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!

However, we are still looking for major sponsors to support the event. If you are interested in having your brand amplified around the world by bloggers from over 20 countries, we kindly ask that you contact us here.

We are still accepting registrations, and names will be added to our Waiting List which will be given on a first come, first serve basis. If you have already registered for the conference but cannot make it, please let us know right away, as there are many people who would happily take your place.

The post-conference trips to the Danube and Bergunland are still open and available for registered participants. If you have registered yourself for the EWBC but have not signed up for the post trip, please do so right away. Pre trips are still in the making, and will be announced in the near future.

For those of you who have not booked your hotel room at the Renaissance Hotel, there is still space available. We have also extended the discount price to the 21-25th for those of you coming early or staying later. If you need the price extended further, please contact the hotel directly.

Finally, thanks to all of you who have continued to support the EWBC by making our conference an annual tradition. And for those of you who are new to the EWBC, allow us to welcome you with open arms. We love having new faces, new cultures and new ideas at the EWBC, and we truly hope we can make this conference a memorable and valuable one.

And as always, never hesitate to contact us with any and all questions, because this conference is only as powerful and productive as the community who supports it.

Thanks to all of you and we look forward to seeing you in Vienna!

Gabriella, Robert and Ryan

Get Amplified

At the EWBC, I was excited to help push the discussion about the social wine brand, and take a different look at what we understand as a ‘wine brand’ itself, but also the role of bloggers.

I was therefore struck by one of Gary’s most interesting points (and I paraphrase liberally):

Tell your own (winery’s) story, with passion. Don’t be lazy and wait until others tell it for you, take ownership and speak to your consumers

At first, this seems to contradict the EWBC message as this is exactly what many of the EWBC bloggers want to do. Should it only be wineries that blog and talk to consumers? Is every other blog a waste of time and space? Are we actually hurting the wineries we are trying to help?

In fact, it is not a contradiction, but it does raise important issues that were discussed at the EWBC and reminds me of a model I have become part of in the UK called “Amplified“.

Amplified is a ‘network of networks’, it is about making contacts with other players in the social media sphere who can not just learn about you and your brand (or your particular network), but if they like it, they’ll find a way to share it with their own audiences. The role of these players is to take a message and give it a boost to a new audience.

…sometimes it requires other intermediaries to filter and share that message, get it to new people, give it some credibility and start the process of building the brand

It IS up to the wineries to tell their stories, as was discussed and debated in the EWBC session “Winery & Wine Blog Relations“. Wineries need to do their bit to communicate their story, and make it easy for others (such as bloggers) to share the story, but wine bloggers are not being delegated the task of talking about wines, as arguably used to be the case with journalists in wine magazines. Instead, they have a role in amplifying the message that wineries put out. As Ken Payton said, “wineries tell their own story .. they always do it better than a writer could”, but sometimes it requires other intermediaries to filter and share that message, get it to new people, give it some credibility and start the process of building the brand. This is very much the role of the participants at the EWBC.

Not all wineries have, or will want to have, blogs of their own, but they are still telling their stories at tastings, in their cellar door shop, with their press releases and many other media. It means that there is a major role for wine writers of many different styles and backgrounds to learn the stories and wines they like and then bring them to a new audience.

One of the most important things achieved at the EWBC did not come from an individual speaker or exhibitor, but was the fact that all the participants have become a stronger network. There is now a means for sharing ideas, collaborating on projects and identifying opportunities. In short, we are ready to amplify each others’ stories.

Pass the megaphone!

After the fact ...

Wow! That was … intense!

We are all just getting home after a most amazing, fun packed, information rich and simply breathtakingly exciting weekend of wine, discussion sessions, networking trips and tastings. What more could anyone wish for?

120 or so bloggers from all over the globe in one hotel, in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal, and some stunning wines from around that country and beyond, is way beyond any dreams we might have had when we started this Wine Bloggers’ Conference adventure.

We will be writing all sorts of follow-up posts here and on our own blogs, linking to all the different perspectives that our many friends will have had on the event. However, for now let us say, as organisers, that the bloggers, both first-timers and seasoned veterans of past events, were brilliant. The sense of community was palpable, and the wines from Portugal and other participating countries, shone.

We will, in time, thank all our wonderful sponsors, the hotel, the restaurants, the people of Lisbon and Portugal, but for now, we all need to rest, recover and ponder – how can I express what I gained this weekend? The answers to that question will be many, and varied, and I guarantee they will be interesting.

Thank you all, and stay in touch! There are great plans afoot for the future!

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• Trip to Portugal: EWBC and Enoforum Wines ~ I’m Flying (wine-blog.org)
• II Annual European Wine Bloggers Conference Extraordinarily Brief Update (catavino.net)
• Bloggers Conference: what I’d say if I was there! (wineanorak.com)
• Planning A Trip To Lisbon? A Food and Wine Lover’s Perfect Day (catavino.net)

If you want to follow along with what is happening at the European Wine Bloggers Conference and cannot be here in person (or you are here and want to share your thoughts, pictures and videos with others), you can find it all here:

Live Blogging – sessions in multiple languages; English & Portuguese which will include links to images, videos and some tweets

Flickr Group – for a great range of photos (some serious but also fun)

Videos – these may take a little longer to go up, but check these out too. In time this will also have videos of each session

Finally, for those who are here, please remember to use the #EWBC tag in your tweets so others can follow along

Yet, unbeknown to us, the interest was much greater than we expected and suddenly we had 50 participants from 11 different countries. From wine retail bloggers to winery bloggers, we covered the gamut, each one bringing to the table a unique professional, cultural and individual perspective.

People have asked time and time again, what makes the European Wine Bloggers Conference unique, and the answer is two-fold: passion and diversity. As this idea started on a grassroots level – between 3 bloggers who are passionate not only about the medium, but more importantly, about the subject – it is of no surprise that we wanted the participants to walk away feeling connected to a community, more knowledgeable on the subject of wine blogging, and inspired to experiment on their own blog. But what we didn’t anticipate would be vast amount of information provided by each culture. A subject so straightforward as wine blog writing turned into a heated debate based on each culture’s perspective on what is ethical, effective and professional.

The seed of this inspiration stemmed from the fact that we normally don’t read blogs in various languages. Therefore, it takes an event like an international conference to bring us together and motivate us to share ideas in whatever language we can muster. And although our communication skills may not always be eloquent, our passion to learn from one another pushes our levels of understanding forward to the point where true learning is achieved.

This is why I want us to reach our goal of 20 countries this year! To date, we have 12 countries represented, including: Sweden, Holland, England, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, USA, France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, but we want 20! We want to ensure that this conference bridges cultural gaps in wine blogging to create a vast and powerful network of people communicating ideas across the globe.

If you are a wine blogger, or know of a blogger, from outside of these 12 countries, please join us! Whether you’re from Bulgaria or Mexico, we want your contribution to this conference!