A lot of the time, we use the words conference, salon, fair, expo and show interchangeably (not to mention the French equivalents and the ever popular foire).  Which is sort a travesty because they all have their own nuanced meaning.  This weekend, I’m at the International Grenache Symposium in the Rhone and let me tell you… they have organized a true symposium.

symposium (plural symposiums or symposia)

1. A conference or other meeting for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants make presentations.
2. (in ancient Greece) A drinking party, especially one with intellectual discussion.

So we had 6 panels on topics like winemaking, viticulture, marketing and so on.  All Friday, the panelists met to discuss exactly how each panel would approach their topics.  Experts from several continents met to brainstorm and bring some pretty cool ideas to the table.  There’s a real exchange before and during the presentations.  And then, like in ancient Greece, a drinking party with intellectual discussion ensued.

You know I think of myself as an ascended fanboy and this weekend has pushed that feeling into overdrive.  Randall Graham is laughing at my stupid jokes.  Michel Bettane wakes up and says good morning to me as he comes down the stairs at this gorgeous estate in the Rhone.  We share snarky quips throughout the presentations, bouncing back and forth between English and French as we casually discuss the future of the world’s fourth most planted grape varietal.

I am in some sort of storybook where all the people who shape and influence the wine world with their words and their wines have come to share a stage and I get to walk around amongst them smiling and bashfully letting them know that the only reason I’m in France making wine is because they inspired me to be crazy.   Then Herve Bizeul pours me a glass of his finest out of what looked like a nebuchadnezzar… or something… it was huge.

Chene Bleu, an independent and rural estate in the cliffs of the Rhone has created an unforgettable gathering place where some of the coolest people on earth are meeting and sharing ideas and wine.  People from more than a dozen countries are all just here because we really like Grenache and know that we can do a lot with this grape varietal.  The organization has been flawless, all these moving parts quietly and efficiently preparing the next step of our day so that we can almost think it’s effortless.  Like it happens every weekend.  But it doesn’t happen effortlessly or regularly.  This is the first time ever and it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

Incidentally, I really want to get some Grenache vines now. ;D

As a lot of you know, I got to attend the London International Wine Fair where I spoke about the Internet and winery collaborations with Oscar Quevedo.  After the conference, I took the opportunity to visit my dear friends at Borough Wines to do some tastings at the legendary Borough Market.

It’s a really interesting atmosphere, and most of the shoppers have a totally different attitude than the people at your average American market or French foire.  For one thing, I think Londoners have a tendency to buy one or two bottles for tonight.  Whereas French folks go to foires to get discounted six packs and Americans tend to walk out of stores with entire 12 packs, the Londoner shops for dinner.  Or for the next meal with friends.  This is a generalization, but I’ve heard it from other people and I really believe it’s true.

But the market doesn’t just consist of Londoners shopping for tonight’s wine.  You’ve got some tourists and looky-loos too.  It’s important not to spend too much time with idlers, but it can be fun to teach folks a little about wine and contribute to the atmosphere of discovery that surrounds Borough Market, a foodie heaven.  Plus, having one or two curious tasters can often draw a more serious crowd to your stand as crowds tend to draw crowds.

It was a hot day as London was experiencing its first bout of really nice 2010 summer weather.  That makes it hard to taste red wines so we also poured Chateau Grezan’s 100% Cinsault rosé.  Borough Wines knows I’m a sucker for Languedoc so I was only too happy to show off the Cinsault which presents as a dry, sturdy rosé.  Far from the watered down wimps some people expect from other parts of the world, Grezan’s wine can cool you down and give you some flavor.

And then for the serious folks, we could taste through the entire O’Podium gift set to learn the difference between three aging processes.  Cinsault is nice.  But I wanted a bigger, drier red to go with my boar sausage lunch.

Anyway, it was a really positive experience. And I got to be a part of this really cool market, playing behind the curtain, and drinking all the wine on tap I could handle.

Everybody who works at Borough Wines is a delight to be around and we had a good time after closing up the shop.

I frequently talk about how winemakers have more to gain from partnering up rather than dueling to the death.  Well, I’ll be putting my words into action at the London International Wine Fair.  And I won’t be doing it alone.

How do you convince a bunch of wine professionals to work with other winemakers?  You do it with the help of other winemakers, obviously!

I’m going to share the stage with Oscar Quevedo of Oscar’s Wine in the Douro Valley of Portugal.  We’re going to leave the powerpoint presentation at home and we’re going to try to make people giggle as we taste through some of our favorite wines in the world: each other’s!

This offbeat performance is scheduled at 11 AM on Tuesday, May 18th, and it will take place at the daringly named  “Access Zone” of the wine fair.  Please stop by.  You will have a blast.  You will taste some yummy wines.  You will even taste a wine cocktail.  We will break every rule wine snobs hold dear.  And we will do it all before noon time on a Tuesday.  Because that is how we roll in the Access Zone.

11:00 Winery Collaboration with Quevedo and O-Vineyards

Oscar Quevedo from the Douro and Ryan O’Connell from the Languedoc, two powerful social media enabled wine producers, will show the power of collaboration in a live wine tasting of each others wines. Be prepared to laugh, enjoy some great wines, and have a good time. Not to mention learn something about how collaboration will lead to success with your wineries wines!

The Access Zone also has a ton of other wine programming organized by Catavino.  Later on Tuesday, there’s going to be a deal with Tim Atkins (The Wine Gang) and Gérard Bertrand’s ‘Tautavel’ wine.  Bertrand is another heavy hitter from the Languedoc and a French rugby legend, and I guess he’ll be making an appearance too.  If the lineup of the access zone is indicative of the rest of the London Wine Fair, the LIWF should be a hoot and a half.

London, prepare yourself.  You are about to be accessed…hard… ew.

It’s spring and it’s wonderfully hot. We went from one of the coldest winters to one of the hottest Springs. And in brief, it feels like Summer at O’Vineyards.

And now we’re starting to get our dearest vacationers so it feels even more like Summer. The other day, Anthony Swift from Wine Pleasures came through with a group of Norwegian wine women. These wine ladies had just visited Carcassonne’s castle ramparts in the morning where I met the group and led them back to the vineyard just a few kilometers away.

I like all the tour groups we get, but Wine Pleasures was a special pleasure because Anthony is as obsessed with the Internet as I am (maybe more?). So the group doesn’t get shy around cameras. And we get to share the tasting with you.

We did a live stream that you can still access here:

What you don’t get to see in the stream is the delicious schmorgesborg that my mom prepared for the luncheon after the wine tasting. The photos don’t do it justice. But if you follow the blog or visit us with any frequency, you know that my mom is a cooking machine.

You can follow Anthony Swift on Twitter and Facebook.

Just after complaining about how there are no meetups around Carcassonne, I see a couchsurfing group that proves me hilariously wrong.  They plan on meeting up and hitchhiking through all the towns with vulgar names in the south of France.  Awesome.

How many villages have dirty names, you ask?  A lot.

• Condom, on the Bises river.
• Couille (Testicle)
• La Conne (The Bitch)
• Monteton (Homophone for “My Nipple”)
• Montcuq (Homophone for “My Ass” with one of those lovely silent Q’s I guess)

This will be a team event. If you don’t have a partner, we can pair you up with someone else.

This is an excellent way to meet new people (CSers and drivers), visit new places in France, and it allows your inner hitchhiker a bit of childish fun.

So what are you waiting for?  Go out and meet some routards and hitch hike through the naughty bits of the Languedoc.

I’m going to try to be there even though it’s a bit of a trek just to get to the first commune…the immaturity of this journey appeals to me on some fundamental level. It’s probably because I turned 25 this week (the last year you can get a carte jeunesse from the SNCF) and I’m afraid of losing my youth.

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Micro-blogging time.  We visited Freixenet outside of Barcelona and it was enormous.  My whole production fits ten times in each of their individual wine tanks.

But the most interesting thing is that they make really good wine other than the very drinkable, very affordable black label.  They’ve got some “micro-cuves”, again: thinking of my entire vineyard as a micro-production, that are superbly worked.  But these smaller quantities never really make it out of the region so you should try to visit the winery when you’re in Barcelona.  If you like sparkling white, they use Methode Champenoise and it’s delicious.

Now off to Alimentaria!!  Looking forward to see what Catavino has in store for the rest of the trip.

PS – The Cava Choo Choo is a train ride through Freixenet’s massive James Bond villainesque underground complex.  It is the scariest parts of Universal Studio’s The Big One ride mixed with the most exciting robotic arms and scientist encounters from Half Life.  It could beat the Napa Valley train’s butt in a street fight.

I just got back from a long two weeks of tastings around Western Europe. We went as far north as Normandy (Cherbourg) and we went all the way down to Logrono in the Rioja region of Spain. We drove past a lot of vineyards on our tour, and I have to make a confession. I love the Languedoc.

I cannot deny the beauty and character of every wine country we drove through. I can’t deny that there are talented winemakers everywhere we traveled.

But I have to admit that I love my region, the Languedoc-Roussillon, more than any other place I’ve visited.

Every beautiful place we visited sort of made me miss the Languedoc a little more.

What makes us different? Obviously, there’s a great terroir. But the wonderful thing about terroir is that EVERY wine country has its own unique terroir. Ours isn’t necessarily BETTER than the others. It’s something else that draws me to the Languedoc.

I think it’s the opportunity. The Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the largest wine producing regions in the world. We’re responsible for something like one third of France’s wine. And a decade ago, we were producing 10% of the GLOBAL wine supply just in this one area. But despite this vast size and importance, we are one of the least recognized areas.

Well I’m going to change that. Check out www.love-that-languedoc.com where I’ll be running around the Languedoc-Roussillon with my camera. I’m going to be interviewing everybody I can find. We’re going to show the Internet and the New World that the Languedoc is a vibrant place full of opportunity and energy. If you’re reading this, I’m very grateful that you’ve been following my vineyard adventures. But NOW, I’m hoping you’ll want to follow my Languedoc adventures as we rediscover every wonderful part of the Languedoc-Roussillon.