Mike Heny, winemaker at Horton Vineyards, joins us to discuss the history of the winery, introducing new grapes into the state, and Viognier.

Barrel Oak Winery is one of the many dog friendly wineries in Virginia.

Jancis Robinson's Keynote Speech at the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference

Eric Asimov's Keynote Speech at the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference

On October 26th, the Virginia Tourism office sponsored a wine reception featuring Governor Robert McDonnell to celebrate the end of Virginia Wine Month. The event was held at the Lincoln Restaurant in Washington D.C. and included four Virginia wineries, each pouring three wines for the invited guests.

One of the best kept secrets of the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference was the Loudoun County Pre-Tour sponsored by Visit Loudoun. This two day tour was available to the first 25 bloggers who registered and consisted of visits to four wineries: Tarara Vineyard and Winery, Breaux Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, and Boxwood Winery. Each winery rolled out the red carpet with the winemaker greeting the participants and providing tours and tastings of their regular offerings as well as reserve and barrel wines. These wineries may be familiar to the larger group of conference attendees since they participated in many of the WBC11 events in Charlottesville, either as sponsors, the twitter tastings, the Other 46 tasting, and the Monticello dinner.

One of the best kept secrets of the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference was the Loudoun County Pre-Tour sponsored by Visit Loudoun. This two day tour was available to the first 25 bloggers who registered and consisted of visits to four wineries: Tarara Vineyard and Winery, Breaux Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, and Boxwood Winery. Each winery rolled out the red carpet with the winemaker greeting the participants and providing tours and tastings of their regular offerings as well as reserve and barrel wines. These wineries may be familiar to the larger group of conference attendees since they participated in many of the WBC11 events in Charlottesville, either as sponsors, the twitter tastings, the Other 46 tasting, and the Monticello dinner.

This clip from the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference in Charlottesville Virginia features 16 attendees stating who they are and why they blog.

The 2011 North American Wine Bloggers Conference was held July 21-24 in Charlottesville Virginia. Here are the highlights from the International Tasting, Seminars, Twitter Tasting, Walking Tours, Monticello dinner, and Vineyard Visits. The music features Tony Trischka performing at the Floydfest Front Porch courtesy of the Virginia Folklife Program.

First Lady Maureen McDonnell invited several media guests to a Kickoff Celebration for the 2nd Annual Virginia Wine Week at The Wine Loft in Glen Allen Virginia. Virginia Wine Week is a government imitative to encourage retailers, restaurants, and consumers to support Virginia wine, obviously by selling and purchasing the many excellent wines crafted in the commonwealth.