Only problem: Can't figure out if that's a good thing.

11. Randy Hall of Wine Biz Radio, besides being part of the glue that makes the Wine Blogging Community so cohesive, has the best, most authentic authentic laugh of anyone in the electronic wine world.

12. Melissa Dobson of the Family-Love-Wine blog, PR Professional, and contributor to Lenndevours, is someone any rational person looking for PR or communications help MUST consider hiring! Wark Communications surely will.

13. Cruvee, a new social networking site with great content, knows talent when they see it. They engaged Thomas Pellechia to help maintain their blog. Thomas is one of the most insightful and and experienced wine writers in America who brings remarkable perspective to his craft. This means two things: 1) Smart folks at Cruve—which bodes well for their site and 2) I get to read even more of Pellechia's work beyond his own VinoFictions.