Wine Bloggers Conference 2012 – Here Comes The Academic Wino!

Things are going to be a little different on The Academic Wino this week….

I’m proud to announce that The Academic Wino will be attending the Wine Bloggers Conference in the great city of Portland, Oregon after being awarded a WBC Scholarship!  Thanks to the extremely generous donations from all of the donors, I will be able to attend, which is something I would not have been able to do otherwise.

During that time, I hope to learn all about Oregon wines, as well as gain some knowledge and insight on wine blogging in hopes to add to my blog that I hope continues to grow.

I think the most difficult thing for me during the conference will be actually blogging about the wines themselves!  Those of you that are familiar with my blog know that I haven’t written a single article on any one particular wine, nor have I ever done wine reviews.  I have reviewed items such as wine refrigerators, and will be reviewing some resveratrol-enriched chocolate bars in the near future, but a review on wine itself will be a new one on me.  In fact, I likely will not be writing your standard wine reviews, but will instead simply summarize my experiences overall and maybe list some of my favorite individual wines.

The things I am looking forward to the most, apart from meeting new friends and colleagues and imbibing in all the delicious wine, are the breakout sessions on Saturday.  I plan to write a summary of each session I attend, or at least all those that would be interesting to you as my readers, and share with you all that I learn during those events. 

To date, I have been pleased with The Academic Wino blog overall, though I am interested into expanding it to include more of a variety of posts.  I plan on continuing the reviews of current research articles related to wine, however, I would love to incorporate new types of posts as well, to mix things up a little bit for my regular readers and perhaps gain new readers that may not have had otherwise.  Some specific plans for expansion include:

• Increasing the number of wine-related books that I read and review.  The one problem I’ve encountered with this so far is the fact that it sometimes takes me a while to read a book due to my day job schedule in addition to my marathon training schedule and review article schedule.  I hope to be able to find some extra time during the day to read a bit more in order to review more books than I already have.  (Note: if you are an author and would like me to read your book for a review, please shoot me an email at Becca@academicwino.com/).
  • For an example of a book review I’ve written, click here!
• Increase the frequency of “Who’s Your Daddy” posts.  These posts have tended to be relatively successful for me, as they are shorter and more light-hearted, yet are still very educational.  I have no excuse for not keeping up with this series regularly, and hope to write them on a more regular basis.
  • What is a “Who’s Your Daddy” post?  Here’s an example of one written about Petit Syrah.
• Increase the number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. 

o   If you’re following The Academic Wino on either of these social media sites yet, please head over there and do so!

o   Click here for The Academic Wino’s Facebook Page

o   Click here for The Academic Wino’s Twitter Page (@TheAcademicWino)

•  I am always up for suggestions, so if you have a particular idea or topic you’d like to learn more about (related to wine, of course), send me a email: Becca@academicwino.com/.