The Alumni Discount is extended through February 29th! And by alumni, we mean ANYONE who has attended an EWBC from 2008 in Rioja to last year in Franciacorta!

This should give you just enough time to sort your schedules and get those tickets purchased. We’re on the brink of announcing some fabulous opportunities and details about this year’s event, giving you that added nudge to join us, so stay tuned!

Please contact us if you do not have the Alumni discount code. And if you have any questions, we’re just a click, nudge, poke or sheep throw away.

Cheers!

Gabriella, Robert & Ryan

However, while the EWBC community is privileged to experience a new culture every year, it has not always been clear how we might give something back beyond the world of wine.

While we explore their wines, sample their foods,and saunter through their vineyards, the people and wineries we meet also face their own, local, challenges we may not know much about. Poverty, famine, war, illiteracy and natural disasters affect each and every country, even wine producing ones; and for the 2012 EWBC, we’d like to do our best to give something back.

Van Earthquake

On October 23rd, 2011, the Van earthquake hit Turkey with a vengeance, killing 604 people and injuring well over 4,000. As winter approached, it was predicted that approximately 60,000 people were left homeless.

The Turkish Red Cross alerted its emergency response units and established crisis management centres in several regions. As of early November, it had:

• established four tent camps
• begun establishing two camps of pre-fabricated houses
• distributed 1,968 prefabricated houses to 48 villages located in higher altitude and colder areas
• assigned 18 psychologists and social service specialists to provide support for people who lost their relatives and for survivors experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Second Devastating Earthquake

As if one wasn’t enough, on November 9th, 2011, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 and a depth of 9.4 kilometres hit near Van, causing 40 deaths and hundreds injured. Rescue workers were able to pull out 25 survivors from the rubble of the collapsed buildings, including several journalists that were trapped under the Bayram Hotel.

There have been 1,561 aftershocks above a magnitude 2 M_w since October 30th.

You Can Give Back!

When you register for the EWBC before January 31, 2012, you have the option of donating money to the Turkish Red Cross Earthquake Fund. All money collected will be MATCHED by the EWBC up to 2,500 euros.

We want to make this commitment, to give something back to the generous host community, an annual one, and we hope that you too can help us by showing your support and pledging even a small amount when registering for the EWBC or directly at any time (but remember, we will be doubling your contributions if you do it when registering).

Thank you

At the EWBC in 2011 we chose “Storytelling” as the theme. The idea was to create a programme that would be relevant to all participants, no matter what their background or chosen communication medium.

This theme allowed us to exchange stories and experiences in a new way,and explore the relationship of new media such as video and photography to tell the stories behind wine.

At the EWBC in 2012 we hope to do the same, expanding the idea to bring together wine, communications, food, travel and culture.

The theme for EWBC 2012 will be: ‘Source‘

The choice of Turkey as the host for the conference is particularly exciting for wine lovers, as recent evidence points to areas of Turkey being the original source of domestic vine cultivation and possibly winemaking. Several countries in the region make this claim, and we hope to explore what this ancient lineage can bring to the contemporary wine conversation.

However, it is not all about grapes. When it comes to the skill and practice of wine communication, there is an important issue to address.

With the explosion of networks, channels and number of content creators, comes the need for curation of information. It is no longer enough to be adding content about wine, but it is becoming increasingly important to create source of knowledge, or intelligence, either through original research or expert analysis. Content creators will be urged to “Become a Source” not just a disseminator.

With another dedicated stream, the EWBC will also explore the intersection of wine with food and travel online, through “freshly sourced” and the “resourceful traveller”, two worlds that are intimately related to the future success of wine.

The EWBC is celebrating 5 wonderful years in 2012, and in the years since it began, the landscape of online communications has transformed itself from a tool for excited pioneers, to an essential part of everyday life for wine lovers and the wines business.

2012 seems a good opportunity to look back at the origins of wine and wine communications online, as a way to plan for the future, and the continued success of online communicators everywhere.

See you in Izmir!

“Please, take some!” he said, almost laughing at my reluctance. I was only hesitant because I didn’t want this gentleman to waste wine on a stranger. But here we were, standing in a ballroom in Brescia, Italy, and that was precisely the point.

What an introduction to the European Wine Bloggers Conference. I liked Thomas Lippert immediately and not, it turned out, because of the wine. No, the wine was merely interesting. Thomas was instantly sweet and likable, not cloying but genuine. So genuine that he gave himself away without a fight after I said, “That’s awfully kind of you to share a rare wine.”

“I only paid one Euro!” he said, as if unable to allow a friend to carry any misconception, however small.

“Well, hell, I’ll take the whole bottle!” I replied, smiling.

Thomas added, “Well, the shipping was 60 Euro!”

I felt compelled to pour him a glass of the Finger Lakes Riesling I had chosen. He buried his nose in the glass, tasted it, then declared, “Germans have been saying that it’s about time the Finger Lakes stop making Riesling.”

“Huh,” I said, searching for the right words.

Thomas clarified: “That’s because the Finger Lakes is making it so damn well.” We laughed again, a preview to a weekend of wine exploration without affectation.

For me, it was a weekend filled with learning. From the probing discussions on how to become a more effective storyteller, to the introduction of new wines and new (to many of us!) wine regions, to the discussions about trends and customs and travel, well, there was a constant high from the learning.

There was also a deft balance, thanks in large part to a team of organizers determined to put content and substance first. In any conference of this size, sponsors are part of the fabric. That’s how it works. Sponsors are the engine. However, if the sponsors dominate the agenda, the attendees feel like they’ve been prostituted. Remarkably, I left Brescia without hearing a single writer complain about an inundation of sponsorship.

Now, that’s not to say that the format was perfect. Certainly there are ways to improve, and the organizers are clear-headed in that regard. I’d love to see even more interaction in the future; the conference reached a crescendo when the audience was electric with comments and questions during the story-telling panel on Saturday. I’d focus my critique on finding ever more ways to have such interaction, as opposed to complaining about food.

By the time I sat next to Thomas Lippert during the open mic-style story telling hour on Saturday afternoon, I felt comfortable with dozens of people I’d only just met. Thomas was simply the first. I shouldn’t have been surprised when his story about EWBC and his health moved me emotionally. When he returned to his seat I shook his hand and gave him a smack on the back. Next year I’ll return, no matter where the conference goes, and I’ll bring a prized wine with Thomas’ name on it. But I’ll force myself to spend no more than single Euro on it (though there will be no limit on the shipping).

Evan Dawson

Keynote Speaker at the 2011 EWBC

Blogger’s Stories – Storytelling in action from Vrazon on Vimeo.

But since we are in the middle of the madness, I just want to let you all know that we will be doing a few things so that if you are not here you can still join in.

• Follow us on Twitter with the hashtag: #ewbc – though we warn you that if you don’t have any wine while you’re watching, you may be mighty thirsty
• Follow us from time to time on the live stream: http://bit.ly/EWBC2011live
• We’ll be also uploading videos on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/vrazon

But for now, we’re going to get back to our bubbles!

Come back here later this week and hopefully we’ll have some more info for you about the conference.

Cheers from Italy!

Ryan, Gabriella, Robert

For this reason, we want to offer a new way to introduce yourself. If you have a product, project or service that you want highlighted, create a short video about it. Today is Ágnes Németh, Editor in Chief of Vince Magazine!