Saturday, May 21 2011

California Dreamin'

No, it wasn't foggy or blurry that night. It was probably the wine.

I'm at the Winemaker Magazine 2011 Conference, having a great time in lovely Santa Barbara. This is the fourth event we've done, and I've been to every one of them as a guest speaker. They continue to get better every single year, and it's great to see old friends every time I show up--good to see all of you, Rex, Mike, Ed, Gib and the whole crew.

Harder than what? Not trying at all?

We did have a little tussle getting here. Avis, a company I normally think pretty well of, dropped the ball completely. They had some kind of wildly popular deal on rentals and we stood in line to get in line to line up for the line-up for the counter for 2-1/2 hours, which dropped us into LA rush-hour traffic--thanks, Avis! But once we got out of the 5 kp/h zone the drive was spectacular. We went up the Ventura Highway with the tunes blasting. We played 'California Dreaming', 'Ventura Highway', 'We Love LA', 'California Uber Alles', 'LA Woman', and four versions of 'Hotel California' that are on my iPod, while the beautiful hillsides, canyons and the winding seashore streamed by our windows. We've settled into the Fess Parker Doubletree (if you don't remember Fess Parker, all my jokes about coonskin caps are going to fall flat) across from the beach and have been enjoying mild, sunny weather--you should see my sunburnt nose!

Actual concierge uniforms at the Fess Parker Doubletree

My seminars have been going very well. I did 'Wine Kit Adventures: Barrels, Blending and Yeast' for a very sharp crowd (lots of good questions!) and then did a Q&A Panel with Peter from RJSpagnol's. We had a great time doing what we do most of the time: answering questions about our stuff. I also had time to hit the trade-show area and do some meet 'n' greet.

Demented, but happy

We had time for a lovely dinner at the end of the pier at the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, where a 3-pound crab made a very fine dinner. The chowder was a bit strange though: there was so much sage in it, it tasted as though someone had accidentally tipped a can of sage powder into the pot! But, a few good local beers and some sunshine and good views make it a very nice spot.

Afterwards was the tasting party and wine swap, where everyone brought out their best wines to share with others. I was very busy pouring our Mosel Valley Gewurztraminer, Italian Pinot Grigio, Sonoma Dry Creek Unwooded Chardonnay, New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Pinot Noir, Italian Sangiovese, Australian Shiraz and Napa Stag's Leap Merlot. Quite a few grape winemakers were mighty confused as to how on earth I got so many grapes from so many countries, and when I explained, they looked at their glasses in disbelief, "This is from a wine kit? But it's good!" That was pretty gratifying, I must say. I also took time to taste a few wines from other folks, including a spectacular Elephant-Heart Plum wine made by my friend Rex--It tasted like the best, fresh apricots you've ever tasted, with a dash of plum and raspberry. I could drink a gallon of it, but fortunately for my head, I didn't

Today I've got a panel session during the lunch hour with the rest of the Winemaker Magazine writers, taking questions from the crowd enjoying their nosh. It's always a gas, hanging with Wes, Daniel, Allison and the crew, taking shots at each other and riffing on answers. Good times.After that I've got my big Workshop, side-by-side oak trials, where I'll be sampling seven variations on a single wine, plus a secret mystery wine for after. The point is to show the effects of pre and post-fermentation oak at varying levels. It'll be fun, but probably a bit hectic, as there could be as many as 300 people there. Whee! I better start working on my presentation some more.

Later there's the competition awards dinner and presentations of medals for folks in attendance, and we'll be serving more of our Winexpert wines and hanging out with the folks.

Yikes! I've got a meeting in ten minutes--no rest for the wicked. Later I'll get some better pictures up to show off what's been happening, but if you're on the Twitter, I'm doing some posts from @WinexpertTim, and the conference hashtag is #winemagconf and #winemakermag.

Posted by Travellin' Tim AT 11:17AM

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