Liveblogging? Not precisely, but it was lively!

 

My secret is out. Previously only my editors knew that I stink at making deadlines. To quote Douglas Adams, I actually love deadlines. They make a wonderful wooshing noise as the pass by. But be that as it may, I thought I'd better finish up my notes on the Winemaker Magazine conference. 

Betsy, Kiev, Chris and Ellen--working the lunch 

 The last day was great! I was off the Winemaker clock, mostly, so I got to hang out, enjoy a few glasses of wine, talk with friends and meet with my peers and colleagues--what more could you ask for?

The unusual suspects . . .  

Well, the chance to appear on the Saturday Luncheon keynote panel with three of the smartest, most articulate winemakers/educators/authors at work in the industry today, of course! After lunch we took questions from the audience. It went really well, with a great blend of questions on vine growing, wine chemistry, kit winemaking and suchlike. I had no idea my fellow panelists were so funny: Wes Hagen in particular has a great sense of comic timing, Daniel's wit is dryer than his Chardonnay and Allison could charm the petioles off a vine.  Really, I was just there because I was pretty. 

  After lunch there were more seminars (and not a little napping on my part!) until the awards dinner. There were dozens of happy winners in attendance and a lot of cheering for the winners and plenty of wine to enjoy.  The after partying and wine sharing went on long into the night. 

I'm really looking forward to next year: we're doing it in Washington state and it's going to be bigger and better than ever. Hope you can all make it!