Each year we solicit bids from a handful of prominent wine regions to see if they would be interested to host the North American Wine Bloggers Conference the following year. One of our goals is to rotate the conference to new wine areas to give our attendees a chance to visit other regions and to give those regions a chance to highlight their attributes.
We are currently working with three excellent wine areas who have submitted bids to host the 2012 North American Wine Bloggers Conference. The next step is to gather public opinion. We ask past and current blogger attendees for their ratings in a private poll but are also eager to hear from anyone who has opinions about where we should hold the 2012 conference. This input will be factored into the location bid itself and the 2012 location will be announced live at this year’s conference in Charlottesville.
Please feel free to comment on this blog post with your opinions about why you think the 2012 North American Wine Bloggers Conference should be held in Penticton, British Columbia; Oregon; or Santa Barbara, California.
Penticton, British Columbia: Penticton is in eastern British Columbia and is the heart of the province’s wine region, with more than 120 wineries in the area. The conference would be based at the Penticton Lakeside Resort in this town of about 40,000. Local wine organizers are extremely eager to host our conference (they already have a Twitter account and Facebook page to promote it) and have the support of local and provincial groups as well as wine associations across Canada. Penticton has its own regional airport, with daily flights from Vancouver and Calgary, and the Kelowna International Airport, an hour away, has flights to Seattle.
Oregon: The conference hotel would be in Portland, with easy airport access and more facilities, but we would spend Saturday in wine country in the Willamette Valley. Oregon now has 419 wineries and 849 vineyard owners producing some of the top wines in the country. The state’s bid comes from the Oregon Wine Board with help from Travel Oregon and the Oregon Winegrowers Association. In addition, we have support from the famous International Pinot Noir Celebration, which although it will be on a different weekend is eager to work with us.
Santa Barbara County, California: This is one of the premier wine regions of Southern California, with over 100 wineries and 21,000 acres of vineyards. We would likely be based in the small town of Buellton, surrounded by wine towns including Solvang, Los Olivos, and Santa Maria. Buellton is 40 minutes from the airport in Santa Barbara and two hours from Los Angeles. We have strong support from the Santa Barbara County Vintner’s Association, local CVBs, and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
Vote for Beautiful Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara county! And especially the Sta. Rita Hills, one of the country’s newest appellations, and all the wineries in Lompoc. We’ve even got the wine ghetto! A superb location for Italian, Burgundian and Rhone varietals.
I vote for Penticton! Great place, great wine, and right next door to Summerland!
well…Santa Barbara County is a fantastic choice hands down.
Please come to Penticton – home to fabulous food, incredible wine, and WONDERFUL people… and that’s in addition to the breathtaking scenery. Not pretentious, just peaceful.
PENTICTON would be a wonderful location!
Beautiful scenery, glistening lakes (yes lakes!), hot summer days, & friendly people. Couple that with a focus on local and organic food, an amazing farmers market that takes place each Saturday and passionate winemakers – Penticton would be a great choice. There will definitely be many interesting stories to tell about the wineries, the winemakers, the chefs and people of the region. And when you need a break from everything – you can take a float down the river channel that connects one lake to the next for a nice relaxing afternoon. Penticton Please!
Duh! Santa Barbara.
Penticton would be an excellent choice!
Santa Barbara would be the premier location, with the area’s history in growing grapes and making wine. There are many legends in the area, and plenty of down-home hospitality as well.
Santa Barbara! They have this thing called the sun there. I hear it kind of important as wines go. Plus no rain coats.
And you can use the term Santa Barbarians to your hearts content.
Whoo hoo
Doesn’t get any better than Santa Barbara!
I vote to go to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is an ideal site location. There’s an expanding array of innovative winemakers, fabulous, diverse wines, 4 AVAs, fantastic scenery, great weather, culinary experiences galore, and did mention the friendly, laid back people? From wine ghettos to urban wine trails to next generation and veteran winemakers, a plethora of stories are waiting to be written. Come see us!
Santa Barbara Pinot Noir, Rhone Varietals, Nebbiolo, Chardonnay and that’s just the beginning. Taste our wines, meet our winemakers, tour the vineyards, visit the wine ghetto and enjoy Santa Maria tri-tip
We host great parties
Check out Santa Barbara County. It is an incredibly diverse wine growing region with a cool climate and is absolutely gorgeous. It offers great restaurants, hiking, beaches and has a great group of enthusiastic and passionate winemakers. There is a great camaraderie among the wineries. In addition, the weather is lovely.
Santa Barbara! In addition to the great wine areas you mentioned, Buellton is the gateway to the chilly Sta. Rita Hills AVA (Celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this year, in fact!). Santa Barbara is one of the most diverse wine regions, with over 60 varietals planted in our many micro-climates.
My vote is for Penticton. Come discover what a group passionate people can accomplish in a short period of time. Because we are new, each individual in our industry is there because they absolute love it. Most have had long previous careers and bring all that experience and enthusiasm to thier new calling. Because we lack decades of tradition, we are not restricted in anyway and are intergrating the best vineyard and winemaking practices from around the world. Come taste the result.
If you’re heading to Virginia and want to learn more about BC Wine country 0r share a bottle of BC vino, look for the gal walking around with a tattoo that looks like this on her ankle.
A note of thanks from Penticton for everyone who’s posted in our favour, and kudos to Santa Barbara and Oregon for being in the finals — we know the bid process takes a lot of work and we raise a glass to you! Win or lose, we hope everyone will continue to chat with us on Twitter @wbcokanagan:twitter and on our Facebook page and learn more about the Okanagan. Come visit anytime.
As a member of the wine industry media in BC we are fully behind this conference coming to Penticton.
We are excited about the opportunity to show the wine world what this amazing region has to offer!
RT @johnlapuma Vote for the N. A. Wine Bloggers Conf in Santa Barbara in 2012 http://bit.ly/qunTYh Pls RT.
n.b. There is also a flourishing home winemaker community in SB (winemaker magazine just finished its conference here: podcast here: http://bit.ly/nv061r
which is 40 minutes south of Buellton, and does have beautiful beaches, great farmer’s markets and friendly people!
All three choices for WBC2011 are great ones, but the Okanagan Valley has some unique qualities to consider and be swayed by. 1- Spectacular scenery centered by a 90 mile-long lake. 2- Icewine. 3- It’s not in the USA. For these and other reasons beneficial to myself, I voted for Okanagan and hope you will too.
I vote for…PENTICTON!
Breathtaking scenery.
Incredible social media presence.
Amazing culinary experiences.
Unparalleled hospitality.
Passionate wine culture.
Penticton, please!
Santa Barbara county!
1. Santa Barbara, CA
2. Oregon
3. BC
Thanks for asking!
It seems like an easy decision to me! 419 wineries! WOW! Oregon all the way!
Santa Barbara!!!!! perfect weather, beautiful surroundings, diverse selection of wine, great place to explore.
Oregon is the heart of Pinot Country, Hospitality above and beyond!!
Oregon! Oregon! Oregon! So many micro-climates, so many wines. We wouldn’t make our wine anywhere else.
My vote is for Oregon. I’ve never lived anywhere else that I’ve felt such a quality for life.
Santa Barbara has some of the most interesting wines being made in California right now – I vote there!
Neo-temperant = love that.
Pen
Tick
Tun
Do not fear the unknown, embrace it.
BTW, if your wallet is full, we let you pronounce it anyway you like.
Cheers!
Santa Barbara has such a broad range of diverse varietal wines, you’ll be able to “transcend the chardocentric and Pinotcentric paradigms” if you so desire….Rhone, Italian & bordelaise varietals, Urban & Rural wine trails, we’ve got it all!
Love the idea of Santa Barbara.
Penticton, Okanagan Valley. Come discover this beautiful wine region.
I’d like to see it hosted in penticton
All 3 sound like great choices but my vote goes for Santa Barbara! Amazing wines, great dining, beautiful beaches, and perfect weather in July! The people are amazing too!
Santa Barbara County all the way!
Penticton would be an amazing location for this conference!!! We have an amazing assortment of wineries with delicious wines and beautiful scenery.
I visited the Okanagan wine valley this spring and had a great time. Canada is one of the fastest growing markets in the world with an expected 19% growth over the next 3 years.
As an untapped market, Canada has the most upside both as an emerging wine market and an emerging wine region.
The drive from Vancouver is a pretty one through the Canadian Rockies. Penticton is situated between two lakes and has a charming city center. Vancouver by itself should be an excursion, especially to Granville Island which is like Disneyland for food lovers (aren’t we all?) – http://rickbakas.com/bakastv-food-tour-of-granville-island-with-eric-pateman-of-edible-bc
Nothing against SB and Oregon. I lived in Oregon for 17 years and fell in love with wine there. The local foods are awesome. Sorry to say that aside from a handful of digital pioneers there (Ryan R., Sokol Blosser, @sipwithme) they show no signs of wanting to embrace digital. It’s just beautiful but little in the way of growth opp.
“JUST DO IT” … IN PENTICTON!!!!! LOL
OOOps! That was supposed to say JUST DO IT!!!
“Just Dot It”!!!
There can be no place more perfect than Penticton, British Columbia. Our wine region is spectacular and is mere minutes from The Wine Capital of Canada in Oliver, BC!! Our hospitality is second to none, our wines are world class, our scenery is breathtakingly beautiful as you travel at your leisure through the entire Okanagan Valley. Come see for yourself – it is Heaven on Earth.
Penticton means “A Place to Stay Forever” in the Salish language. Conferences held in Penticton often have the best delegation attendance because of the scenic location (vineyards, lakes, mountains and blue sky) and the abundance of activities and sightseeing available. Visit BC’s wine country and explore one of the most beautiful wine regions in the world.
The unknown jewel of the Okanagan would provide the blogosphere with new faces, stories, wineries, and some great wines. It’s time to tell a new story!
I’ve been to all three regions in the past. Each is implicitly unique. Each has treasured beauty. Each can claim right to making great wine…. but niether OR nor the Okanagan can offer quality in the unparalleled diversity of microclimates, varietals, and winemaking styles that SB COUNTY boasts.
It’s frankly pretty amazing. If you’re stationed in Buellton, you can drive in any direction and practically be in a different world in 20 minutes. Go one way and you’re tasting Burgundy, go another way and you’re in the heart of the Rhone, head a little down the road from there and you have your hands on a Bordeaux, slip into Solvang to sip on some Gewurtztraminer, get dropped off in Los Olivos and find a taste of Spain.