Through the Bunghole

Wine Bloggers Conference 2013

Posted by Michael Wangbickler Wine Bloggers Conference No Responses »

May 232013

WBC13 The 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference will take place June 6-8 in Penticton, British Columbia. In it’s 6th year, the conference has become a gathering of veterans and newbies alike, who seek the company of like-minded writers and to discover new regions to explore.

This will be the fifth of these conferences I will attend and I am looking forward to it. It’s the first year that it will take place outside of the United States, so registrations are understandably down. The conference organizers promise, however, that it will be equal if not better than previous iterations. I’m going to hold them to that.

The conference has changed quite a bit since it’s inception. It started out small, with only 100 or so of us discovering this new realm of wine blogging. It was the first time that many of us took Twitter seriously, and Facebook wasn’t even on the radar as a legitimate social site (some may argue it still isn’t). Since then, the blush is off the rose for some, but others have thrived and made a name for themselves.

The question must be asked: is blogging still relevant? There are some who claim that blogging is dead. And to a certain extent, I won’t disagree with some of their arguments. But, I prefer to think of blogging as having evolved, rather than died. People are still blogging and creating great content. The evolution has come in the form of how these writers now interact with their readers. Once upon a time, a blog’s success could be measured by how many and the quality of the comments they incurred on certain posts. Some blogs still receive comments, but most don’t garner as much as they once did. Instead, readers are now interacting more on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. So, in a way, blogging has grown beyond the blog itself, in essence decentralizing the conversation.

I think that this is shown most markedly in the change in the types of breakout sessions we see at blogging conferences now. It’s no longer about HOW to blog, but rather how to blog well. Creating compelling content, differentiating your blog from others, and using tools like Google+ to engage readers are all sessions we can expect at this year’s Wine Bloggers Conference. I myself will be participating on a panel about creating compelling content.

So, is blogging dead? Over 200 attendees to WBC 2013 would say: no. As do I. Blogs are still relevant. We just need to make sure that people actually want to read them.

Oh yea, and we’ll be drinking a whole lot of great wine too…

Rediscovering Priorat

Posted by Paul Wagner International No Responses »

May 222013

It was the best of times and then… well, you know. Originally a Roman wine region, Spain’s Priorat then became a lost land of outlaws and wolves. The Carthusians came in the 12th century, replanted the vineyards, and built a massive monastery in the middle of the wilderness. But in the early 1800′s, that was destroyed in the revolts against the church. And once again, the region became a rural backwater—but this time without the wolves.

It wouldn’t be until the 1980′s that anyone outside of Catalunya even heard of Priorat. A group of young winemakers took a look around at the steep hills and realized, we can make great wines of the world here. And so they did.

These determined winemakers brought in modern equipment, French oak barrels and a vision of a new kind of wine from Priorat: focused, intense and very high quality. They appreciated the area’s special soils, called, llicorella, whose mica particles add a touch of glitter to the landscape. The soil retains heat and reflects it back off the precariously steep slopes on to the vines. This added warmth, along with wild herbs and flowers that cover this hillsides, give the region some very powerful and aromatic wines.

Today, wine enthusiasts are clamoring for the wines, willing to pay top dollar. These are some of the best expressions of garnacha and carinena in the world.

I just visited the region and give you a view of Priorat Through the Bunghole:

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The Hills are Alive…

Posted by Paul Wagner International, Viticulture No Responses »

May 212013

Priorat I just got back from Priorat last week. What I was not prepared for was the beauty of the region. I knew it made great wines, but I didn’t know about the stunningly steep vineyards (some terraced, some not) and the explosion of wildflowers that covered the hills.

Poppies in Priorat Of course, this has been the wettest spring in recent memory, and as one of my hosts put it: “anything that grows is going to blossom this year.” But, the result is glorious: poppies, lavender, thistles, sage, rosemary — the full Mediterranean spice rack.

You could almost hear Julie Andrews singing…

When Organic isn’t Green

Posted by Paul Wagner Marketing, Wine Making No Responses »

May 162013

Hypocrisy I’m afraid I’m becoming just a bit skeptical about all the organic and bio-dynamic wineries in Europe. Not that they are trying to farm in a more “natural” way, whatever that means. Often it just means that they let the weeds (sorry–native vegetation) grow between the vines. Fair enough.

But it seems that once the wine is ready to sell, all bets are off. Ideally, the wine would arrive in the market in recycled paper cases, lightweight bottles, and easily recycled packaging. More often it comes in slick packaging that includes those wonderfully heavy bottles that make no sense from any ecological direction.

Hmpph.

Priorat, Here I Come…

Posted by Paul Wagner International No Responses »

May 132013

Priorat WIne I’m off to Spain for a few days to visit Priorat in Spain to speak at a conference. Sound exciting?

I left home Saturday at 9:30 am to catch the shuttle to San Francisco International Airport, and arrived at the airport at noon. Flight was delayed, and left at 2:10 pm. A bit more than ten hours in the air to Frankfurt. Flight to Barcelona was delayed, and I arrived in Barcelona at 8:00 pm Sunday.

Taxi to the hotel, a quick shower, and then dinner.

That’s a total of 27 hours door-to-door. What fun.

Oh yeah. I ordered a beer on the plane. I figure I’m going to get enough wine in the next three days.

Wish me luck.

Brand Australia Revisited

Posted by Tracy Ellen Kamens Marketing, Trade No Responses »

May 032013

Next Chapter

After a notable absence, the folks from Wine Australia have returned to promote the wines from Down Under. Members of New York’s wine media and trade were invited for an “in-depth look at the ‘Next Chapter,’” which included a walk-around tasting and a seminar titled “Australia: Classic, Contemporary & Curious.” Moderated by Wine Australia’s Education Director, Mark Davidson, the seminar panel also included Suzanne Barros, East Coast Market Development Manager for Wine Australia; Jeff Taylor, Head Sommelier for Elen Madison Park; and Tyler Colman, Founder/Author of Dr. Vino. Unfortunately, although scheduled to be on hand, Matt Fowles, Owner of Fowles Wine, was unable to attend due to problems with New Jersey Transit.

So, if the first chapter of Australian wine was all about critters and value, what is this next chapter all about?

Davidson opened up the session with the admission that the image of Australian wine has suffered a bit and further added that people had become bored with Australian wine. He then discussed the emergence of Australian wine from its earliest beginnings referencing a Monty Python skit in which such wines were described thusly: “This is not a wine for drinking; this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.” Davidson suggested that, from there, Australian wines entered a Parker-style era and that now, it was time to revisit Australian wines as they had re-emerged in a new era.

Picking up on this thread, Suzanne explained that many Australian producers were now planting southern European varieties due to their own personal experiences in working in these regions. More specifically, she discussed the similarities in climate such as that between McLaren Vale and Sardinia. Consequently, we are now seeing grapes such as Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Assyrtiko being grown in Australia. She also explained that, with climate change, producers are looking at varieties that hold their acidity.

As evidence of both the newer side of Australian wine and the more usual suspects, the first flight included Vermentino, Riesling, Semillon and Viognier, with Tyler commenting on the stylistic variations being seen among Riesling. He discussed that on his trip to Australia in 2009, he hadn’t seen much off-dry Riesling, but that it was nice to see one today (Grosset Alea Riesling 2012, Clare Valley, $20.00). Mark suggested that reaction to the high, searing acidity found in young Australian Riesling made such styles welcome, joking that, “Drinking Polish Hill Riesling young is akin to being electrocuted.” However, he indicated that off-dry styles wouldn’t be the dominant style found in the country.

The conversation then shifted to that of Hunter Valley Semillon, given its very unique style in the world. The Semillon in the seminar line-up was actually from the Barossa Valley (Peter Lehmman Margaret Semillon 2005, Barossa Valley, $23.00). While many of these are produced with some oak influence, some Barossa producers are moving away from the oaky approach and focusing on wines that show some development with age. When audience member, Mary Gorman, MW, wondered why Australians were looking to new varieties rather than on exploiting their existing strengths – namely Hunter Valley Semillon, Mark offered that Hunter Valley Semillon was difficult to sell to the average consumer.

The next flight was led by the Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2010, Margaret River, $75.00, which was indicative of the changing style of Australian Chardonnay. While power and richness still resonate, there is evidence of more elegance and less oak influence today than in the past. This was followed by the Mac Forbes Worri Yallock Pinot Noir 2010, Yarra Valley, $42.00, which suggested that Pinot Noir is being produced in a leaner style than previously.

The next two wines – a varietally-labeled Grenache (Ochota Barrels Fugazi Grenache 2012, McLaren Vale, $44.00) and Mourvèdre (Turkey Flat Mourvèdre 2010, Barossa Valley, $32.00), respectively – displayed not only beautiful complexity and restraint, but also a shift away from blends and toward single-variety wines.

The third and final flight was meant to showcase the diversity of Syrah/Shiraz, with wines from both cool climate (Victoria) and warm climate (McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley) represented. Mark advised that the producers were intentionally making a statement by their choice of name on the label (Shiraz vs. Syrah).

Interestingly, while Mark spoke of the need to emphasize regionality as part of Wine Australia’s rebranding, this seemed to be less of a theme of the seminar. Additionally, the price of the wines shown in the seminar provided another clue about this new chapter of Australian wine – only two of the wines were under $15.00 and more than half were over $30.00.

After tasting through the wines in the seminar, it was clear that Australian wines have much more than fruit-forward characteristics; these are wines with depth and diversity. However, it is not clear whether these wines will be widely accepted in the market given their heftier price tags. While the seminar participants could recognize the quality of the wines, even they balked at some of the price points when compared to more widely recognized performers such as Burgundy or Hermitage. Only time will tell how this next chapter will end.

Style and Class at NY’s Benvenuto Brunello Event

Posted by Tracy Ellen Kamens Education, Italy, People 1 Response »

Apr 032013

Photo Credit: Peter Doyle Photography

In February 2012, I had the pleasure of presenting an educational seminar on Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (among others) at the Italian Wine Masters event. Standing at the podium a few minutes before I was scheduled to begin, I noticed Kevin Zraly second row, center. OK, considering the very first wine book I ever owned was written by this well known and highly regarded author and educator, no pressure! After my presentation, I had the opportunity to say hello to Kevin and admitted to him that his presence had made me a bit nervous. He graciously shared that he had taken three pages of notes and I floated through the rest of the day (and perhaps the week). High praise indeed!

A year later, I was invited to attend a session on Brunello di Montalcino, this time presented by Kevin. You can bet I was eager to attend. Arriving early (as usual), I took a seat in the front row and was immediately welcomed by Kevin. He teased me a bit, asking if I knew anything on the topic and made sure to tell me it was a red wine. He jested that my arrival had just added to his nerves and, while I doubted the validity of the statement, was appreciative of his kindness. I then sat back and waited to see what Kevin would say.

Surprisingly, in one sense, he didn’t say much. For one, he ignored the Powerpoint presentation. Yes, he let it loop from slide to slide, but never really called attention to it or directly used it for instruction. For another, he skipped to the tasting almost immediately. Kevin did note that it was the job of the educator to start at the beginning and made sure to do so, first ensuring that the audience knew he was talking about Italy, then Tuscany, and then, more specifically, Brunello di Montalcino. Next, he drew on the similarities and differences among Chianti Classico (Sangiovese blend), Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (Sangiovese blend) and Brunello di Montalcino (100% Sangiovese). Then, he stopped.

That’s not to say that the seminar was over or that he ceased to talk, but he did not provide any further factual information on the wines. In fact, aside from making us repeat the names of the producers aloud (to correct our pronunciation), we didn’t even get any information on the producers’ histories or winemaking practices.

At first, I was annoyed. Was he phoning it in? But, despite this seeming lack of a presentation, Kevin actually provided us with a lot of information. We tasted the eight wines several times each, using the Zraly method, which he demonstrated and reinforced repeatedly. Also, Kevin also had us discuss our tasting notes with our neighbor before we discussed them as a group. Moreover, Kevin continued to point out the key characteristics of the wines, particularly with regard to tannic structure, wine style and readiness to drink.

Photo Credit: Peter Doyle Photography

All in all, once the seminar was over, I realized that he had, in fact, given us an extremely good overview of the 2008 Brunello di Montalcino vintage, while also underscoring how each wine was both similar and different from its counterparts. Additionally, the tasting included three wines from the 2004 vintage, providing further delineation among Brunello vintages.

This experience reminded me that there are multiple approaches to teaching and that each has its time and place. Kevin’s style and approach were exactly what was needed to provide attendees with an understanding of the new Brunello vintage, which was precisely his goal. The positive comments I heard from fellow participants after the seminar reinforced that they agreed his presentation was a success. Moreover, although I pride myself on being a good educator, I recognize that my style is very different from Kevin’s and that I could never pull off his style successfully. Instead, I can learn from Kevin’s approach, but must remain true to myself as a teacher and present my own seminars in a style that is authentic to me, while always keeping the audience and their education in mind.

So, what did I take away from the seminar? The bottom line is that the 2008 Brunello di Montalcino wines are accessible wines, most of which are ready to drink now. They are classic and elegant with vibrant acidity and firm tannins, but enough fruit and complexity to make them easy drinking, very pleasant and, in some cases, extremely complex.

And, more specifically, my 2008 favorites were the Podere Brizio, which I noted as being complex with cherry, cocoa, cedar and herbal notes, along with the Castello Romitorio, which I described as lush with cherries, earth, spice, herbal and floral. Among the 2004s, the Podere Brizio again stood out, as did the Camigliano, both of which were surprisingly still youthful, but drinking well now.

On the Road with the Grands Crus de Bordeaux

Posted by Paul Wagner International, Trade, Wine Tasting No Responses »

Mar 262013

Photo Credit: Richard Jennings – Huffington Post

The Garden Court at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco began life nearly 140 years ago as an open-air courtyard where well-to-do guests could alight from their horse-drawn carriages. Modeled on the architecture of the Paris Opera House, the Palace enclosed the courtyard in 1904 and covered it with a glorious expanse of Belle Epoque stained glass. Today the Garden Court is a restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch to hotel guests. But on January 18, 2013 the Garden Court is closed for a private event.

Twenty-four hours earlier, more than one hundred and ten owners and winemakers of the top chateaux in Bordeaux left their homes to drive to the airport, where they would catch a plane for London Heathrow. In all, between flights, connection times, and airport shuttles, they would be eighteen hours in transit before reaching the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, just in time for dinner on January 17th.

By eight o’clock the next morning the Garden Court is a flurry of activity. Fifty-five tables are draped with white linen and arranged throughout the room, each to be shared by two of the chateaux. The sequence must be matched exactly to the catalog, with each sub-region of Bordeaux in alphabetical order. The regions themselves follow a pattern: from Graves and Pessac-Leognan to St. Emilion and Pomerol, through the Médoc, and finally Sauternes. It’s a grand tour of France’s greatest wine region.

A team of sommeliers and wine students works its way around the room, carefully setting each place with a table sign for the chateau, a burgundy napkin, two wine glasses, a bottle of water, the name tag for the chateau owner, and a list of the trade and media who are planning to attend. Another team is breaking down three pallets of Bordeaux from the now-famous 2010 vintage, delivering the cases to the appropriate tables, and placing three bottles of red wine next to each winery sign. For those chateaux with white wine, only one bottle of it is put on the table; the rest are placed in ice in the bus tubs behind. Corks are pulled on two of the red bottles at each chateau, to allow the wine to breathe. Each table setting is exactly the same.

The tasting will begin at 1:00 p.m., and by 12:30 the room is perfect. A few chateau owners stop in briefly on their way to get a quick bite of lunch before the crowds arrive. A frantic text message arrives from Bordeaux: one chateau owner’s flight was delayed, and she won’t arrive until after the tasting has started. She promises a couple of bottles of her Margaux to the sommelier who volunteers to pour for her until she arrives. There is no shortage of volunteers.

At 12:50 the chateau owners begin to arrive at the Garden Court. Outside, a crowd of more than 200 importers, distributors, restaurateurs, retailers and media have already registered and are anxiously waiting to get in. The last few chateau owners push their way through the crowd and take their positions at their tables.

At one o’clock, the members of the crowd walk briskly into the Garden Court, glasses in hand, and work their way around the tables. It’s a constant stream of traffic that won’t slow down for the four hours of the tasting. In all, more than 600 wine trade members attend the tasting, and there is rarely more than a minute or two when a chateau owner is not pouring a wine or talking to someone. Larger crowds gather at some of the more famous wines, but every chateau has its fans. During the last hour of the tasting, the crowd slowly lays siege to the Sauternes producers. At five o’clock, when the tasting ends, they are standing five or six deep at each of the five tables there.

By five-fifteen, the room is empty of both chateau owners and tasters. The hotel staff hurries in, clearing the tables of empty bottles, and replacing any stained linens. The chateau owners race to the bar, where they hope to get a quick bite to eat. A new set of wines arrives and is delivered to the tables.

At six o’clock, the consumer portion of the tasting begins, with another 300 people—top customers of a local retailer. Each chateau owner is back at his or her station for another two hours. Many follow that with a winemaker dinner at a local restaurant, and don’t fall into bed until midnight.

The next day they leave early for Los Angeles, where they pour at a consumer tasting for more than 2,000 people that afternoon. January 20^th is a travel day to New York, followed by a trade tasting in the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square on Monday, with more than 900 top trade in attendance. One hour later, the consumer tasting brings another 300 wine lovers into the hotel. Winemaker dinners fill more than twenty restaurants in Manhattan that night.

In Chicago, the legendary Drake Hotel has their staff set up the Gold Room the night before to make sure that everything goes smoothly. A malfunction in the fire sprinkler system soaks one end of the room in the middle of the night. The staff works through the night, and by 11:00 a.m., when a few Bordelais arrive to inspect, the room is flawless. The trade tasting packs the room to its limits for four hours, and an hour later the largest retailer in Chicago has 350 more customers march through the doors. There are winemaker dinners in Chicago as well.

The group leaves early the next morning to fly to Washington, DC, for a consumer and trade tasting in the nation’s capital, followed by Toronto and Montreal in the next two days. The following day they fly home, via Heathrow, into the winter weather of France.

The trip lasts ten days and visits seven cities, with two of the days dedicated to transatlantic flights. More than 2,500 people attend the trade tastings, as well as another 3,000 at the consumer events, not including the more than fifty winemaker dinners.

Sixteen days later, one hundred and five chateau owners fly to China.

The Battle of the Bubbles Goes Bad

Posted by Tracy Ellen Kamens Marketing, Trade, Wine Tasting No Responses »

Mar 182013

Facepalm If you’re going to stage a blind tasting (or any other type of event, for that matter), you should do it right or not at all. Veuve Ambal’s Battle of the Bubbles left a bad taste in my mouth and it had nothing to do with the wine.

Members of the press were invited to “an exceptional and unique blind tasting of sparkling wines from Bugundy…” It turned out to be quite exceptional – exceptionally poorly run. Unfortunately, an event that held such promise became a lesson in too much and too few at all the wrong times.

After explaining that the wine was produced in the same manner as that of Champagne (Méthode Traditionnelle), the invitation posed the question, “Are you ready to challenge your expectations about Champagne and be amazed by a sparkling wine from Burgundy?” I was suitably intrigued and looked forward to the challenge. Would I be able to spot the Burgundian sparkler among its Champagne colleagues? I wasn’t sure, but I was curious to find out.

When I arrived I found only a few colleagues assembled, but, over the next 20 minutes it became extremely crowded. Relegated to the bar area in the front of the restaurant (the remainder of the restaurant was off-limits as the staff prepared for that night’s dinner service), there was insufficient room to move. And, quite a few folks were obliged to stand. [Maybe they thought it was a Battle of the Bands?] So, we kicked off the event with too little space and too many people. Not an auspicious start, but I continued to keep an open mind.

After sitting around waiting for the masses, we were eventually formally welcomed and the event’s format was clarified. Each participant would receive a single flute, go up to the bar and have the first sample poured for them, at which point, they would taste the wine, before asking for the second blind sample. Everyone had been given a card on which to rank their preferences from 1 to 5 (with 1 being one’s favorite and 5 the least favorite).

Attendees were further advised that their rankings would be tabulated, with the results and all of the wines’ identities to be revealed via e-mail a few days later. [Another pet peeve was the misspelling of Nicolas Feuillatte in that e-mail, but I digress.]

The format itself posed its own problems; chief among them was too few glasses. Allocating each person with a single glass meant that we didn’t have the opportunity to truly comparison taste. Even when taking careful tasting notes, it is always preferable to be able to taste all of the wines together to be able to fully evaluate the nuances among them. [A point which is presumably important if the event is intended for people to rank the wines against one another!]

Even more egregious was the choice of stemware. The flutes were not at all conducive to evaluative tasting. Their hollow stems potentially caused people to warm the wine unintentionally simply by holding the glass. Moreover, the pours were quite small, which while not a complaint on its own, meant that most of the wine sat in the narrow stem instead of the glass’ bowl, making it extremely challenging to adequately assess the wines’ aromas. [Again, an important point unless I am I missing something here?]

Additionally, getting out from my table was simply impossible and even my colleague, who graciously schlepped from the bar to the table and back again, had difficulty getting past people without bumping into them or spilling wine. On occasion, we did luck out when the proprietor of the winery walked around with the next sample and poured at the tables, saving us from having to negotiate the crowds, but this was haphazard at best.

Equally haphazard was the passing of hors d’oeuvres. The event was held at Petrossian, a high-end New York restaurant known for caviar. While I know there is significant debate in some circles about whether Champagne (or similar sparkling wines) and caviar really are a match made in heaven, I was more than prepared to do some field research. But while servers were seen with trays of smoked salmon, caviar blinis and caviar mousse, after visiting our table once or twice, were never heard from again. Consequently, we each had a single taste of the three different canapés and I think we were the lucky ones. As veteran journalists, we didn’t expect a full meal (and certainly not one of caviar), but thought it was really strange to host the event at this particular venue if too little food would be served. [Perhaps we could at least have had some neutral crackers or bread on the table to cleanse our palates in between tasting?]

A few days later the e-mail arrived and I was quite surprised by the results, which placed Veuve Cliquot first, followed by the Veuve Ambal. While my table may not have been a representation of the total group, none of us had spoken favorably about the (then unknown) sample of Veuve Ambal. In fact, I had it dead last in my line-up. But, frankly, the results weren’t really a concern.

At the end of it all, I did discover that I have a preference for Moet & Chandon’s Imperial Brut, but would be nearly as pleased with Taittinger Brut. And, I’m still waiting to conduct that caviar-Champagne tasting research should anyone need a volunteer! I might even be willing to re-taste the Veuve Ambal under more conducive circumstances, but I will definitely think twice about attending any future battles.

Morning program set for DLW 2013

Posted by Michael Wangbickler Education, Local Wine, Wine Blogs No Responses »

Mar 142013

Photo Credit: Christian Schiller

The morning program is set for the fifth annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland on April 13, 2013.

The conference will open for registration at 8:00 am with light refreshments and a continental breakfast. The following sessions will begin at 9:00 am.

Session 1

9:00 am – 9:45 am

Creating Maryland’s Wine Identity

The history of Maryland wine from the 1940s to the present, which grapes grow well here and where, and what styles of wine are prospering.

Moderator: Richard Leahy, author, Beyond Jefferson’s Vines.

Panelists: Marguerite Thomas, author, Touring East Coast Wine Country; Robert Deford, owner, Boordy Vineyards; Dr. Joe Fiola, Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Maryland.

Session 2

10:00 am – 10:45 am

Drinking Local

Does locavore mean locapour? Do Marylanders appreciate their home-grown wine, and if not, how to get the message out.

Moderator: Dave McIntyre, Washington Post wine columnist, Drink Local Wine co-founder.

Panelists: Jerry Pellegrino, chef, Waterfront Kitchen; Jade Ostner, Director of Events, Maryland Wineries Association; Al Spoler, co-host, Cellar Notes/Radio Kitchen, WYPR Radio.

Session 3

11:00 – 11:45 am

Maryland’s New Guard

Who is setting the quality standard for Maryland wine today? What new grapes, trends or wine regions will we be following in the years to come?

Moderator: Kevin Atticks, executive director, Maryland Wineries Association.

Panelists: Ed Boyce, founder, Black Ankle Vineyards; Tom Shelton, owner and winemaker, Bordeleau Vineyards & Winery; Dave Collins, co-owner, Big Cork Vineyards.

An elegant lunch using fresh, local Maryland ingredients paired with select Maryland wines will follow the morning sessions.

Registration for the full conference is $125 and includes a continental breakfast; entry to all sessions; lunch with paired tasting of Maryland wine; and the Grand Tasting of Maryland Wines and Twitter Taste-off. Tickets are also available for the Grand Tasting only for $40.

To attend the conference, you may visit http://www.marylandwine.org/dlwc13 to register and find out more information.

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