I am now about to begin the Blind Tasting Challenge (courtesy of Bagged Wine) portion of the the very first North American Wine Bloggers Conference here in 2008 at the Hotel Flamingo! Keep in mind all of this is live and (pretty much) not edited!! It’s single-elimination and I’m probably out pretty quckly, heh. It gets...
Category: Wine Regions
WBC NA 2008: Live Wineblogging!
I am about to begin the Live Wine Blogging portion of the the very first North American Wine Bloggers Conference here in 2008 at the Hotel Flamingo! Keep in mind all of this is live and pretty much not edited!! (Editorial post note, all of these wines have been tagged with “WBC2008NA-Live” if you would like...
W—B—C—!!!
In the final week leading up to the very first North American Wine Bloggers Conference (which I first mentioned here), I wanted to give you readers a preview of what you can expect from me over the next weekend:
Wine...insanity!
A vineyard tasting at Kick Ranch Vineyard right off the bat, live wine blogging with 14 wineries including Leon from Lionheart Wines, a New Zealand self-tasting and dinner with Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV...and that's just the first day!!
(more after the break) SKULLS! (Twisted Oak)
Disclosure: I received this wine as a media sample from Twisted Oak Winery.
Twisted Oak Winery in Calaveras County has built a rather phenomenal, staid reputation since it's founding by Jeff and Mary Stai in 2001. Stuffy and beautifully constructed wines bearing boring labels such as "*%#&@!" and "Pig Stai" have built their reputation as a very traditional, elitist winery. Indeed, their focus on New World safe haven varietals such as Tempranillo, Verdelho, Grenache and the ever popular Graciano prove that despite their penchant for such hip Iberian Peninsula grape varieties, they still know that winemaking is an incredibly serious and noble endeavor. 
Another Wine Luminary Passes: Didier Dagueneau
Known as the "wild man of the Loire," Didier Dagueneau made some of the most unusual and exceptional Sauvignon Blanc-based wines from his estate in Saint-Andelain, in the Dordogne of the Loire Valley, France. Dagueneau passed away after a microlite plane accident at the age of 52.
Always ecentric and in later years, considered more of a hermetic luminary, he consistently produced absolutely stunning wines and he will be sorely missed.
Didier Dagueneau Fumé de Pouilly 2004
Sources: Walla Walla Wine Woman; Oliver Sytles, Decanter.com