I'm off to attend the 2014 Wine Bloggers Conference, held in Buellton, Santa Barbara County, California and sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Vintners' Association. Santa Barbara County consists of five AVAs (Happy Canyon, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, Ballard Canyon and Sta. Rita Hill); has more than 200 wineries and 20,000 acres of vineyards; and grow over 60 grape varieties. I tasted a few of these wines a couple weeks back in the Santa Barbara #WBC14 Preview on #Winechat. A ton still to learn. In addition, I will be participating in the Paso Robles pre-excursion - sample 100 wines 24 hours. Thanks to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance for sponsoring that whirlwind tasting. And that's not all. There will be dozens of wineries from around the world (I'm particularly interested in Wines of Georgia, New Wines Of Greece and Wines of Portugal) and I'll catch up with favorites such as Cornerstone Cellars, Jordan Winery, Westerly Wines, Gypsy Canyon Winery, and many more. Then there are the after-parties. I'm bringing some Virginia Wine to share (Horton Vineyards, Hiddencroft Vineyards, & CrossKeys Vineyards & Estates), but I'm also looking forward to all the other local wines other participants are bringing. Then there's the more formal gatherings like Austrian Wine USA and Blue Danube Wine Company pouring Blaufrankisch and Gruner Veltliner at Cold Heaven Cellars. Jordan Winery and J Vineyards are sponsoring a reception as well and I hope they have Jordan's hilarious videos streaming. And our friends at Nomacorc are in the house. Follow the action on twitter @WineCompass, #WBC14, @SBCWines, & @PasoRobles. And below are maps of the area cities as found on theCompass Winery, Brewery, & Distillery Locator. Cheers.
