2012 Wine Bloggers Conference Portland, Oregon
- Author: admin
For the first time, New Wines of Greece supported the 5th annual North American Wine Bloggers conference as a sponsor in Portland, Oregon from August 17-19th. This event was the largest yet, drawing a mix of highly reputable wine bloggers from across the United States including Randall Grahm, Joe Roberts, Leslie Sbrocco, Rex Pickett, Alan Kropf, Tom Wark among others.
The conference kicked off with an international wine tasting during registration on Friday the 17th, where New Wines of Greece poured a selection of 5 representative samples of the country’s top wine varieties. Greece got a head start, pulling in numerous tweets about its wines from attendees, not only due to the quality showcased, but also due to a contest the campaign initiated exclusively for attendees. This contest encouraged bloggers to express their thoughts about what made Greek wines unique, while referencing the twitter handle #DrinkGreekWine and the new tagline #EternallyModern. Participants eagerly competed for a chance to win a trip to Greek wine country in 2013, a case of Greek wines, and dinner at one of their favorite restaurants.
On Saturday evening, New Wines of Greece hosted an exclusive pre-dinner reception before the awards ceremony, where over 200 attendees eagerly explored top varieties in a self-serve format, along with fresh seafood and local cheeses. Guests entering the reception took note of a large sign at the entrance announcing the details of the Twitter contest.
Inside, wines were organized on ten tables by varietal style, with signs illustrating not only the grape names, but also the phonetic spelling of these grapes so that guests could comfortably practice saying the names on their own. Tabletop signs also encouraged attendees to “Help Yourself” and “Taste & Tweet,” including the Twitter handle “@DrinkGreekWine and Hashtag “EternallyModern for easy reference, and regional maps were available on each table for easy reference. The buzz in the room was electric as many attendees were exploring Greek wines for the first time, eager to learn, and wowed by the breadth of styles and quality of wines showcased.
After the wine blog awards, Greece again showcased a selection of white and red wines at the final International Wine Night to attendees that were not able to make the reception. Feedback included that of enraptured wine writer Rex Pickett (author of Sideways), who declared the Domaine Skouras Grand Cuvee Nemea to be the best wine he had tasted all weekend.
