Wilma Does Walla Walla - Part 1

My head is still buzzing. And I don't mean the kind from drinking too much. It was from the sheer number of hats I wore this past weekend. There was my Dry Creek Vineyard hat, the one I normally wear where I'm all about promoting the winery. Then there was my Wilma hat where I'm slyly drumming up readership for this blog. And then there was my Meritage Alliance hat, where I enthusiastically touted the virtues of wines blended in the Bordeaux tradition, while pouring for a dozen different producers from all over the country. All this took place at the 3rd Annual Wine Bloggers' Conference in Walla Walla, Washington. Whew, it was a tough job but somebody had to do it!
 


In between blogging seminars, tips on social media and networking 2010 style (aka digital schmoozing), I learned about wines from the Yakima Valley and Walla Walla appellations. I even learned a little bit about wines from Idaho. For a somewhat jaded wine gal like me, I found it all fascinating and great fun. Besides, for once in my life, I was the one being entertained, not the other way around!

The conference offered a very diverse schedule with one common theme, WINE. We learned, we blogged, we networked, we tasted. And, we did something completely new to me -- live wine blogging which was kind of like doing a sales pitch on steroids. In less than 4 minutes, I had to be as engaging, charming and informative as humanly possible while pouring wine for a table of bloggers who were blogging online. When the bell rang, I rotated to the next table. This was repeated for a total of 27 times. That's a lot of hot air coming out of one red head!  

I had a few “aha” moments along the way.  First, I got to meet some of my favorite bloggers including, Jeff Lefevere of goodgrape.com, Joe Roberts of 1winedude.com and Grace Hoffman of cellarmistress.blogspot.com.  We quickly bonded, with no pretence of who we are or where we are from. I never felt a sense of competition (like my blog is better than your blog…) and was impressed with the amount of passion, innovation, risk, hard work, and dedication wine bloggers possess. There was a sense that somehow, even though no one is really quite sure to what extent, wine blogging is making a difference. It is a valid form of wine education that is growing by leaps and bounds. As an example, when Tom Wark of fermentation.typepad.com started blogging five years ago, there were fewer than 100 wine blogs. When Jim Laube encouraged me to start mine nearly 3 years ago, there were approximately 500. Today there are over 1000. Clearly, something BIG is happening, we're just not sure what it is or where it's taking us.

What we can be certain of is that we have become a nation of wine drinkers. And with this is the insatiable curiosity that exists with learning about wine. Because, no matter how long you've been drinking or how knowledgeable one becomes, there is always MORE to learn and MORE to taste. For me, that's a rather enticing proposition. As long as my liver can handle it, I'm up for the task!

| | Comments (5)

5 Comments


Nicky Vallee said:
June 29, 2010 5:09 PM

hey Kim, its Vino Chick!! Nice meeting you during the white wine portion of our 'speed dating' tasting! lol..I really do enjoy your blog and hope to catch up with you again sometime when I'm in town.

Best,
Nicky


Nicky Vallee said:
June 29, 2010 5:09 PM

hey Kim, its Vino Chick!! Nice meeting you during the white wine portion of our 'speed dating' tasting! lol..I really do enjoy your blog and hope to catch up with you again sometime when I'm in town.

Best,
Nicky


Kim (aka Wilma) Author Profile Page said:
June 29, 2010 5:18 PM

Hi Vino Chick! Great to meet you too. It was such a wonderful weekend, wasn't it? I honestly can't say enough good things about the conference. Do you feel the same way?


Kristi Davis Author Profile Page said:
June 29, 2010 8:52 PM

Sounds like you had a fantastic time and met all the right people. Wish I could have gone, but hopefully next year. Love the video!


Kelly Conrad Author Profile Page said:
July 1, 2010 11:03 PM

That video summed up live wine blogging perfectly! I was more exhausted after that than after 8 hours of standing on my feet pouring wine at the Vancouver BC wine show! Great stuff!!

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Kim published on June 29, 2010 3:37 PM.

Wine Bloggers Unite in Walla Walla was the previous entry in this blog.

The Wow Factor of Walla Walla is the next entry in this blog.

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