Media lineup set for DLW 2011: Missouri

DLW 2011: Missouri will feature some of the top media names in Missouri and regional wine when it begins April 2 at the Doubletree Westport in suburban St. Louis.

National media heavyweights like Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post and Lisa Hall of Wine Business Monthly will attend. So will Doug Frost, the godfather of regional wine writing, and Eric V. Orange, the founder and CEO of LocalWineEvents.com. Todd Kliman, the author of The Wild Vine, the definitive book about norton, Missouri’s signature grape, will be on hand.

Also, leading cyber journalists Joe and Ann Pollack of St. Louis Eats and Drinks and Angela Ortmann, the St. Louis Wine Girl, as well as St. Louis’ top food and drink magazines — St. Louis, Sauce, and FEAST — and media from Kansas City and Columbia will participate. The complete list is at DrinkLocalWine.com.

For the second year in a row, Olivia Wilder, host of the top-rated Olivia Wilder Times, will do her radio show live from the Twitter Taste-off on the blogtalkradio.com network, interviewing the winemakers and wine personalities in attendance.

Some two dozen Missouri wineries will pour two wines each for the Twitter Taste-off on April 2, where participants will blog or Twitter about what they’ve tasted. We’ll give awards — best red, best white, Media’s Choice and People’s Choice — as voted by the taste-off participants (who must be 21 or older).

Ticket packages start at $35. That’s the price for the Twitter taste-off and a buffet reception with the winemakers and wine personalities at the conference. Or the price for three Missouri winery tours. Or to attend the Saturday morning seminars. Go to DrinkLocalWine.com for a complete schedule and to order tickets. For information, call (214) 727-1992.

DLW 2011 follows the success of the group’s first two conferences — in Dallas featuring Texas wine in 2009 and in Loudoun County featuring Virginia wine in 2010. DLW also holds an annual Regional Wine Week in October, in which more than 40 wine bloggers, writers and columnists from the U.S. and Canada write about their favorite regional wines, ranging from Ontario to New York to Florida to Texas to Colorado.

DrinkLocalWine.com’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 Washington Post wine columnist Dave McIntyre and wine blogger Jeff Siegel, the Wine Curmudgeon.

Conference sponsors are the Missouri Wine and Grape Board; LocalWineEvents.com; Annie Gunn’s; the Doubletree Westport; and the St. Charles County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Gizmo Group, Cabot Cheese, and St. James Winery.

Source: Press Release