Tonight, Wednesday November 11, from 5:30-7:30pm Green Drinks Ventura County will be held at Wine Essentials, 2390 Las Posas, Camarillo. It’s a free networking gathering for folks in green lines of business and activism.
In his prompt for the next Wine Blogging Wednesday, #63, Rob Bralow of Wine Post suggests: Find Your Muse. Here’s his guidelines for the November edition to be posted NEXT Wednesday, Nov. 18:
- Choose a wine you know well and have enjoyed many times, but perhaps have not had the time or the motivation to write about OR a wine you have seen in your wine shop that you have been meaning to try.
- Time how long read more…
Randal Grahm, forgive me, I know you believe in the screwtop closure, but after visiting the cork oak forests in Ribatejo, Portugal today as part of the European Wine Bloggers Conference, I am now a firm believer in cork. And, if you’re listening, and I hope you will be, I will tell you why. I may not convince you in this post but hopefully by the next one.
Cork as a closure for wine got a bad name because some wines became “corked” which means that they became infected with TCA and turned bad.
While this is a rare occurrence, if it is YOUR special wine that got corked, you’re not going to be a happy camper about it. You will be tempted to turn against cork. (Read another post about cork taint here.)
Alternative closures to cork are nothing new. Really. But they have become more popular in recent years. So popular that it has had an impact on the cork industry and that industry is fighting back. With both fists. And a LOT of money–millions in fact into research and development to understand where TCA comes from and how it can be prevented.
Turns out, TCA infection can come from a variety of sources, not just cork. The cardboard box, for example. Just about anywhere, actually. But cork was and is the prime suspect so the cork industry has figured out ways to sanitize the corks and remove the risk of TCA almost completely so that instances of TCA from cork sources are reduced to the point where the many benefits of using natural cork (instead of a screw top or a plastic cork) shine and win.
Yes, cork is more expensive, much more expensive than a screw top or a plastic cork which costs practically nothing and adds practically nothing to the value of the wine.
But there is more to the picture than a simple closure. And in my next post, I will tell you about the cork trees, cork forests, and the natural ecosystems and the human communities that revolve around healthy, productive cork industry–an industry which relies on YOU, the consumer and the wine producer, staying with cork.
And one day soon, I hope to show you pictures of my new beautiful cork floors!!
Next up at the European Wine Bloggers Conference: Charles Metcalf’s Grand tasting of Portugal. Metcalf wrote a book on wine and food in Portugal which makes him somewhat of an expert and certianly a worthwhile guide for a tasting of a variety of Portuguese wines. Certainly he has a lovely accent.
Organizer Ryan Opaz asked Metcalf to present wines that really tell a story about Portugal. As a wine writer from the UK, he’s trying to present a greater understanding of the unknown wines of Portugal.Which means there will be no wines from the Douro.
WINE #1: We’re starting with a sparkling alvarino, similar to the spanish albarino, from the vino verde region. Forgive me if I buthcer some spellings especially as I am live blogging very unfamiliar wines, regions, and who knows what else!
Thankfully, we’re assisted with the Adegga.com site which tells me I am tasting a Coto De Mamoelas Bruto Reserva Alvarinho 2006. It’s similar to albarino, and it’s quite aromatic. Aha! It’s a vino verde–in that that’s a blend. Here’s my ignorance showing–hope it’s a a sweet slip, showing my naivete.
It’s only 11.5%! If I could find this wine, I would.
So many firsts this trip! Just today I’ve tasted about 6 new varieties, maybe more.
WINE #2: Next up, a wine from Covela which is in vino verde country but just on the verge near the Douro. It’s a biodynamic vineyard (I don’t think he’s said whether it’s Demeter certified or not).
This wine is avesso, chardonnay, and gewertraminer and since he uses non-traditional vino verde grapes, he can’t call it that. He also makes an oaked white; this unoaked white is light, refreshing, aromatic and pleasant. Metcalf calls it harmonious and I would agree. read more…
The European Wine Bloggers Conference, like the American ones I attended in Santa Rose in 2008 and 2009, is a confluence of various wine oriented businesses including wineries, importers and distribut0rs, not just wine bloggers.
Because I was trying to get online from my hotel room and had a tech there for an hour helping me, I missed this morning’s first two sessions and arrived in time to join Ken Payton, Amy Lillard, and Oscar Quevado in a discussion on Winery and Wine Blog Relations. They introduced themselves and then discussion commenced. Since the FCC has just changed the rules about disclosure, scaring wine bloggers everywhere, variations of the controversy dominated the conversation, including how do you determine who to send samples of wine to–how do you know whether a blogger has an audience at all or one that you want to reach.
In the second session I attended, Robert McIntosh moderated a session with Dan Coward, Rowan Gormley and Per Karlsson on “Monetising The Social Wine Grand.”
Once again, content is king. Offering content that people want to read and is valuable will lead to financial success of some sort–but not necessarily making money directly off your blog writing. So what do people want to read? What can you write about to develop an audience?
In a survey, readers in the Telegraph UK wanted to know what wines to buy at what price–mostly wines under $20. Tell the consumer whether they should buy a wine or not. And give them a way to evaluate what you’re saying about the wine. But I know of several bloggers who are doing that well already. With so much wine being produced, there should be plenty of readers for all of us.
No surprise that the level of internet demand overwhelmed the resources and stopped many of us from bloggers and tweters in our tracks. Thankfully, my host Delfim Costa of Enoforum Wines came to my rescue by providing me with a “tmn” banda larga.” Somehow I am able to get on line when others can’t. Thanks Delfim! When I write and lose my content to internet snafus, I admit I get very frustrated. What’s worse is losing my writing like that tends to block the creative juices. We can’t have that now, can we??
Time for lunch and a tasting! Be back soon!
After 24 hours of travel, last night I arrived in Lisbon where Enoforum Wine’s Delfim Costa picked me up and escorted me to the VIP Hotel nearby –just in time to join in the evening’s festivities of dinner and tasting.
Most of the dishes on the buffet was new for me and I loved everything I tasted. Two kinds of octopus! Beans cooked in bacon or some variation of goodness using the flavor and fat from a pig (mmmn, bacon!)
But the real standouts of the evening were wines from Douro. The first I tasted was one that Delfim wrangled from one of the Douro Boys. It was spectacular and I swear I will find out what it was. Between us, Delfim suspected that it might be the best wine in the room. For me, it offered everything I want in a wine, especially a wine to enjoy with a meal. Keeping in mind that when I tasted it last night I was running on adrenline and no sleep having spent the previous 36 hours traveling! But my palate knows an amazing wine when one crosses it. This wine was complex–rich, full, fruit, yet also delicate notes of rose. I think I could taste a whole bottle of it and still be discovering nuances.
With my desserts, Delfim and I went in search of another red wine and some port. Well, the room was full of partially empty and completely empty bottles, but we found another red from Douro and a port (name to be inserted here soon!). Then we spied a 10 year tawny (name to be inserted here soon!), and the search was over. Delfim poured samples for me and himself as well as his colleague Luis and Jo Diaz who organized the wine blogging contest from which I won my trip. It was a lovely tawny and I’d been hankering for some tawny for awhile so it was great to have that itch scratched. As the hour grew later, Delfim then Luis excused themselves, leaving Jo and I to talk and enjoy the tawny.
Earlier I’d watched with interest as one of the Douro Boys carried in a case. What treasures might be there? But as Jo and I were engaged in conversation, and happy with the tawny, we continued as we were instead of joining the boisterous group at the other end of the room.
Fortunately for us, one of the Douro Boys (name to be inserted here!), brought over a white port, a very special old bottle of white port.
I am ruined. I’d never had a white port before (insert picture here!). Now I’ve had one of the best, followed by a 1983 aged port which the Douro Boy served to us from a decanter to capture the sediments. Doubly ruined. The 1983 was fantastic–almost like Disney’s Fantasia, like a wind that purrs at times and other times pounces. It was like little cat feet dancing on my tongue. And for flavor–how to describe? Funny thing is the first descriptors are anise or licorice. I don’t like that flavor. Yet I loved it here. Jo found it too cold at first and smooth like silk satin. We both warmed ours up a little, and found more texture and more to the nose, which she described as velvet, as red and rich as a monk’s robes.
I brought the remnants of each into my room with me. When I tasted the 1983 again, it was all about SPICE SPICE SPICE! Like I had stuck my nose and my tongue into a spice cabinet! Eventually I narrowed it down to mostly cinnamon with some clove.
Come back to see the pictures, to click some links, and to see the names when I get a chance. In the meantime, here’s my first installment from the European Wine Bloggers Conference at the VIP Hotel in downtown Lisbon, Portugal!!
That’s right, I made it!
I will post later about the trip across America, over the pond to Zurich and then on to Lisbon. Along with pictures with my new Canon Ixus! And video with my new flip style camera!
But right now, I am busy with the European Wine Bloggers Conference! I can’t wait to tell you about my trip so far and about the incredible wine from Douro I had when I arrived.
So in the meantime, I will be posting about the European Wine Bloggers Conference as much as possible, then share with you my adventures in the Alentejo Wine Region and then more about Lisbon. Thanks again to Enoforum Wines for sponsoring my travel here.
Watch this space for more stories!
As I pour myself my usual evening port (Jonesy from AUS $9 at the Ventura WIne Company), I have to laugh to myself because it just now occurred to me that I would be in Portugal, land of PORT! Seriously, I’ve been thinking about the trip we’ll make to a cork forest, and traveling the Alentejo wine region with Enoforum Wines as my host and live blogging at the European Wine Bloggers Conference…and and being in EUROPE where I’ve never been and so much to think about with travel and passports and packing and and and
I realize that I will be in the land of Port. Wow. I think I’ll have a little more please.
Last year I led some writing workshops in my son’s class. His group wrote a poem, “I am a Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirate” which my son and I turned into this YouTube video. Here’s the text to the poem and here’s two more Halloween oriented poems from that workshop.
And here we are as un muy pequeno calavero with Art Predator aka Ms Frizzle of the Magic School Bus fame.
River of Skulls: the perfect wine for Halloween & Dia de los Muertos & more
Yep, Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls: This is the wine you need for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and maybe for all the sinners on your list: Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls, a mourverde with a little syrah thrown in.This is a special creature, this wine. Sorry to say that unless you have a trip planned to Calaveras county, you’re out of luck. You can get on the list now for next year! Sign up here.
While my favorite blend on Earth has to be GSM (grenache/syrah/mourvedre), seeking out a mourvedre– “the sinner” in all its wild gamey glory–seems perfect for this time of year. And for my money, I’m going for Twisted Oaks “River of Skulls” which conveniently arrived a few weeks ago in my “Twisted Few” allotment!
I had the amazing opportunity to taste this wine at last year’s Wine Blogging Conference 2008 and it wowed the socks off of me. (OK, I admit, I’m a sucker for mourvedre!) This year, El Jefe aka Jeff Stai served it up during the live blogging portion of the 2009 Wine Bloggers conference. This wine not only wowed us bloggers but in recent competition and tastings, it’s done well: they just got word
from Wine Enthusiast magazine that the 2006 Spaniard will receive a score of 92 points, and the 2007 River of Skulls will receive a 90 point score, in their December issue. Congrats to Jeff and crew!
For more poetry, jump on the TRAIN! For more about wine, head over to Wine Predator! That’s where I plan to aggregate my wine posts and where I will post first from the European Wine Bloggers Conference and from the Enoforum Tour of the Alentejo region of Portugal. (Oh, you didn’t hear about that? You didn’t hear my joyous noise? Go here to learn more.)
There is some ghostly formatting going on here–just attribute it to the hi-jinx of los calaveras!
I’m a WINNER! Wine Predator to Attend European Wine Bloggers Conference & Enoforum Oct 30-Nov. 5!
This just in–Jo Diaz from Wine Blog.org called less than an hour ago to let me know that YES I could go to Portugal for the Enoforum Wine Tour of Portugal’s Alentejo region! And arrive early enough to attend most of the European Wine Bloggers Conference!!
OH MY GOODNESS!
I leave on Thursday. I have A LOT to do between now and then including learning a little more about what this adventure will entail!
What an amazing opportunity! I get to attend the European Wine Bloggers Conference as soon as I get off the plane in Lisbon, followed by a trip sponsored by Enoforum to the Alentejo Region, in the south of Portugal.
OK, I’m giddy with excitement. Please let there be wifi on the plane so I can do some research and some blogging too about what’s in store for me in the coming 10 days.
Next week at this time I will be in LISBON!!!
This weekend last year was the First Wine Bloggers Conference, held in Santa Rosa, in the heart of Sonoma County Wine Country. And next weekend is the second European Wine Bloggers Conference to be held in Lisbon, Portugal Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
I remember when I first found out that there WERE wine blogging conferences in the US and in Europe. Excited, I looked on-line at videos and other reports about the EWBC, and dreamed that one day I’d be able to go.
I love Wine Blogging Conferences. Actually, I love going to conferences! The two Wine Bloggers Conferences that I’ve been to have been a blast: I learned a lot (A LOT!), met so many fabulous people, and tasted so many amazing wines. Here are links to my posts about WBC 2008 and WBC 2009.
And then I got so close to going this year when I was named first runner-up in a contest to go to Portugal and attend Enforum and discover wine from Portugal, and then winner Sonadora got sick and had to cancel…but I guess there just wasn’t enough time for the organizers to make the switch from Wannabe Wino to Wine Predator, Instead, they’re trying to get their money back. There’s a possibility that I might be able to go with Sonadora another time. I sure hope so.
In the meantime I just saw a tweet from @catavino that the European Wine Bloggers Conference is looking for someone to live blog. Oh, I wish it could be me! I’ve live blogged two Wine Bloggers conferences, two WordCamps, and a few other events and conferences as well including MacWorld! Next year? Sigh. So close and yes too far. I’ll just have to taste some wine from Portugal here. Maybe I can throw a mini European Wine Bloggers Conference at home.
