I’m very excited about my upcoming trip to Catalunya and the Alimentaria conference in Barcelona.  The Catalan govnernment and Catavino have teamed up to organize a really exciting trip around an already exciting conference.

And a few people are casting a curious eye at Love That Languedoc because my readers are very perceptive and they realize that Catalunya is distinctly not in the Languedoc Roussillon.  But the Roussillon and Catalunya share a lot in common.  For example, certain communities in the Roussillon consider me to be more of a gabatch (outsider) than their neighbors to the south.

And I want to take a moment to remind everybody that wine’s not a zero sum game.  I love that Languedoc.  But there’s a little secret: I love other places too sometimes.

And when we have the opportunity to travel to new places and experience new things, we also have an opportunity to exchange cultures.  And I am all about that.  A little mixing and matching to make something altogether new.  And I can try some new wines while I’m down there.   And you better believe I’m bringing some of my wine for others to taste.  And by the end of the week, we’ll all be fans of things we didn’t know much about before.

It’s important not to think of wine marketing as a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.  Where there are only 20 marbles on the playing field and getting one more marble is the same as taking it out of your starving starving opponent’s mouth.  There are tons of people who have little to no knowledge of our regions and blogging or otherwise communicating about our cultural exchange can pique a stranger’s interest!  Somebody who loves Catalan wines and knows nothing about Languedoc might discover me next week.  Or the reverse!?

In case you’re curious, I prefer to think of life as a game of Crossfire.  Every shot you take at your “opponent” only gives them more ammunition to shoot right back at you.  It is only when we realize that the game is not nearly as cool as the commercial and that we abandon the notion of competition entirely that we have truly won.  Or if you shoot the little pucks into your opponent’s tray.  One of those two things is the win scenario.