Winehiker Witiculture is the official blog of California Wine Hikes, which offers guided hiking and wine tasting tours in the California wine country.


ZAP! Calling all wine bloggers

I love Zinfandel, I truly do. Whether fruity and bold or elegant and understated, it’s my favorite grape juice. Hey, I’m a California native, so the math is easy.

The Organization of Zinfandel Advocates and Producers

I’m therefore eagerly anticipating this coming Saturday, when I’ll be taking CalTrain from Sunnyvale to attend the morning trade and media session of the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) Festival at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Because I write this blog, I managed to snag a press pass that will gain me entry into the event. Before the public session begins Saturday afternoon, I hope to sniff, sip, and spit my way through many of the 80 or so Zinfandel wines that will be presented for tasting.

But part of the fun will also be meeting my fellow wine-blogging colleagues, most of whom I’ve never met face-to-face. Many of us have corresponded in one way or another, however, and that only builds the anticipation for me to “talk shop” together while we attempt to analyze what our palates tell us. I imagine our informal networking will allow us to compare notes and perhaps make some committee-style picks and pans that we can later address in our respective blogs.

If you’re a wine blogger and you’re attending the ZAP Festival at this Saturday morning’s press session, let me know you’ll be there, leave your cell phone number, and I’ll be sure to call you Saturday morning before things get going - about 9:30 or so. We can then hook up for an impromptu “wine blogger mania” session at the Fort Mason facility. If enough of us want to after the session, perhaps we can dine together nearby.

I’ve already arranged to meet Ryan Fujiu and Ben Bicais from Calwineries.com as well as Joel Vincent from Vivi’s Journal and WineLifeToday. So if your name is Alder or Tom or Steve or El Jefe - or even if it’s not - we’d like to meet you there too, so please gimme a shout early on. And thanks for reading! More importantly, thanks for entertaining and educating me with your writing.

~winehiker

5 Responses to “ZAP! Calling all wine bloggers”

  1. Put your game face on ladies and gentlemen. There’s nothing like getting up early in the morning to taste hundreds of huge, high alcohol, California Zins. Definitely not telling my dentist, i hope we all look good with purple teeth.

    Ryan F
    January 24th, 2007 16:14

  2. Terribly, terribly jealous that you all will be sipping, swirling, spitting, and schmoozing. I wish I could be there. Instead I will be on United Airlines on the way to the Old World to do some work. Look forward to your posts afterwards!

    Dr. Debs
    January 24th, 2007 20:36

  3. ZAP! Calling all wine bloggers…

    Meet me in San Francisco this Saturday at the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) Festival….

    Wine Life Today
    January 25th, 2007 10:16

  4. Sounds like fun. Anybody going to the Society of Wine Educators conference in Monterey in June? Maybe I will get my opportunity then to meet some of you great wine bloggers

    Wilf Krutzmann
    January 25th, 2007 15:48

  5. Russ, wish I could. However, I’ll be pouring wine for others to enjoy. And I definitely won’t be feeling sorry for Dr.Debs!

    p.s. Anyone planning on the Chronicle tasting?

    farley
    January 25th, 2007 17:08

Leave a Reply