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!

• Participants
• Sponsors
• Flickr photos
• Video Interviews from VinusTV
• Keynote Tasting
• Conference Sessions: Blog Writing, Wine Scores, Advertising
• Tasting Notes on Adegga
  
• Wrap Up Posts – Ryan, Gabriella, Robert

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