Hurray for Local Wines (from the Other 47 States*) – You Should Know Who They Are!

Hurray for Local Wines (from the Other 47 States*) – You Should Know Who They Are!

FOURTH ANNUAL REGIONAL WINE WEEK SETS RECORDS
One of the most successful ever, Regional Wine Week grows from grassroots passion for local wine

DrinkLocalWine‘s fourth annual Regional Wine Week was the most successful in the group’s history, linking to stories and blog posts from more than half of the other 47 wine states in the U.S. and engaging with hundreds of thousands of local wine enthusiasts.

During Regional Wine Week (October 9-15), DrinkLocalWine aggregated more than double the number of posts and stories from writers and bloggers across the United States compared to last year. Blogger Pia Maria Finkell discussed why local wine should be part of the local food movement, while DrinkLocalWine’s Richard Leahy offered “18 Regional Grapes You Must Try Before You Die.” There were also videos, radio interviews and podcasts.

Regional Wine Week shared news about local wine from 24 states, up from 12 the year before and 21 in 2009. This year’s links included not only the biggest states like Texas, Virginia, New York, and Michigan, but also several not covered before, including Nebraska, Vermont and Iowa. The DrinkLocalWine site linked to some 90 pieces from across the country, about double the number of last year.

“The most amazing thing about the regional wine movement is it’s bottom up and passion-driven,” says DrinkLocalWine co-founder Jeff Siegel, who writes the top 100 wine blog The Wine Curmudgeon. “We dedicated this week to regional wine, and bloggers and writers from around the country responded for no other than reason their passion and enthusiasm for local wine.”

Beyond writers, wine enthusiasts shared their favorite local wines, wine regions and stories on Twitter and in DrinkLocalWine’s first-ever 47-word essay contest. During Regional Wine Week, there were more than 1,500 Tweets and web mentions about local wine (using #drinklocal), reaching some 1.5 million consumers. More than 100 47-word essays were submitted, representing more than two dozen states.

DrinkLocalWine’s goal is to spotlight wine made in the 47 states and Canada that aren’t California, Washington and Oregon. It’s the brainchild of Siegel and Washington Post wine columnist Dave McIntyre. The organization holds two major events each year — a conference spotlighting regional wine in one of the other 47 states, and Regional Wine Week each October. The 2012 DrinkLocalWine conference will be held in April, spotlighting Colorado wine. The 2011 conference was held in Missouri, the 2010 in Virginia, and the 2009 event in Texas. For more information, visit www.DrinkLocalWine.com.

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*The Other 47 States – Those not including California, Oregon and Washington

Blogs on VintageTexas on local wines for Regional Wine Week included:

Up the Route 290 Wine Road to Torre di Pietra & Upping their Game, Too!

https://vintagetexas.com/?p=5550

Locapour: The Dream World of the Other 47 [Words – don’t count this one]

https://vintagetexas.com/?p=5569

Texas Value Wines Featured on TXwine Twitter Tuesday (Nov. 1st)

https://vintagetexas.com/?p=5576

(Just of little late on this one but it’s local and I’ll count it!): Dotson – Cervantes 2010 Texas Gotas de Oro (Drops of Gold): A Delightful Pairing

https://vintagetexas.com/?p=5581