This was my first Wine Bloggers Conference – I partially regret not going last year, but at the same time, I justified my absence because my co-worker attended, so I thought work wouldn’t let us both take time off. Ironically, the bulk of us are on vacation in a couple of weeks.

Last year’s conference was in Penticton, i.e. it was literally super close to home, so I really do deserve a slap on the wrist for missing that one. I couldn’t resist not going to attend this year’s conference in Santa Barbara – first, California. Wine. Hi. Second, it would provide me with a fabulous answer for anyone that would ask what I was up to this summer, and I wouldn’t have to come up with a fancy complicated way to say “nothing”.… read more

Okay – so day two of the conference – after we’ve finished the breakout session (I went to the one about blends), we have a little break where I assume the bulk of us grab a snack or wash the summer Californian sweat/shame off our skin. We’re told to meet outside at 5PM sharp, and multiple buses would whisk us away to mystery locations. So literally, a couple of buses would show up, n-number of us would hop into one of the buses to somewhere we have no idea about, and then the remainder of us would wait for the next batch of buses. For all I knew this was the part in the horror movie where they would take us somewhere to get murdered, though let’s be real here – if I would’ve died from anything on this trip it would’ve been from a combination of alcohol poisoning and the shitty cliché of dying from how beautiful everything was.… read more