#EWBC: some more photos from the sessions

 

Grand Terroir Tasting – inspirational! #EWBC12

 

 Charles Metcalfe  #EWBC12

 

Tim Atkin MW  #EWBC12

 Grand Terroir tasting in the round #EWBC12

  Which wine didn't you like Ryan? #EWBC12

 Dr José Vouillamoz (above and below) @The excellent Source of Wine session 

#EWBC12  

 Dr Patrick McGovern@The excellent Source of Wine session (above and below) #EWBC12

Movember was clearly catching on amongst the delegates
#EWBC12

Châpeau contest – above and below  #EWBC12

European Wine Bloggers' Conference 2011 (#EWBC): stories yet to be told (15.10.110

 Evan Dawson (moderating the discussion)

Catherine Liao (http://appgirl.net/blog/)

 Damien Wilson

 Elisabetta Tosi and Catherine Liao

 

Jeremy Parzen and Damien Wilson 

 Glass and Jeremy Parzen

From the audience:

 Ryan O'Connell (searcher for late night pizza and moderator for last session)

Another Ryan but an Opaz

Some thoughts on blogging to add.

2011 Tour de France: 14th stage marred by timidity + preview of 15th to Montpellier

The Schleck brothers have three days in the Alps to save their Tour. If they can't break the stalemate then their ambitions will be swept away in the Grenoble Time Trial by Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans. To ensure victory for either Andy or Frank they need to put in at least two minutes to their principal rivals. Not forgetting that Thomas Voeckler still leads the race by 1.49 from Frank Schleck. I'll happily admit that I undersestimated Voeckler's ability when I thought he would lose the Yellow Jersey yesterday. He raced as a champion – sadly the others, especially the Schlecks, didn't.

The Schlecks had their team ride at the front for the last 60k of the race. For all of their efforts they had a gain of just two seconds by Andy Schleck. If, an unlikely event, I was in the Schlecks' Leopard-Trek team, I would want to know why I had been asked to expend all that energy when they weren't prepared to put in a full bloodied attack on the climb to Plateau de Beille. The two brothers seem far too cautious and timid – afraid to really go for it. Contador had difficulty responding to an early tentative attack by Andy Schleck but they failed to press their advantage, so Alberto remains in contention.

The Schlecks claim it will be different in the Alps. Maybe? But it is also possible that Contador will have recovered some form, will attack and put some time into his rivals. After the way Voeckler responded to all the moves on the final climb, one can't discount him anymore although he is traditionally not a strong time trialist.

Today's stage from Limoux to Monpellier (192.5K) ought to be one for the sprinters, so logically another win for Mark Cavendish providing he has recovered from yesterday's bad day. If not Cav this time, then I'd go for Rojas. There is just one short 4th category climb just to the west of Saint-Chinian, otherwise it is pretty flat. The sprinters will surely want to catch any breakaway before the end as this will be their last chance before the finish in Paris.

The course passes around the south of Carcassonne, so not really possible to highlight Domaine O'Vineyards, which is to the north of Caracassonne but I will include a photo of Ryan O'Connell, one of Languedoc's leading wine producer bloggers.

Ryan O'Connell@the 2010 European Wine Bloggers' Conference in Vienna 

Vindic d'Or: best French wine blogs

Ryan O'Connell considers an Austrian wine during the 3rd European Wine Bloggers' Conference

The 2010 Vindic d'Or for the best French wine blogs have just been awarded. See the details here. Congratulations to all the prize winners especially to Ryan O'Connell (joint winner meilleur blog du vigneron) for Love That Languedoc), Eva Robineau (meilleur blog communautaire for Oenos), Philippe Rapiteau (meilleur blog voyageur for La Pipette aux quatre vins) and Olivier Grosjean (grand prix spécial du blog "increvable" for Blog d'Olif). Winner of the best blog of the year was Bourgognelive.

This is the first edition of these awards.

Two new ebooks: Georges Meekers and Ryan O'Connell

Two ebooks on lesser known wine areas have just been published: Georges Meekers' revised edition of his Wines of Malta and Ryan O'Connell's first venture into publishing with Wines of Carcassonne – The Cabardès AOC.

Georges Meekers@Medina, Malta

I have yet to see a copy of Georges' new book but details can be found here and it can be downloaded from Amazon here on a Kindle for £4.45.

Ryan O'Connell 

The Cabardès is a lesser known appellation just to the north of Carcassonne. Along with the Côtes de Malepère, it is on the border between the vineyards of the Mediterrean and those of the Atlantic. Naturally featuring grape varieties typical of both climatic regions.

Ryan's book can also be downloaded from Amazon onto a Kindle here for £2.21. It strikes me that this is still work in progress, although it is already a useful guide for someone visiting the region. He makes good use of the interactive map to Carbardès on page 9. However I would like more detailed profiles of the vignerons as some are rather perfunctory. Also more background detail would be good. Ryan mentions that Cabardès is cooler than the adjoining Minervois to the east. By how much? A few weather stats here would be illuminating. These details can easily be added in a later edition.
 
Also I'm not sure whether it is my screen setting but some of the text is squashed down – needing a few tweaks on the publishing programme to sort it out.

However, it is exciting to see the possibilities of self-publishing through organisations like Amazon.