My Muse - Wine Blogging Wednesday #63

I have twice met this man named Randall Grahm,
and each meeting I left as a genuine fan.
He is a respected winemaker,
an original Rhone Ranger,
whose ambition is to make the best wine he can.

Grahm's market sense is as prescient as Dune.
He started the Big House, and left to keep Doon.
He's now Been Doon so Long,
he's long from a swan song,
and now follows the phases of the moon.

I last met him at the Wine Bloggers' Conference,
where I was privileged to taste his new Cigar Volant.
It was tasty and smooth,
it had a jive groove,
and I was pleased he was there as a sponsor.

There I asked what he thought of new media
and if he felt this was the evolution of media.
He said he's not sure what to think
or if it will stick,
but he is happy to get past Wikipedia.

Then up came another fan, the Canadian Wine Bard,
who by the way just said her vows in the vineyards.
So I went on my way,
anticipating the next day
when I will again meet Randall at a wine bar.

So for today's Wine Blogging Wednesday
I have chosen to review Grahm's Sangiovese.
He calls it Ca' Del Solo,
and it is a great value.
I picked it up for about thirteen and eighty.

I enjoyed this wine for a lengthy amount of time,
about 35:31 to be exactly in line.
Nose of clean strawberry,
with flavors of ripe cherr,
make this a simple but delicious wine.

If you participated in WBW email me here
and I will recap your post, never fear.
You need not have rhymed
nor be a limerick like mine,
but I hope you used the same sum of flare.

A shout-out to WBW founder Lenn Thompson, for letting me host this WBW.

WBC09 - Oh man, that was only day one

Really unbelievable that so much was packed into such a short span of time. From the moment the conference started till right now when I am going to bed, there has been an immense about of wine. But that is what we are here for right? To taste oodles and oodles of wine.

I will get into most of the wines that I tasted and what I thought of them later in the week, once I review my notes (scattered and drunken as they are). For now let me just give you some overall impressions of the conference.

No question I am falling in with the kids table. I found that, while I might not be the youngest person at this conference, I am close. In fact, I am exactly the fifth youngest person at this conference (which has 275 people at it). Loving every minute of it.

Everyone at this conference is married, and many with children. Many I would say are well experienced individuals. I would say that the bloggers are also heavy one the website design/IT/technology side of things that have a comfortable job that allows them to buy a lot of wine and are passionate enough to write about it online. I do not think many seriously consider their blogs to be avenues to make money, and the presenter who gave us a 30 minute talk about the next evolution in their website programing might not have considered that in his talk.

There was a speed tasting portion of the day, which was a lot of fun. It was supposed to be a "live blogging" event and everyone was supposed to tweet/blog as they tasted. Unfortunately, I COULD NOT GET ON THE INTERNET! Nor could many others. I cannot say it was a bust because there were some great wines poured. Top wine was the Le Cigar Volant 2005 from Bonny Doon. I have always been a fan Randall Grahm's wines and I think he is a fantastic winemaker. The 2005 was stellar!

Tomorrow, another day of mass tasting and socializing and meeting the bloggers. I cannot image why everyone does not blog about wine...