1. @Desertwindwine viognier creamy nose, touches of sweetness, very light for a viognier
2. Chard from a box! Don Sebastian and Sons Chard. almost grassy with lots of toasted oak. not bad, guess there is hope for boxed wine

3. Ortman wines chardonnay very toasty nose. Extreme toasted coconut finish, vanilla on the palate

4. Pithy Little wine Co. Sangiovese rose nice toastiness on the nose, watermelon jolly rancher on the palate and finish. nice change of pace

5. Parducci winery sustainable white, light and citrusy bold nose compared to the last two I’ve tried. slightly meaty aftertaste? what?

6. L’Ecole semillon good porch wine, simple, lots of vanilla

7. Dry Creek Vineyard chenin blanc vanilla on the nose granny smith apple, nice, light, and smooth

8. House wine white from Magnificent Wine Co citrus and apple, orange blossom white blend chard, riesling, gewurtz, pinot gris. Crisp and acidic

9. Molly Dooker Verdello “the violinist” heavy pineapple nose. Crisp citrus on palate, straw color

10. Worthwhile Wine Co Neethlingshof chard. citrusy nose, tropical fruit no oak so crisp almost tastes carbonated. complex finish

11. Concannon chard. creamy nose with some tropical fruit, , well balanced lots of pear on the palate, hints of oak. Not a buttery chard

12. Cornerstone cellars Sauv Blanc, crisp, bright, acidity on back palate. Pear and crisp apple They call it a good crab wine

**My favorite this time was House Wine white. It was really great, more complex than I would have anticipated and very well done.**

The conference itself was everything I had hoped it would be, fun, informative, lots of great people, and most importantly never dull.

I arrived around 11 pm on June 24th and after a $124 cab ride from the airport (don’t ask) I finally got to lay down at the Marcus Whitman hotel .

While palate fatigue was a daily occurance (they had wine tables set up at 9 am) and I never did adjust to the change of time zones ( I was in bed at 10 and up at 5 am) I had so much fun. People I only got to talk to through Twitter were even better in real life. I even got fake married while I was there, but that’s another blog post entirely. Here are some of my favorite people:

Remy Charest, and David Honig

(check out all my ribbons)

Joe Roberts (1WineDude) who won blog of the year.

Melissa Dobson.Hoping to be just like her when I grow up.

Tia Butts. Love her!

Oh, were you wondering about the wines we tried? You’re going to have to wait for another post. =)