Wine Bloggers to Gather in Virginia
For the first time, the North American Wine Bloggers Conference is being held on the East Coast.
More than 300 wine bloggers and wine industry representatives are expected to descend on Charlottesville, Va., for the conference July 22-24. Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia and as well as Monticello, the estate where Thomas Jefferson lived. Among the conference activities will be a wine reception at Monticello.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation operates Monticello. The foundation’s president and CEO, Leslie Greene Bowman, said: “Jefferson always envisioned a wine industry in the state of Virginia. His influence on wine production in our area and the history behind our wine industry sets Virginia wine apart from the rest.”
Locales that competed against Charlottesville to host the fourth annual conference were Santa Barbara, Calif.; Paso Robles, Calif.; and Finger Lakes, N.Y. Last year’s conference was held in Walla Walla, Wash.
Sponsors of the Charlottesville conference include the Virginia Wine Board, Virginia Tourism Corp. and Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau. Virginia ranks fifth in production of wine grapes. The state has gone from six wineries in 1979 to more than 160 today.
“You might not know much about Virginia’s wine industry now,” conference organizers say, “but learning about new wine regions is one of the reasons the conference location rotates each year. Virginia’s wines are subtle and elegant, offering a taste that is more similar to European wines than bold California varieties.”
Speakers at the conference will include Eric Asimov, chief wine critic at the New York Times; Dave McIntyre, wine writer for the Washington Post; and Jancis Robinson and Joe Roberts, two prominent wine bloggers.
More than 500 bloggers throughout North America regularly write wine reviews, according to the North American Wine Bloggers Conference.
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