EWBC 2012 - "Sources" » London

Calling all French Bloggers to Join the EWBC at VinoCamp!

Ryan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:45:30 +0000

Although the co-organizers of the EWBC are located just above France in London, and just south of France in Spain, we tend to overlook some of our most important bloggers situated just between us: the French. Serious, passionate, savvy and eager to communicate their vinous thoughts, we’re excited to virtually head to Paris and participate in VinoCamp!

What is VinoCamp?

VinoCamp is essentially an extension of Bar Camp, a spontaneous and international network of user-generated technology conferences. Also known as “unconferences” they are geared towards people passionate to exchange ideas as to how they can evolve their industry, but in a more relaxed and informal setting.

VinoCamp has taken that very same model and merged technology with wine. Tomorrow, Saturday, July 10, 2010, wine and tech geeks from around the world will be meeting at La Cantine in Paris. The objective is, essentially, not to have an objective. Though there are several speakers from the tech and wine world, both attending and skyping in, to pitch their individual projects, what will actually be debated and discussed is up for grabs – which is what makes the unconference model so unpredictable and exciting!

How is the EWBC Participating at VinoCamp?

At 6:30pm, Parisian time, our very own Robert McIntosh will be skyping into La Cantine to make a heartfelt pitch as to why each and every one of the attendees should join us in Vienna this fall. Robert has told us that he’ll courageously put his best foot forward and give his speech in French, though we’re not entirely sure if he won’t be speaking in English with his best French accent

We wish everyone at VinoCamp the best of luck, and truly hope we’ll see many of you this coming fall!

EWBC 2010 – Kickoff Event at the London International Wine Fair

Ryan — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:45:35 +0000

This past week, we hosted a social media and blogging stand called, “The Access Zone” at the London International Wine Fair. 60 square meters dedicated to sessions on Facebook for Business, Blogging 101, Social Media Wine Tastings, Wine Fault Tastings and so much more.

And in light of our mission to spread the good word about Social Media, we decided to kick off the 2010 EWBC with a tasting of Austrian Wines spearheaded by Willi Klinger, President of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board. Have fun watching the film, and don’t forget that we’re still looking for people interested in proposing a seminar or workshop at this year’s conference!

EWBC 2010 Launch from Ryan and Gabriella Opaz on Vimeo.

2009 EWBC Kickoff a Success at the London International Wine Fair

Gabriella Opaz — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:09:58 +0000

The interest in the 2009 European Wine Bloggers Conference is growing by leaps and bounds. Granted, you may not know this if you looked at the registrations alone, but we’re in Europe, where attending any event can be expected in a fashionably late manner. Thus, we don’t expect to see any true hike in registrations for a few months yet, but we can say, that if the London International Wine Fair was any indication of how passionate people were to attend the event, there will be a full house buzzing with winemakers, winery owners, wine bloggers, food bloggers, importers, marketers, writers, generics, researchers, exporters, and just about every other wine tradesman in between.

How did this excitement grow? I’d like to say it was wholly due to our charm, but the reality is, is that the trade is thirsty for knowledge and education. Simply reading blogs doesn’t give the depth of understanding so many are craving for in a fast changing, mind boggling, world of communication. From very basic and rudimentary questions to more advanced questions such as, “what is the difference between a blog and website” to “what is our place as an X blogger in the value chain, and how can we capitalize on it?”, attendees were grasping to learn more – and quickly!

In the coming months, we’ll start hashing out some of these questions one by one, so as to give everyone, relatively speaking, a level playing field by the start of the event. We’ll also make sure to have several roundtables that cover a wide range of educational levels, not to mention, a workshop on Friday morning, prior to the event, for any winery needing a foundational course on social media and blogging.

With that said, we would like to thank Viniportugal for having the courage to be one of the first generics in the world to actively support social media. We realize that it took a considerable amount of faith to dive head first into a medium that few are aware of within Portugal, but with any luck, your courage and innovation will motivate others to lead by example.

Questions: What questions do you hope the EWBC 2009 can answer for you? What do you think we should focus on, and what should we leave for the forums online? Answer in the comments below!

Lisbon: A Dreamy Place to Have a Conference

Gabriella Opaz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:11:16 +0000

Years ago, when Ryan and I first stepped foot in Lisbon way back in 2003, we immediately fell in love with this city. And oddly enough, when staying in a small hostel, we met an American couple who had packed their bags in the States and moved to Iberia not 2 months before our meeting. This chance encounter occurred on the second day of our visit to Lisbon, and it was the one that motivated our own choice to move east to the big peninsula.

So it is of no surprise that we’re excited to host the II Annual European Wine Blogger Conference in the city that has shifted our existence. Not to mention the fact, that since that fateful day, we’ve had the pleasure of spending long stretches of time in this magical city, enjoying its food, wine and culture.

Hence, in preparation of the conference, we thought we’d provide you with a few links to some fun websites, and blogs, covering the secret treasures of Lisbon. However, if you have any additional sites we should be aware of, please don’t hesitate to share them! Over the course of the next 8 months, we’ll have an entire library of restaurants, museums, wine bars, musicians, wineries, etc for you to take advantage of before and after the conference. So plan accordingly, so as not to miss all the fabulous things that make Lisbon such a treasure to visit!

Tourism

Visit Portugal – Lisbon : This site your overall, nuts and bolts, website on Lisbon, providing you information on everything from children’s events to festivals, and from natural parks to nightlife.

Go Lisbon: Regularly updated site on unique restaurants, art exhibits, hotels and travel tips.

Quick Guide to Lisbon: Andre from Adegga gives us a quick “how to guide” of Lisbon

Photos

Panoramio – Get a detailed view of Lisbon through thousands of individual photos covering the city!

Maps

3D Interactive Map of Lisbon: Check out Lisbon from above, getting a 3D bird’s eye view of the city! Very cool project!

Culture

In Love with Lisbon: This blog is one of our favorite sources of information, taken from the view of a British expat sharing discoveries throughout the city.

Food

Delicious Days Revisits Lisbon: Take a peak into the incredibly culinary history of Lisbon.

Portuguese Food: UK based website, devoted to the food and traditional recipes of Portugal

Music

Fado: Fado is the traditional music of Portugal. Mariza is a world renowned Fado performer, performing Barco Negro in London.

Portuguese Wine Blogs

More Portuguese Blogs Listed on Wineblogger.info

Food, Wine and Culture

Catavino: Of course we couldn’t end this post without mentioning Catavino.net.We have 4 years of archived information on wineries, restaurants, recipes, and impressions from our experience in Lisbon. Therefore, this may also be a good reference when looking for specific Portuguese wines or food.

So there you have it! If you can think of any more places we should add to the list, please don’t hesitate to put them in the comments below.

Cheers!