Live Blogging from Wine Bloggers Conference
Wine #1 – A Central Coast 2006 Chardonnay from Boho Vineyards. Their message is that they are the first premium wine in a box. Not true, as Black Box and others have come before. They have a pretty interesting package, going for the”eco” look. They claim that their box contributes 55% lower carbon footprint. The box is equivalent to 4 bottles and retails for $24. Their website is www.bohovineyards.com.
Wine #2 – A 2007 Paso Robles Muscat Blanc from James David Cellars. Coledavid is his twitter ID. They are a new producer and this was their event. It is completely dry, fragrant, with good acidity. Nice wine. 105 cases produced. $18 per bottle. Their website is www.jamesdavidcellars.com.
Ooohhh, just lost my internet connection. Still had this posting in the cache. Whew.
And, apparently there are more tables than wineries, so we are without wine again.
Wine #3 – The 2006 Spaniard from Twisted Oak. It’s a spanish blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, etc. Nice toasty oak. Berry spice. Raspberry, cranberry on the palate. $49 retail. Quite nice.
Wine #4 – A 2006 Dry Creek Zinfandel from Dark Horse. Nice berry, briar, classic Zin nose. BIG BIG, BIG. High alcohol, powerful fruit. Massive wine.
Ok, this is where I pause to rant about messaging. When you have 5 minutes to get your message across, the last thing people want to hear is numbers of acres, density of vines, clones, etc. All this is interesting, but is impossible to absorb in such a quick time. Give it to me in writing and tell me a story about the wine. This is when I advise my clients to develop an “elevator” pitch. Give it to me in 30 seconds or less. If you can’t tell me what you are about in that amount of time, you need to go back to the drawing board. Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Wine #5 – A Sonoma Coast 2006 Pinot Noir from Small Vines Wines. Nice Pinot, though this is why I started my rant. Their website is www.smallvines.com.
Wine #6 – A Central Coast 2007 Chardonnay from Cupcake Vineyards. Tropical fruit with a touch of lemon zest. $11.99 retail. Their website is www.underdogwinemerchants.com. They even brought us cupcakes.
Wine #7 – A Pinot Noir 2007 Barrel Sample from Kanzler Vineyard. Small production, produced by husband and wife. Sebastapol Hills, cooler out there. Good story. Delicate nose or berry and cherry fruit. Fruity on the palate. Long finish. Very nice Pinot. $48 retail. Roughly 420 cases. Their website is www.kanzlervineyards.com.
Wine #8 – A Mendocino 2005 Pinot Noir from Bink Vineyards. Dry farmed vineyard. Bink is short for black ink. They are mostly a Syrah. DRC suitcase clone, Pommard, a few others. Sweet fruit. A little overdone for a Pinot for my taste. But well made. $40 retail. 302 cases. Their website is www.binkwines.com.
Wine #9 – A Roussane 2007 McGinley Vineyards from Lionheart Wines. Not usually a fan, but this is nice. Bright apple and pear. Kiss of oak. First verture with wine. $30 retail. 275 cases total of everything. Wow! Their website is www.lionheartwines.com.
Wine #10 – A Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Four Bears Napa Valley from Sean Minor Wines. Husband and wife team. Modified negociant. Sweet fruit, nice silky tannins. Great Value! 7,200 cases. $17 retail. Their website is www.seanminorwines.com.
Wine #11 – A Mendoza 2007 Malbec from Yellow+Blue. Wanted to build a sustainable wine model. Packaged in tetrapak, all organic wines. Soft, fruity, with a good finish. Love the concept. $11.99 retail. Their website is www.ybwines.com.
Wine #12 – The Bonterra 2004 The McNab. 100% organically grown, 100% biodynamic. Ranch was certified biodynamic since 1996. 60% Merlot, 26% Cab, 14% PS. Great fruit, silky tannins. Great finish. Great wine. $45 retail. 700 cases.
Wine #13 – The 2005 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Clos La Chance. Big boy. Firm tannins, good fruit. Palate fatigue setting in. $1200 cases. Their website is www.clos.com.
Thus ends the first ever live wine blogging.
Tags: Blogs, wine bloggers conference
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October 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Yrs is the first summary I check out– reads nicely, works! Let’s see how I organize my Twits…
October 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Interesting that (at a Wine Blogging Conference!) most of these small wineries don’t appear to have blogs themselves. From your list of 13 wineries, only 5 — Twisted Oak, Kanzler (non-standard platform), Lionheart, 4 Bears, and Clos La Chance — appear to have blogs.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for commenting Mike. It is interesting, but I think their main intention was to get OTHER bloggers to write about their wines. I think, in that regard, it worked beautifully for them.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more about the elevator pitch. A lot of these people were just blathering on and on while I was trying to type and taste the wine. They need to treat their pitch like it’s a twitter post in this kind of situation. There was one guy who talked for 3 minutes before even pouring the wine! You could tell he was determined to get his message out, which you can respect, but then it left me no time whatsoever to actually taste and write about his wine. Dumb.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Yea, I was starting to just tune them out near the end. Most of what they were telling me went in one ear and out the other.