The 2011 North American Wine Bloggers Conference will take place July 22-24 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Wine bloggers, industry bloggers, and other wine and social media professionals will gather from throughout North America and beyond to meet, learn, and share.
You might not know much about Virginia’s wine industry now but learning about new wine regions is one of the reasons the conference location rotates each year. Virginia’s wines are subtle and elegant, offering a taste that is more similar to European wines than bold California varieties. The number of wineries in Virginia has tripled in the last 15 years to over 140, placing it fifth on the list of US states, and the geography boasts six separate AVAs: Eastern Shore, Monticello Northern Neck, North Fork of Roanoke, Rocky Knob, and Shenandoah Valley. For a good analysis of the Virginia wine scene, see the article in Virginia Business.
Who Should Attend
- Citizen Bloggers who write about wine or the wine industry on their own.
- Industry Bloggers who maintain a blog to support their winery or other wine-related business.
- New Media Innovators who work in the world of blogging and social media.
- Wine Industry members who would like to learn about new media or interact with bloggers.
Cost, Payment, Cancellation, and What is Included
The cost of the conference is $95 for citizen wine bloggers (those unaffiliated with a business or organization), $195 for industry bloggers (those whose blog is affiliated with a winery, retail store, or other business or organization), and $295 for non-blogger participants (industry, media relations professionals, friends and family, etc). We are able to offer a lower price to citizen bloggers and wine-industry bloggers because it is for these folks our sponsors underwrite the conference. Payment is required in advance by credit card.
If you must cancel your registration, your payment is 50% refundable through June 22 and not refundable after that. Please note you can insure against losing your conference registration fee (and your airplane tickets) by purchasing trip insurance. This is only good for those of you traveling from outside of the conference area and staying overnight.
The conference includes multiple wine tastings, two dinners, one or two lunches, and outstanding content. Not included in the conference price are your hotel and transportation to and from Charlottesville.
Arrival and Departure
Registration begins at 10:00 AM on Friday, July 22. We will also be presenting an International Wine Night on Thursday evening, July 21, so you can optionally choose to arrive the day before. Additionally, we are working to create a Pre-Conference Excursion that will run from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon. More details to come and we suggest you not make any travel plans until these plans are in place.
Getting to Charlottesville is fairly easy, thanks to the regional Charlottesville-Albemarle airport (code: CHO). There are direct flights from Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. From the airport, your easiest transportation option is to catch a taxi to the Omni hotel, which will cost around $25. You won’t need a rental car during the conference itself but can rent one before or after if you decide to do more traveling in the area.
The conference will finish at 12:00 noon on Sunday, July 24.
Host Hotel
Our host hotel is the Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, located at 235 West Main Street. The hotel has outstanding meeting space and is located on one end of the Charlotteville’s fantastic walking mall. Except for visits to the local wine area and to Monticello, all conference events will be at the Omni Hotel.
We have a group block of 100 rooms reserved for Thursday (July 21) and 150 rooms for Friday and Saturday (July 22 and 23) at a rate of $169 per night. A typical online rate we found for July of 2010 was $336, so we are getting a great deal. With a conference of 325 people, the block could easily sell out, so consider reserving your rooms early. Call 1-800-THE-OMNI and tell them you are with the Wine Bloggers Conference to secure the group rate or use the Omni Hotel’s online reservation page. The hotel has a few rooms reserved for nights before and after the three group nights; please contact Patricia Goins at the Charlottesville Omni directly (434-971-5500) if you have a problem booking these. Remember we are likely to add a pre-conference excursion that will include a hotel stay outside of Charlottesville for July 20.
Weather & Dress Code
Dress is “wine country casual”. What does that mean? Really, you should dress as you feel comfortable. For daytime sessions, jeans or shorts and a polo shirt are fine. For the evenings, many people will dress up a bit. It can be hot in Charlottesville in July, with high temperatures often in the mid to upper 80s. Remember to dress appropriately for our visits to the nearby wine country.
