In about 3 weeks I’m heading up to the Hunter Valley. I am excited about this. Why am I excited? Well, it’s the first proper trip to the Hunter in years (almost a decade, really) and there will be wine. Secondly, it’s my first proper get away holiday in over 2 years, so that’s always exciting. Thirdly, it’s a great opportunity to meet and mingle with hundreds of wine lovers at the Wine Media Conference. Yes, I’m that geeky I decided to go to a wine conference, as a holiday. In my defence, it’s the first one I would have been to one that’s not organised by me, for work. So it’s bound to be less stressful, right?

A few months back, twittering away late into the night about wine and life and the joys of living with a glass of wine in hand, as one does on a casual midweek night when fellow twitterer mentioned that “Hey, there is this thing called ‘wine bloggers conference’ and it’s in the Hunter Valley and that’s down your neck of the woods right? You should come.” Promptly, as these things go I looked it up and paid up for the attendance within 2 days. Accommodation was sorted. Transportation would be sorted a bit later, and another friend was in on the adventure. Suddenly, this was happening and I still had no idea what I subscribed to.

A couple of months went by, I finally take the annual leave and I make the call to take additional days. Now the brain kicks into gear and “Why don’t you go to a mini holiday before heading to the Wine Media Conference?” The wine bloggers conference got renamed, and is now officially the International Wine Media Conference. It’s their first time outside of North America and I’m getting even more excited.

Weekends go by with me online frantically day dreaming of fancy getaways in the Hunter or further afield. Should I go glamping? Ouch… no, $1400 a night seems steep. Should I rent a derelict cottage? Ouch… no $500 a night for basically a lean to with snakes is not sounding great. How about a room in someone’s house in Cessnock, it’s only $70 a night – “but how is that a holiday?” I ask myself. And yet somehow, I find a lovely cottage in a quirky town called Wollembi… but that’s another story. The car is booked and I am due to go off on an adventure. It’s just 3 weeks away. A long time, or so it seems. Yet only yesterday it was 6 weeks away, so I’m pretty confident time will fly… 

So what is the Wine Media Conference?

Website: https://www.winemediaconference.org/

“The Wine Media Conference was founded in 2008 and attracts wine bloggers, wine writers, and wine influencers and those in the wine industry who communicate with them. The conference in the past has ranged from 250 to 350 attendees depending on the location and will take place for the first time outside North America in 2019. Our main local partner is the Wine Communicators of Australia, a local organization representing 700 members engaged in communications in the wine industry.“

So essentially, it’s a bunch of passionate wine lovers and geeks who get together and geek out on wine – why would I not be excited about this? This is like the biggest wine party and you get to learn new things, try wine and mingle like a social butterfly on steroids.

Dates: October 10 – 12, 2019
Location: Crowne Plaza, Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia