Reviewing Wine At The Wine Bloggers Conference — Day 2

For most attendees of the Wine Bloggers Conference, Day 2 started off with some vineyard walks lead by our conference organizers Zephyr Wine Adventures.  I understand that everyone had fun.  I did not go as I have a vineyard visit planned for Sunday.  Instead I set up some winery visits to review some wines.  I started the day early with a visit with Adam Lee over at Siduri and Novy Family Wines.  Adam & I tasted 14 wines.  The wines were very impressive.  Adam does a terrific job and you should seek out his wines.  I recommended 13 of them.  The 14th wine was just a little too young as it was a 2007 Pinot which we agreed would make more sense to review in early 2009 closer to its release.  The highlights of this tasting were as follows: (I will eventually add the links to the reviews when they are posted)

Siduri 2006 “Santa Lucia Highlands” Pinot Noir (Very Good+)
Siduri 2006 “Garys’ Vineyards” Pinot Noir (Excellent)
Siduri 2006 “Clos Pepe” Pinot Noir (Very Good+)
Novy 2006 “Judge Family Vineyard” Grenache (Very Good+)
Novy 2006 “Napa Valley” Syrah (Very Good +)
Novy 2006 “Page Nord” Syrah (Very Good+)

All the other wines were scored Very Good and were recommended.  Look for the reviews in the coming weeks on KensWineGuide.com.

My second stop was at Dutton Goldfield & Balletto.  I tasted through the wines with Chay.  I recommended 2 Dutton Goldfield wines & one Balletto wine. They were:

Dutton Goldfield 2006 “Dutton Ranch” Chardonnay (Very Good+)
Dutton Goldfield 2006 “Russian River” Zinfandel (Very Good)
Balleto 2006 Gewurtztraminer (Very Good+) This is one of the best Gewurtz’s I have tried recently!

My next stop was over to Carol Shelton Wines.  I meet with Carol & Mitch Mackenzie.  We have covered and recommended may of Carol’s wines in the past.  On this visit we went thru 4 wines that I had not tried in the past.  I recommended all of them.  They were:

Carol Shelton 2004 “Maple” Zinfandel (Very Good)
Carol Shelton 2005 “Maple” Zinfandel (Very Good+)
Carol Shelton 2005 “Karma” Zinfandel (Very Good)
Carol Shelton 2006 “Rockpile” Petite Sirah (Excellent)

The Petite Sirah was the best wine I have tried on the trip so far.  You should call the winery and get on the waiting list for it.  It should be released to club members soon.  We also did a couple of barrel samples of future Petite Sirahs.  I would suggest you stay tuned and keep an eye on Carol’s Petite releases as she has some gems coming up as well.

Then it was back to the conference for 2 very interesting breakout sessions.  The first session was on increasing visitors to your blog.  The panelist shared some very good ideas with the conference attendees.  The first and most important message was to have good content.  For my perspective, that means quality wine reviews for you my readers.  The second session was on making money off of your blog.  It was also a good session and my take away is that you might not get rich, but we all have to eat and drink.  So we might as well do something fun, share our thoughts, and make a little money along the way.

The last 2 events of the day were a Grand Tasting of Sonoma Wines and dinner over at Sebastiani Winery.  At the Grand Tasting I found 5 wines that I would recommend.  They were:

Inman Family 2006 “Russian River” Pinot Noir (Very Good)
Quivera 2006 “West Creek Ranch” Zinfandel (Very Good+)
Seghesio 2005 “Venom” Sangiovese (Very Good+)
Charles Creek 2006 “Las Patolitas” Chardonnay (Very Good +)
Charles Creek 2004 “Pasatiempo” Merlot (Very Good+)

Finally, we closed the evening with a wonderful dinner in the barrel room over at Sebastiani Winery.  This was a time for networking, and enjoying great food and wine.  My 2 recommended wines were the 2006 Barbera and the 2005 Secolo.  Both were Very Good.  I am looking forward to day 3 and a wrap up of the conference.  Stay tuned for details.