2011 Wine Bloggers Conference Pre-Tour: Loudoun County (DC's Wine Country) Music Video

One of the best kept secrets of the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference was the Loudoun County Pre-Tour sponsored by Visit Loudoun. This two day tour was available to the first 25 bloggers who registered and consisted of visits to four wineries: Tarara Vineyard & Winery, Breaux Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, and Boxwood Winery. Each winery rolled out the red carpet with the winemaker greeting the participants and providing tours and tastings of their regular offerings as well as reserve and barrel wines. These were very intimate engagements where the participants were able to discuss Norton or Albarino with Jenni McCloud and Alan Kinne at Chrysalis; Bordeaux with Rachel Martin and Adam McTaggart at Boxwood, Terroir with Jordan Harris at Tarara; and Nebbiolo with the Breaux crew. These wineries may be familiar to the larger group of conference attendees since they participated in many of the WBC11 events in Charlottesville, either as sponsors, the twitter tastings, the Other 46 tasting, and the Monticello dinner.

Check out the video below, which includes audio from Stacey Sheetz of Visit Loudoun discussing the wine region, to see why this area is one of the top wine destinations in Virginia and considered DC's Wine Country. The video also features Tara Nevins (Donna the Buffalo) "Beauty of Days Gone By" from her new solo release: Wood & Stone. And below is a list of blog posts concerning the Loudoun pre-tour and WBC11.

Dallas Wine Chick: Loudoun County Wine Pre-Trip
Tarara Winery: WineBloggers
Wine Biz Radio: X Does WBC ’11
The Wine Hub: Why Terroir Matters – Blog by: Jordan Harris – Tarara Winery Winemaker

The 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference Highlights

The 2011 North American Wine Bloggers Conference was held July 21-24 in Charlottesville Virginia. Here are the highlights from the various events, tours, seminars, and tastings during the weekend from the International Tasting Thursday night to the Ignite sessions Sunday morning. The video also includes footage from the vineyard tour of Virginia Wineworks, First Colony Winery, and Blenheim Vineyards. The musical theme features Tony Trischka performing at the Floydfest Front Porch courtesy of the Virginia Folklife Program. And one note, the Traminette shown in the International Tasting was from the Other 46 Tasting. Cheers.

WBC11 - Virginia Wines in the United Kingdom

Chris Parker of New Horizon Wines comments on the Wine Bloggers Conference and his venture that is exporting Virginia wines to in the United Kingdom.

MyJoogTV Episode 9: Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band @ Foggy Ridge Cider

This episode of MyJoogTV features SideOneDummy Records recording artist the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band in a discussion of cider, country blues, and Charley Patton with Foggy Ridge Cider proprietor Diane Flynt. The episode was filmed during Floydfest X, the celebrated music festival located right on the Blue Ridge Parkway and minutes from Foggy Ridge. Specifically, we discussed cider and apple varieties as well as the band's latest CD: Peyton on Patton. This is the first ever compilation to honor the man who is arguably the father of Delta Blues. In fact, most modern rock music follows a lineage from Patton through Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to Elvis, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. To paraphrase the Reverend, "if it wasn't for Patton, we'd be listening to Tony Bennett - all the time". The video is available to download for iTunes and Windows Media Player. To view more videos filmed at Floydfest, visit the MyJoogTV YouTube Channel.

• Peyton on Patton
• The Wages
• The Whole Fam Damnily

WBC11 Videos - From Loudoun to Ignite

During July 20-24 we traveled through Loudoun County down to Charlottesville in order to video the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference which was focusing on the Virginia wine industry. We filmed the two day Loudoun County pre-tour which featured Breaux Vineyards, Tarara Winery, Boxwood Vineyards, and Chrysalis Vineyards. Then it was down to Charlottesville for three days of conference activities which included a dinner and Virginia wine tasting at Monticello, seminars on the Virginia wine industry, and winery tours to the surrounding establishments.

We are now releasing several videos that are available from a few outlets: VirginiaWineTV YouTube Channel, Wine Bloggers Conference YouTube Channel, and VirginiaWineTV Podcast. The Loudoun County pre-tour will also be available at Visit Loudoun, who's financial assistance made the filming of that segment possible. Anyone we tasted the wonderful wines from Breaux Vineyards, Tarara Winery, Boxwood Vineyards, and Chrysalis Vineyards, Catoctin Creek Vineyards, and 8 Chains North Winery understand that this region produces exceptional wines.

Here are the list of videos and the links as they come live:

• Agriculture Secretary Todd Haymore Thanking Wine Bloggers Conference
• WBC11 Live Wine Blogging - Red Wine
• WBC11 Live Wine Blogging - White & Rose Wine
• WBC11 - Jancis Robinson Keynote Speech
• WBC11 - Eric Asimov Keynote Speech
• WBC11 - Wine Bloggers: Who Are We?
• WBC11 - Loudoun Pre-Tour
• WBC11 - The Conference Highlights