After five days, almost 50 bloggers and writers, some 75 posts, and 50 percent more visitors than last year, Regional Wine Week 2009 is over. And it exceeded our expectations.
We would have been happy to duplicate last year's success, when we had about half as many bloggers and posts. That's because several of our Mainstream Media contributers, faced with what has happened in the newspaper and magazine business over the past 12 months, weren't able to participate. And the economy silenced a number of blogs that sent us links last year. And, frankly, our organizing efforts this year weren't as focused as they were in 2008.
So this year's output was as welcome as it was unexpected. But it shouldn't have been. We, more than anyone, should know that regional wine is an accepted, full-fledged member of the wine community. That people -- a lot of people -- want to write about it should not be surprising.
So we'll keep doing what we're doing, and Regional Wine Week will return in 2010 (tentatively set for Oct. 9-16). And we're already planning our second DrinkLocalWine.com conference and should have announcement about that soon.
Thanks to everyone who participated. And if you write a post abut regional wine and if it's not regional wine week, send us a link and we'll use it on the blog. And if you'd like to be included in the DrinkLocalWine.com blogroll, send us a link as well.
