For the first time in our short 2 year experience of organizing the American and European wine blogger conferences, the majority of organizers will finally meet, face to face, without a computer screen between us! Gabriella and myself will be bringing the EWBC banner to California, in order to participate in the WBC in Sonoma/Napa. Starting with a pre-party at the infamous Twisted Oak Winery, we’ll then head north on the 24th of July to attend the American Wine Bloggers Conference at the Flamingo Hotel, where we’ll discuss wine blogging, taste a considerable amount of wine and finally meet the people behind their avatars.

This is a big step, and we hope that it leads to more collaboration and discussions of how we can create a global wine blogging community. Wine blogging is a global endeavor, and one that should use its international reach to truly flex its muscle as it becomes more influential in the wine trade. Thanks to forward looking countries like Portugal, who is generously bringing us to the States, this summit is happening, and we trust this is the first of many international collaborations to come.

So if you don’t know Catavino yet, come find us, as we’ll be there all week. Ryan’s tall, bald, with a deep voice, while Gabriella is short, spunky and cute – an easy pair to pick out of a crowd. We’re both pretty darn friendly and can be found on twitter at @ryanopaz @gabriellaopaz and @catavino. All week, we’ll be blogging and uploading videos and photos, hope you all follow along! Oh and we have a few big surprises for the WBC participants…a couple of which will truly help make this a more global encounter!

Till soon,
Ryan Opaz

The second edition of the European Wine Bloggers Conference (EWBC) will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, between the 30th of October to the 1st of November 2009. Bringing together bloggers of all backgrounds including: winemakers, wine writers, marketers, retailers and distributors from around the world, this year’s conference will address, “The Future of the Social Wine Brand”.

The 2008 conference, in La Rioja, Spain, was the first international event for Wine Bloggers and the first of a growing series of conferences and events under the “Wine Bloggers Conference” banner. In addition to the annual European event, there is also an annual US event based in California and plans to include a series of local events beginning in 2009 and 2010. Our goal is to create a network of wine bloggers across the globe to spread information, broaden the culture of wine, improve industry standards, and above all else, create a physical space to communicate and share ideas.

The Social Wine Brand, is the sum of interactions and relationships created by a wine brand through social media platforms in order to improve its overall sales. Bloggers are key to this process and the EWBC will bring together bloggers, with different roles to play, to learn from each other – wineries who are creating the brands, reviewers who are evaluating and sharing them, and retailers who are delivering the brands to the customer and generating the revenue in this value chain.

The 2009 European Wine Bloggers Conference programme will include several “keynote” sessions addressing topical subjects for all online wine communicators, as well as several streams of smaller group sessions to generate and nurture some practical discussions.

The 100 wine bloggers expected at the EWBC 2009 will not only attend a wide range of educational sessions, but also visit several key wineries in and around Lisbon, in addition to a host of traditional Portuguese meals. The entire event will provide ample opportunity for bloggers to experience the food, wine and culture of Portugal, all while discussing issues pertinent to the future of the social wine brand.

That said, we’re expecting all of you to come join us!

We’ll have plenty of more information flooding the internet in the coming weeks, and months, but for now, go here for information on registration.

Cheers,

Gabriella, Ryan and Robert