Wine Bloggers Conference Portland

I've been wine blogging since 2005 but never really got into the whole blogging thing. You know, monetizing the site with ads and link exchanges and all that. Or going into the whole free wine solicitation thing. I've gotten a few sample bottles and books, but nothing much, and that's not what I'm really into doing.

My blog has been more a personal thing. Blogs are vain, so I initially referred to this as a vanity site, self publishing like the old vanity press days. Maybe I'm more comfortable with vanity now. I don't solicit the samples or have the ads. And I don't have an issue with baring my loosely wine-related soul on this page.

But I always knew sooner or later I ought to get a little more connected to wine blogging. Then I saw the Wine Bloggers Conference was coming to Portland this year, now this weekend. So I signed up and now I'm curious to spend my weekend in the company of other amateur writers (and a few legit ones).

My conference goals? That would require planning and a list, neither of which I do naturally. Still...

• Meet other bloggers. If you see me, introduce yourself. 
• Figure out why people wine blog. Is is just for the free samples? Is it ego? Is it a love of wine and this a medium to share that love?
• Does anyone make money from ads on their sites? Don't worry, I'm not going that route. Just curious.
• Is wine blogging serious? And what is wine blogging these days?

On that last one, there's a thread on Wine Berserkers about a producer actively avoiding professional critic reviews. Some people are critical, saying he's only doing it because he can. He's not like more people who rely on scores to sell wine. I think those people are mistaken, seeing established media as the only route to go. This in a new media forum even. The irony.

This producer isn't necessarily looking for "traditional" bloggers, if there's a blogging tradition. He's specified Cellartracker as one place he'd like see reviews, and ideally lots of them, rather than in The Wine Advocate or Burghound. Are Cellartracker users blogging? Or are blogs simply web logs with a pretty set layout and fuctionality?

I think it's more the former, so that blogging is wider reaching than many might think. And it's potentially more significant to consumers than many producers and even internet wine forum participants think.

But we'll find out more at the Wine Bloggers Conference. I'm hoping it's good and not an amateur hour shill show. And not just because I paid my money and want to learn and have fun.

Next year's event is in Penticton, BC, a place I've come to love. I wouldn't mind a reason to go back again, though I think I need to find somewhere else to stay than the Holiday House. I need to mix things up.