WBC 09 announces new sponsors

The WBC organizers ask: Got Milk?

Today, the Wine Bloggers Conference announced that they had secured several additional sponsors for the 2009 conference in Santa Rosa, California. Following on the success of the previous year’s event, sponsors have been clamoring to take part in this unique conference for wine enthusiasts and writers.

In addition to the continued sponsorship of the Sonoma County Vintners, Sonoma Winegrape Commission, Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, and Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers, the Napa Valley Vintners has joined as a sponsor and organized a day in Napa for the bloggers. Perhaps the most interesting new sponsors, however, include the California Milk Advisory Board, Teetotalers of Northern California, Citizens for Neo-Prohibitionism , and the Center for the Strategic and Tactical Prevention of Excessive Verbosity Among Digital Insight Authorities.

“We decided to go with a more fair and balanced approach for this year’s conference,” said Joel Vincent, founder of the Open Wine Consortium and the Wine Bloggers Conference. “There was just too much focus on wine and blogging at last year’s conference, and we received complaints from a number of sources. With the addition of several new sponsors, we are looking to assuage the critics and prove that the Wine Bloggers Conference is about more than just wine and blogging.”

Several new programs have been added to the conference as a result the new sponsorships. Friday evening will see a milk-moustache contest hosted by “Clo” the cow mascot from local Sonoma dairy, Clover-Stornetta. A moderated panel discussion will take place Saturday morning on the effects of “Demon Rum” and the end of civilization as we know it. High Tea will be held on Saturday afternoon for those wishing to participate in this historic non-alcoholic exercise. And finally, there will be a non-lecture on non-verbal communication and the use of symbols to convey meanings in a non-traditional medium such as ‘Jell-O’.

“I’m totally jazzed to be attending the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference,” said Joe Roberts (aka 1WineDude). “I’m looking forward to trying some great wines and writing some killer blog posts. The new sponsor idea is intriguing and it should be interesting to see how they pull it off. I’m lactose intolerant and I don’t drink tea, so I for one, plan to be inebriated for a good majority of the time.”

Not everyone is pleased with the additions to the program, however. Lenn Thompson of the blog LENNDEVOURS.com wonders what logic there is in including non-wine related sponsors. When asked for comment, he responded, “What the hell is the point? Who the hell is Clo anyway? I was on the fence about attending this year. Now, there is no way on this god’s green earth that I’ll be seen anywhere near this conference. I’m staying in New York!”

The Wine Bloggers Conference will be held Friday, July 24 through Sunday, July 26 at the Flamingo Resort in Santa Rosa, California. To register for the conference, interested parties should visit their website at www.winebloggersconference.org.

Oh, and by the way… APRIL FOOLS!

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Tags: april fools, dregs report, wbc 09, wine bloggers conference