EWBC 2012 - "Sources" » Winery

DOC-DMC: Sunday Trip Sponsor to Setubal and Terras do Sado

Gabriella Opaz — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:05:12 +0000

At DOC- DMC we are not winemakers, but we are wine lovers. We believe that whoever loves wine, also loves to discover!

In Portugal there is still a considerable amount to discover. Historically, Portuguese wine has slowly gained traction outside of the country’s borders, but as a result of a new generation of winemakers rediscovering the many autochthonous grapes which give a unique character to Portuguese wine, our fame has begun to spread like wildfire.

Our team at DOC-DMC has come a long way in organizing events, incentives and trips. This know-how combined with traditional gastronomy and the beautiful countryside makes wine trips to Portugal an irresistible choice.

This is why we are sponsoring the EWBC. We are fully aware that Portugal needs all the help it can get in spreading the word about our local treasures. From our varied and distinct traditional cuisine to our vast and changing landscapes, we can only hope that you as bloggers will fall equally in love with our wine, food and culture as we have.

And how do we convince you of our unique treasures? We will bring you on a full day adventure on Sunday through the wine regions of Setubal and Terras do Sado, where you will visit 3 wineries varying in size and style, a traditional tile factory and dine on a vast array of traditional Portuguese foods. It is our hope that by the end of your trip, you will not only have a fundamental understanding of these two regions, but also a desire to come back and visit again. Full Schedule of Sunday Trip is listed below

What else can DOC-DMC offer a passionate wine lover?

Gastronomic trips to Portugal for individual travellers or small groups to all well known DOC Areas from the Minho to the Douro and from the Dão , to the Ribatejo, Alentejo or the recently “re-animated” Algarve.
Offers for weekend stays combined with a round of golf, or even a relaxing day spa.
Events related with wine: team building and wine courses, eno-gastronomic dinners or wine tastings in charming settings.
“Winelands of Portugal “, are travel books which will allow you to discover the best wineries, cellars or other selected tasting venues of the most important DOC areas, as well as a choice of restaurants in order to enjoy the best of local gastronomy. Based on the suggestions of “Winelands” you will also be able to make your own itinerary choosing from the suggested venues, enjoying wine tasting, lunch or dinner using the vouchers included in the travel book. This product will be available on the internet this year and is currently sold in the reception of over 30 of the best hotels of Portugal.
Moreover we are the exclusive dealers of the Enomatic Wine Serving Systems in Portugal, a technology we import from Italy which is a leading product for conserving and selling wine by glass.
Our small selection and distribution of “Vinhos de Quinta”, wines with an excellent price – quality relationship produced by smaller wineries. Similar to a boutique sales, “Vinhos de Quinta” has found clientele among Lisbon’s best restaurants and hotels who love to introduce and discover new brands and tastes of Portuguese wines.
Clube Doc aims to promote the Portuguese DOC Areas and wines to people in Portugal. Be it a gastronomic dinner to discover flower and fruity notes in red wines, an excursion to the unknown wine area east of Lisbon, or a trip to the wine harvest in Douro, the Clube Doc Calender organizes monthly gatherings!

We are elated to have you join us, and hope that we can be a resource for you if you should ever have questions about the wine, food and culture of Portugal!

Sincerely,

The DOC-DMC Team

Schedule:

09:30 – Pick up

10:15 – The Day will start with a visit of the prestigious winery “Bacalhôa Vinhos de Portugal”, which is the result of nearly 82 years of dedication to the production of wine. The innovative character of this winery is the combination of tradition with state of the art technology, which results in an annual average production of nearly 12 million litters of wine. This magnificent winery is part of the “Grupo dos Sete” (Group of Seven), a unique organization which gathers seven of the most significant private companies of the Portuguese wine industry. The winery is owned mostly by one of the most important Portuguese patrons of modern art, José Berardo and has a large art collection spread all over the property. Finalizing the visit you will have the opportunities to taste some of the renowned Bacalhoa Vinhos.

11:30 – We will next visit the historical and traditional winery José Maria da Fonseca, a family run business established in 1834, with a background of two centuries in the art of wine making. Piriquita is their most famous brand, in fact ,the first of all table wines produced in Portugal. A further hightlight of the visit will be the Moscatel Wine cellar with thousands of precious well aged bottles or this sweet fortified wine. This winery indeed has some stories to tell ! A tasting of several of their red wines and of course Moscatel will follow the visit, accompanied by the no less famous cheese and the traditional bread of this charming village.

12:30 – Our next stop will be by the “São Simão” workshop, where the ancient tile painting tradition is still carried on to this day. We will be able to see the artists at work and thereby learn some of the secrets of this trade. The exhibition rooms display glazed tile panels and porcelain pieces decorated with the patterns and colors of the 18th century.

13:30 – A fantastic buffet, prepared by the famous restaurant Alcanena, is awaiting us now. On the table you will find a selection of Portuguese cheeses, sausages and smoked meats, 16 traditional cold salads, various soups as well as several different Portuguese meats and fish, such as hare with white beans, partridge pie, pork meat Alentejo style, duck rice, fried entrecote with rice and beans, seafood “açorda”, spiritual codfish, calamari Algarve style and many others. But the meal is only finished after the dessert: egg pudding, milk cream, chocolate mousse, almond cake, orange cake and cheese cake are some of the delicacies we will be able to taste.

15:30 – When this superb meal is finished we will proceed to the nearby winery “Horácio Simões”, in order to taste the Moscatel de Setúbal and the Moscatel Roxo, still made in traditional grape presses, as well as the Aguardente Velha.

16:30 – Return trip to the hotel.

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!

Wine Writing and the Social Wine Brand (updated)

Robert — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:17:09 +0000

Wine & Keyboard

I probably put too much emphasis on the role of wineries when it comes to the Social Wine Brand in my previous post on the subject, so let me try to address this here, and focus on wine writers – wine lovers, critics, consumers and anyone else who neither makes nor sells wines but creates content about it.

Before I do that, let me say that one of the lessons that I hope will emerge from the EWBC will be a sense that “wine blogging” is not just about a new form of wine journalism for those who love wine but are not “involved” in the process, but that the term “wine blogger” will be understood to also include wine makers, wine retailers and wine marketers. Talking about wine is something we all do, and we have lots to learn from each other.

In fact, this is the point of the Social Wine Brand – we are all talking about wine, so we are all building relationships between wines, wineries, consumers, writers and retailers. In fact, there is a good chance we will all become a combination of all of these and distinctions will be blurred.

So what is the relationship (as I see it) between The Social Wine Brand and wine writers?

Let me return to my proposed definition:

The Social Wine Brand is the sum of all relationships created around a specific wine brand through Social Media channels

Who is creating content about wines in these channels? Who is writing the reviews? Who is making the videos, taking the photos and publishing the interviews? It is the passionate wine lovers with their blogs, tasting notes, youtube channels, flickr streams and so on. No matter what a winery does, or a retailer wants, they cannot control this process. It is therefore the wine lovers who are really building the social wine brand of a particular wine.

We are a LONG WAY from the ideal situation where a winery would be switched on to this and could “frame” the discussion by creating its own blog, providing materials, offering content, joining conversations with bloggers and consumers and responding to feedback.

In reality, most wine reaches consumers without any Social Media support from the winery. In this case any and all content online is created by the wine lovers themselves. The Social Wine Brand for that particular wine takes a life of its own, both for good and ill, being supported and promoted or criticised, improving or reducing sales accordingly.

Bloggers have a great opportunity to focus on wines they consider have interesting stories, made by genuine people and maybe also from unique regions of the world. In some cases, the content they create might be the ONLY content about that wine that is generally available (via the magic of Google Search algorithms). This is a blogger’s opportunity, and their responsibility – to create meaningful, honest as well as entertaining content.

Of course, wineries and retailers will eventually realise the value of this and start inteacting with (wine loving) bloggers to increase the chance of being reviewed, to spread the good reviews and address the negative feedback, and hopefully (for them) to lead to greater sales success and customer satisfaction.

This isn’t to say that the bloggers who write about the wines need to worry about generating those sales – they have their own missions to achieve, whatever they might be. However, they should understand that because they CAN influence sales, they will attract the interest of other wine bloggers and wine industry people, and this is when we get into the thorny issues of objectivity, transparency and ethics.

So what can be achieved at the EWBC that will improve the role and influence of these wine loving bloggers? We need to enrich the conversation between bloggers, not just in terms of the quality of what is written, and how it is presented, but by improving our understanding of other bloggers goals, and the issues they face in their countries. Meeting face to face can help to overcome all sort of issues of language and culture that simply take too long online – there are some things that real meetings will always be better for. It also means that we can have what is a necessary conversation “offline” and keep the content of our sites focused on our target audience – about wine itself.

It will also be interesting for writers, photographers and video enthusiasts with a passion for wine, to meet those who share that passion, but make their living directly from the industry – wine makers, marketers, retailers and journalists. Bringing everyone together will enrich our circle of contacts and ability to produce better content, promoting great wines and helping the wine industry survive, develop and evolve.

Next, how might switched-on retailers find ways to capitalise on the relationships and loyalty that are created through social media and generate additional sales?

[UPDATE 01 May 2009: If you want evidence of the amazing power of the social media brand in practice, watch this video (Rap Chop), then imagine what passionate wine drinkers could do for a wine brand they love/like/are amused by:

So far over 600,000 have watched this video, and it is still spreading]

Photo “Computer + Wine = Yay” courtesy (Creative Commons) of Mint Imperial

How do you measure Social Media? (cruvee.com)
The Most Influential Wine Blogs (acanmedia.com)
Wine Blogs Spotlight (wannabewino.com)

Say Goodbye to Static Winery Brochures and Hello to Interactive Winery Information

Gabriella Opaz — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:02:07 +0000

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Social Wine Brand” and part of this concept includes the use of technology in new and innovative ways. The new internet encourages information to be relevant and easily accessible so that it may be shared among the community quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, winery brochures fit the “static” category, as they are rarely shared and generally out of date.

Why do I bring this up? Because yesterday, Ryan and I recycled 3 garbage bags filled to the brim with winery brochures, catalogs and DVDs. We rationalized even trying to get some of the photos off the catalogs, but it would require so much work that in the end, it clearly wasn’t worth it. The only option we had was to accept that we enabled a small forest to be wiped out and vowed to do something different.

At the II Annual European Wine Bloggers Conference, we will provide all participants with a USB drive, rather than a bag filled with sponsorship information that can be downloaded to their computer and accessed for future articles or as material to be shared with others. Later, the USB drive can be reused over and over again, thereby promoting sustainability. Materials will also be made available to all readers through an exclusive online content channel that will encourage these materials to be shared with a wider audience.

We also want to make it clear this is a kind of “no winery left behind” initiative! In other words this year any and all wineries can be a small sponsor of the EWBC, thus showing their support for the event. Here’s how it’s going to work:

For 25 euros you get 10mb’s of space = A couple of PDF’s and a photo or two
For 200 euros you get 100mb’s of space = With this you could fit a small video, slideshow, Powerpoint presentation and maybe more!
For 600 euros you get 1 gigabyte of space = With this you could put an feature length movie on the thumbdrive, your whole catalog of wines and a full slideshow!

What can a sponsor put on the USB drive? Well lot’s of stuff, but we hope that a few of you/them, take the time to be creative. Make a mini website that is accessible on the drive. Do a fun video that shows your wines in a new way. Put together a mix tape of your favorite music to drink your wines with. The sky’s the limit

Videos
Photos
Website
Technical Sheets
Winery Info
A song about the EWBC (really hoping for this one)

Clearly, the sky is the limit. If you are interested in more information about the USB, contact us! Or if you have an idea for a fun way to make this even more interactive we’d love to hear about it!

Cheers,

The EWBC Crew

Announcing: 2009 European Wine Blogger Conference in Lisbon, Portugal!

Gabriella Opaz — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:38:47 +0000

We’re back!!! Despite a rather long siesta, and a few little hiccups in the planning process, we are very excited to announce the 2009 European Wine Blogger Conference!

The second edition of the European Wine Bloggers Conference (EWBC) will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, between the 30th of October to the 1st of November 2009. Bringing together bloggers of all backgrounds including: winemakers, wine writers, marketers, retailers and distributors from around the world, this year’s conference will address, “The Future of the Social Wine Brand”.

The 2008 conference, in La Rioja, Spain, was the first international event for Wine Bloggers and the first of a growing series of conferences and events under the “Wine Bloggers Conference” banner. In addition to the annual European event, there is also an annual US event based in California and plans to include a series of local events beginning in 2009 and 2010. Our goal is to create a network of wine bloggers across the globe to spread information, broaden the culture of wine, improve industry standards, and above all else, create a physical space to communicate and share ideas.

The Social Wine Brand, is the sum of interactions and relationships created by a wine brand through social media platforms in order to improve its overall sales. Bloggers are key to this process and the EWBC will bring together bloggers, with different roles to play, to learn from each other – wineries who are creating the brands, reviewers who are evaluating and sharing them, and retailers who are delivering the brands to the customer and generating the revenue in this value chain.

The 2009 European Wine Bloggers Conference programme will include several “keynote” sessions addressing topical subjects for all online wine communicators, as well as several streams of smaller group sessions to generate and nurture some practical discussions.

The 100 wine bloggers expected at the EWBC 2009 will not only attend a wide range of educational sessions, but also visit several key wineries in and around Lisbon, in addition to a host of traditional Portuguese meals. The entire event will provide ample opportunity for bloggers to experience the food, wine and culture of Portugal, all while discussing issues pertinent to the future of the social wine brand.

That said, we’re expecting all of you to come join us!

We’ll have plenty of more information flooding the internet in the coming weeks, and months, but for now, go here for information on registration.