“Toast to Today” is a mantra I can get behind; and 100 wine bloggers and influencers toasted indeed, at Bubbles & Bites, an activity presented by Gloria Ferrer at the 11th Annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington, USA. This session was capably presented by the smart and charming sommelier Sarah Tracey, who is a… Continue reading
I’ll find out at the 2018 Wine Bloggers Conference… Is anyone else super shocked that we’re already halfway through September!? Its’s hard to believe that in a few weeks I will be returning to Eastern Washington for the annual Wine Bloggers Conference. The Wine Bloggers Conference was founded in 2008 as one of the first… Continue reading
In the 2017 Wine Bloggers Conference, as part of the experience, I had a hosted visit to Etude winery for dinner. Etude Wines is known for its 35-year-legacy of making high quality Pinot Noir. Jon Priest, senior winemaker at Etude, has a passion and specialty for Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, but when I visited… Continue reading
The Ruggeri winery was founded in 1950 by Giustino Bisol. While an Italian winery founded as recently as the 1950s doesn’t sound particularly pioneering, the family actually has ancient traditions in the viticulture area of the Valdobbiadene Prosecco area. Twenty-one generations ago there was a small group of rural houses known as “Case Bisoi” which… Continue reading
With Spain as a featured region for the 40th annual Vancouver International Wine Festival, one of the seminars sponsored by Wines from Spain was entitled Dynamic Spain. The idea was to show how, from classic to cutting edge, Spanish wines are some of the most exciting in the world. Barbara Philip, Master of Wine, and… Continue reading
This is tough to envision, but imagine if you can: the plight of the thousands of families and farmers, and the outright devastation that occurred when Phyloxerra hit Europe in the late 1860s. The tiny aphid hitchhiked from North America to eat grapevine roots, and in the mid- to late-1800s, the root-attacking louse came close… Continue reading
With 40+ delegates from around the world, our #winelover community was ready to learn all things Tarragona. Our group gathered in Tarragona at a lovely event space called Casa Joan Miret. The building was founded in 1859 and today, some of the building is residential, and the remainder provides a romantic meeting and event space,… Continue reading
As the winter conditions continue here in Canada, we dream of some relief. I find myself reminiscing about the US wine regions I love to visit, where the weather is warmer and the birds are singing. Last November as a post Wine Bloggers Conference excursion I made my first trip to the Livermore Valley… Continue reading
This post follows my attendance at the 10th annual Wine Blogger’s Conference. Before the formal conference programming took place there were pre-excursions, and the one that I signed up for was led by Treasury Wine Estates to visit two of their wineries: Stags’ Leap and Etude. Chateau St. Jean was originally scheduled as part of… Continue reading
November 14, 2017 Flames Among the Vines In October 2017, from out of nowhere it seemed, on the tail end of the grape harvest, real-time posts to social media illustrated a multiple-wildfire situation had erupted in Napa and Sonoma wine country. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes. Some of the area’s most storied… Continue reading