We were greeted by ViniPortugal and the European Wine Bloggers Conference for another Tasting Party put together by Gabriella and Ryan Opaz of Catavino, a wine marketing company based in Spain.  Here we tasted many different types of wines from Portugal, including a bottle of Ribatejo Doc (the actual name of the brand is actually a bit confusing to me) and Oscar and @Cork_Dork even convinced me to try some port.   So here I was trying the lightest of the Portuguese wines to one of the heaviest and I was able to enjoy each in their own way (I will leave the next post to talk about tasting notes and the winery, since I do like to do my research before I aimlessly talk about the wine).

Meeting Ryan and Gabriella was one of the big highlights for many at the WBC, even if they didn’t know that until they were told.   I may not have had the chance to hang out with them for more than a few minutes each; I could tell how genuine they were.  Especially when Ryan gave away his last few bottles to me said that he was happy to give them away to someone who would truly enjoy them.  Oh, I definitely will.

Doesn’t hurt that they said I had a “brilliant smile” in their blog post about leaving the conference.

I will admit – I am a Sonoma County girl at heart.  I love Pinot Noir and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley.  My tasting trip to Napa wasn’t a complete failure, I did find out that a Pinot Noir from the Carneros region was quite tasty (at least the one from Cuvaison Estate Wines was) and Ehlers Estate, Conn Creek and Cornerstone each had an amazing Cabernet Sauvignon (well out of my price point, but amazing nonetheless).

I will also admit that I know very little about the wine regions of Spain and Portugal and would love to expand my knowledge of these wines more than just thinking they are all about heavy reds.  Thankfully, I now have three wines from Portugal to drink and learn about, as well as many new international and cross county friends from my second day at the #WBC09.  And, possibly a trip to the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon, Portugal this fall (hint, hint), but that is a different story.