Notes from the European Winebloggers Conference 08
The following are some of my notes from the European Winebloggers Conference 2008 (EWBC) in Rioja.
Flying over the Bay of Biscay this morning, looking down onto the green craggy hills of the sun-drenched Spanish coast was a bit of a surprise. Over the years, I’ve visited Spain many times but always the southern coast of Spain or Madrid, both of which are more reminiscent of semi-arid deserts with their scrub covered brown rolling hills and plains rather then the lush carpet of green I was currently flying over. I had to remind myself why I was on that plane. I was here for the European Winebloggers Conference 2008 (EWBC) taking place in Rioja that weekend. I hoped that it was going to be a fun and informative weekend and seeing as copious amounts of Riojan wine were going to be available, I knew that it would at least be an opportunity to sharpen my Rioja tasting skills.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect but the organizers, Ryan and Gabriella Opaz from the Catavino blog and Robert McIntosh of The WineConversation blog, have a full schedule planned for us and plenty of Riojan wine on hand for us to sample. Not to mention the winebloggers invitational, where we all get to bring our own wines to share. I’m full of anticipation while I wait at the Bilbao Airport for my ride to Logrono in Rioja.