Live Blogging at #WBC17

This week is the tenth Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC), being held in Santa Rosa, California — where the first WBC was held nine years ago. I was at that first one, so I thought it would be a good idea to come back for this one.

One of the annual events at this conference is the live blogging event, where wine producers make the rounds presenting their wines while us bloggers taste and write about them in real time. It’s a chaotic event and I haven’t participated in several years. But here I am, so let’s do this!

As I taste different wines I’ll be updating this post real time, so if you’re reading this right now (as in November 10, 2017 between 4:30-5:30 PM Pacific Time) you’ll see this page update as we go.

You’re not going to get thoughtful, well-written reviews from me in this time. It is going to be quick random thoughts about these wines, the event or other random thoughts that happen to strike me as I go through this.

This tasting is a speed tasting focused on white and rosé wines, and it is really speedy. Tomorrow there will be another focused on red wines. I don’t know yet if I’ll participate in that.

Jardesca White Aperitiva

This is the first wine I tried and it’s something different, which is always fun. It’s 17% alcohol (really high) and its described as “legally wine.” It’s meant to be an aperitif as it is a fortified wine. It’s a white and they served it with mint and orange peel.

Gloria Ferrer, Anniversary Cuvée

The second wine served is a sparkling from Gloria Ferrer. Yay! Super bubbly. It has a yeastiness and nuttiness to it, not just a fruitiness that you sometimes get. It is made of 67% pinot noir, 33% chardonnay. This is a really nice sparkling wine. It retails for $40/bottle.

Villabella Lugana 2016

And now we’re on to some Lugana from Italy. I just did a Lugana tasting earlier today and I have to say I LOVE wines from this region. The primary grape here is a white grape called Trubiana. These wines have stellar acidity and salinity. They are great for lake fish and other seafood. These wines also age extremely well. Oh, and there are great values to be found from this region.

Mt. Beautiful Chardonnay

On to New Zealand, this is a chardonnay and the presenter just made her way around the table pouring this wine but forgot to fill my glass. I may never know what this wine tastes like. 🙁 OK, I took matters into my own hands and poured my own. Meh. It’s hard to follow Lugana with this style of wine.

Antica Chardonnay

This is a Napa Valley chardonnay. Banana on the nose. Lots of banana. Banana on the palate. Banana, banana, banana.

Naked Winery Sparkling Wine

Someone just crashed our table with an unscheduled wine. It’s a sparkling from Naked Winery. Yum. On to the next.

Hanna Winery and Vineyard, Sauvignon Blanc

The pitch on this one is they’re “taming the green lion.” But yet again I ended up not getting a pour. I’m starting to take this personally. I think these winemakers don’t like me. #HannaWinery Update: I got a pour with 10 seconds left. Just in time to dump it to make room for the next 🙁

Leto Cellars Chardonnay

I got the first pour this round, yay! Unfortunately my glass still smells like sauvignon blanc from the previous round, so I can’t give a fair assessment of this wine. It does have a nice texture.

Acumen, Sauvignon Blanc

Back to more sauvignon blanc from Napa Valley. This one is pretty elegant for a sauvignon blanc. It’s a bit more mineral and sleek. The tropical notes and green notes aren’t there. It’s much more lemon and granny smith apple and certainly some mineral.

William Hill, Chardonnay

Another chardonnay, designated as North Coast, this one has a retail cost of $17 so it’s a great price. This has a really creamy mouth texture. Hello, malolactic fermentation. There are loads of melon flavors in this one and some nutty aromatics. It’s a well done chardonnay for the price.

Dancing Coyote, Grüner Veltliner

Oh what fun, a US-grown grüner veltliner. I think it’s fun. This is the third winemaker that didn’t pour for me. Do I have a face that says I’ll hate your wine? All the other bloggers at this table are now passing the bottle around to take pictures. I still don’t have a pour. 🙁 At least I got a photo.

Disclosure: All of these wines were poured as samples.