Sitting in front of the computer preparing to sum up my experience at the European Wine Blogger Conference, I literally feel speechless. Are there words for my emotions, my feeling of warmth and excitement for what’s occurred, along with a touch of sadness and depression I’ve been feeling now that the conference is over? It’s like using an instant camera with the intention of capturing the breadth and beauty of the Grand Canyon. Unless you were there, feeling the hot canyon winds come across the 1,218,375 acres that dip down an average of 4,000 feet deep; smell the rich evergreen and sandalwood aromas in the air; or touch the blazing hot iron soils which kick up fine, red dust under your feet, pictures nor words can never fully describe your experience.

On one hand, I feel a warmth in my heart that has lasted for four days, and I expect it will last well into the future. To see 40+ people from all over the world come together and bond in literally, moments flat, was something we wish would happen among nations everyday. From Friday to Sunday, voices were always raised, bubbling with curiosity and excitement; because how often do you get to speak with someone who blogs in another language as to their perceptions, desires, hopes and fears about wine blogging? For me, not often enough. Instead, I am typically caught in a whirlpool of voices from my own culture, an incestuous conversation that circles around the same view point over and over again. But to have so many different ideas as to what wine blogging is, what we need to do to better our profession, how we can solve our …

Ideally, we try to limit our posts to the subject of Iberian wine. That said, our small consulting company has gained traction over the past year, giving us hope that it will continue to develop and excel well into the future. With growth, however, comes welcomed attention from both Spanish and Portuguese wineries alike. And with their keen focus upon us, we feel it is our duty to provide them with a bit of extra marketing knowledge that we’ve accumulated over the past three years of writing for Catavino. And to be honest, some of you Iberian wine nuts may find these blogging tips interesting and we hope that you as readers will feel the need/desire to add in a few of your own! So without further ado, please read on with booming voice and dramatic pauses!

I. Thou shall not use Flash. Flash is pretty. Flash is for games, movies and art projects. Flash is not for wine blogs, nor is it for wine sites. Flash takes a long time to load, contains no information for Google and is annoying to watch/look at when trying to read text. Plus if I have to wait more than 10secs for it load, I’m gone and off to your neighbors site!
II. Thou shall enable comments. A blog without comments is not a blog. Don’t be afraid of them they are positive tools, and even when you get a bad comment, which is rare, you’ll be able to troubleshoot and respond to it in an honest dialog; whereby, putting out any fire before it spreads.
III. Thou shall not talk about your &$#!!?! awards all day! Please tell me about your awards once in …

So it appears that there is considerable support for the idea of having a European wine blogger conference. Those that are following along with last week’s post on the proposed conference will notice that we have a good diverse group. One thing to point out though, is that this is a work in progress and an attempt to do something with as much group involvement and participation as possible. Therefore, I’m going to start by saying that all offers to help out will be accepted. But first, we need to answer some preliminary questions before we go any further.

1) When do we want this? Gerry Dawes has mentioned that our proposed dates are not the best for various reasons. Others seem to agree. So I have this question: what works for you? Please vote in the poll listed below. If you have a better answer, feel free to suggest it in the comments below.
We do feel that it needs to be around this time of year, but we are open to all suggestions. Just know that we would like to set the date in stone, before we get to far into February.

Ask what cheese is most popular here in Spain, and many of will point you to the pungently strong Asturian blue cheese called, Cabrales. Ask what the most popular meat dish is, and undoubtedly, they will say jamon iberico or cured Iberian ham. Finally, ask what people’s favorite article is from Catavino, and they’ll most likely shrug their shoulders and say, “no se, quien es Catavino?” So maybe the Spanish aren’t as savvy as to our existence as we are to theirs, but we can tell you which articles have caught your attention over the year. Enjoy the compilation and thank you, as always, for your continual support!

Cheers,
Gabriella and Ryan

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