July, 2008

Choose a wine from Portugal, we'll bring it.

July 7th, 2008

Wines in line

On the first day of the European Wine Blogging Conference we’ve been asked to bring a few wines to participate in the bloggers wine tasting. We have a few favorites that we would like to bring but we also want to ask if there’s anything special that you would like us to bring.

We can choose some wines by looking at the Top 10 Wines from Portugal. Lots of good picks there. Within reasonable price we might try to get some of them.

We had already thought of bringing a few of our personal favorites. I’m a Cortes de Cima lover but José Eduardo might bring some of his wines. Emídio is a fan of Quinta do Carmo and André would probably like to get a bottle of his controversial Duradero 2003 (a wine made from Portuguese and Spanish grapes at the same time).

We want to know your choice. Is there anything you would like to taste? Some Vinho Verde or perhaps one of the well know grapes like Touriga Nacional. This is your choice, let us know what you want in the comments below and (within the budget) we’ll try to get those wines to the big tasting!

Join us at the EWBC 2008

July 6th, 2008

The European Wine Blogger Conference 2008 is almost around the corner. In less than 2 months (August 29th-31st) we’ll be joining other wine lovers in La Rioja for the first event of this kind.

European Wine Blogger Conference 2008

The agenda is full of interesting stuff.

Day 1
We’ll start by doing a special wine tasting. Each participant was asked to bring wines [that] could be great examples of the blogger’s own country’s wines, or could be examples of wines that are very popular in that country. It sure looks like we’ll discovering lots of new stuff. We’ll add them all to adegga.

Day 2
Second day is discussion day. We’ll be gathering at the Dinastia Vivanco Museum to discuss such interesting topics as ratings, wine blog writing and standards and monetisation. On this day we’ll also be able to eat some tapas and taste local wines.

This day will end will a great keynote tasting of Portuguese and Spanish wines led by uber-iberian-bloggers Ryan and Gabriella from Catavino.

Day 3
On the third day we’ll be visiting several Rioja Bodegas. Looking at some Flickr pictures one can only wonder how amazing that will be!

Join us?
We’re looking forward for the conference. We’ll be driving there since it’s only 800 km. Is anyone else going from Portugal?


View Larger Map

Tasting wine is simple

July 5th, 2008

More than often I’ve seen people stay away from wine because it’s either seen as difficult to understand, complicated to learn or expensive. None of that is true (although it can be expensive) and anyone should be able to enjoy a good glass of wine without myths.

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the people who have been showing that wine can be simple to enjoy. He hosts a daily podcast about wine called Wine Library TV. Everyday Gary tastes a few bottles, gives a few tips and above all shows that wine is accessible to everyone.

On a recent video Gary shared with Kevin Rose (of social news site digg) a few tips on how to enjoy wine. This 7-minute video is a good example of the kind of attitude that is needed to be able to enjoy wine without restrictions.

Here’s the video:

A special note to Gary for pointing out (again) his love for Portuguese wines. We feel honored!