After two long years of postponements and waiting, hundreds of home winemakers came
to San Luis Obispo, California from June 2-5 for our 2022 WineMaker Magazine Conference. The conference featured local professional Central Coast winemakers, WineMaker writers, industry experts, and top hobbyists leading over two dozen different seminars over the two main days covering the full spectrum of the hobby. The attendees came from 30 different states and provinces to enjoy the chance to trade advice and stories with fellow winemakers in person.
This year we again ran our pre-and post-conference boot camps with full-day, hands-on classes, which allowed attendees to take advantage of four full days of learning about making wine. We also ran full-day tours both before and after the conference for attendees and guests to wineries in the Paso Robles and Edna Valley wine regions.
The main conference featured workshops including WineMaker’s Technical Editor Bob Peak leading a tasting of four Sauvignon Blancs he made with different treatments to boost aromatics. Our Friday lunch keynote speaker was local Rhône varietal pioneer Jason Haas from Tablas Creek Winery in Paso Robles. We held several question and answer seminars including Alison Crowe in a live, in-person version of her popular “Wine Wizard” magazine column answering troubleshooting questions from the audience. The conference continued offering a selection of different seminar choices for attendees to choose from across a broad variety of topics several times each day. From kits to grape growing to techniques for the fresh grape winemaker, there were subjects for every level and style of winemaker.
After Friday’s seminars ended, a tasting party kicked off with attendees bringing hundreds of their own bottles of wine to share with other hobbyists. Local wineries from California’s Central Coast also poured samples late into the night as attendees tasted wines and shared winemaking stories.
Saturday evening attendees found out first who won medals in the 2022 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition and hundreds of medals were handed out in person to winners in attendance as they came forward to some well-deserved applause from the audience.
The 2023 WineMaker Magazine Conference will head to Oregon’s Willamette Valley in the classic college town of Eugene, Oregon. We will be located in downtown Eugene at The Graduate Hotel a short walk from the town’s dozen urban wineries and a short drive to explore wineries in the world-famous Willamette Valley wine country. We are already working hard on next year’s program. You can lock in your spot for next year and save right now by visiting winemakermag.com. Full program details will be posted on winemakermag.com in early November.
No matter how much you plan, the grapes received at harvest are not always as expected. It’s time to adjust on the fly, and there’s also a plan for that!
When a young hobby winemaker finds out it is illegal to make wine at home in her city and county, she takes the next obvious step: She gets laws changed and starts her own commercial winery.
