Umbria Uncorked: 2012 International Wine Tourism Conference

I've been thinking about my upcoming trip to the International Wine Tourism Conference, just a week away now. It has caused me to do a bit of introspection about the reasons I or anyone else travels. 

But I found a bit inspiration from a much wiser chap than myself who is quoted to have said or more likely penned; "I am so convinced of the advantages of looking (travel) at mankind instead of reading about them, and of the bitter effects of staying at home with all the narrow prejudices of an Islander ~ Lord Byron

The remarkable poet, Lord Byron is so right and thanks again to him for reminding me and hopefully to the folks reading this; that we don’t live on an island of self. I've had the good fortune to do a bit of traveling as of late; for which I'm so thankful. There's nothing quite like, getting "out-there" to awaken the senses, to broaden your perspective about the world going on around all of us. As I've said before, it's far too easy, to become myopic, not being able to see beyond the tip of our own noses (I've been guilty of such).

Travel or Tourism has a way (if we allow it) remove those blinders, takes down our preconceptions and gives [potentially] us all a profoundly new view of our world. What I'm not saying; is that the world around us is all, 'springing-puppies’ and floating butterflies. 

But what I'm saying is this; get your butt out there,  in thinking about this way; a bottle of wine from a place like Montefalco, Italy [the balcony of Umbria] for example, is the springboard, the invitation if you will, to see the world in way you never had thought possible [connected via the vine]. But by getting "out-there" having your passport stamped, your feathers ruffled, walking in the shoes of others, touching history, you gain added perspective that many will never experience or realize.

With that lengthy bit of soap-box talk said; the purpose of this post is to talk about the International Wine Tourism Conference [yes, I know you were probably wondering when I was going to get to it]. This is the very first conference of this type I will be attending and surprisingly (follow along on Twitter:#iwinetc) the conference committee have chosen my talk entitled, "The Accidental Tourist." 

I was really caught off-guard that my "talk" was selected, wow, what an honor! Simply because, and let's face it, I don't have the "creds" many other folks have, who are attending, speaking and organizing, and I'm certainly not the most polished of writers; but what I do have is passion (not to say others don't) and it comes across readily in my writing. 

But if you start asking me about wines, vines, tourism or travel, then well you've opened a flood-gate of purple-paved passion, that may have you heading for the doors from an info-overload and running to fill your empty wine glass wondering how you can get some of whatever it's that I've been drinking.

It's a talk loosely based upon my first trip to Tuscany in 2008, where at times I was that "accidental-tourist", although I had long planned my trip and thoroughly looked at the places I wanted to visit. Frankly, though only one wine region in Tuscany stood out,  was really set up to attract folks to the many different tourism destinations, wineries and the such, even if you didn't have a plan of attack. 

I won't be naming it here and now, but later after give my presentation, so stay tuned. My fellow group of writers, will be blogging, tweeting and even FB-ing each and every day of the conference and while on the familiarization tour, so again stay tuned. If you'd like to get an idea of the varied types of wines I and the other 'attendees’ will be experiencing; a neatly compiled list of fine Italian wines being poured are posted here.

Here’s a list of fellow bloggers, journalists, and assorted PR folks who will be traveling with me on this wonderful journey, upon which we about to embark. Please take a second to check out their blogs, web- pages; to get their crisp insights on the world of wine that you won't find in the traditional glossy pages of print media. For those of you who may be interested in gaining a  quick snap-shot of some the topics and speakers delivering those presentations, please click here for a tidy list prepared by a really grape wine-blogger, David Lowe whose website is called Big Pinots.

At the moment, I'm unfortunately battling a cold that somehow came out-of-nowhere to bite me on the arse, but armed with the best in western pharmaceuticals I'm ever confident, it will be all cleared up by the departure date. Nonetheless, it is with a very happy and excited heart that I'm preparing to pack my bags and head back to one of my favorite countries in all the world. 

Having just been there just six months ago, I won't be spending any extra sight-seeing time outside of the planned conference activities, which I'm a bit bummed about, but the more frugal Mrs. Cuvee stands ready for a reality check if need be. For those of you that I've met before, I look forward to seeing you again and for those of you, I only know through twitter of FB, I look forward to meeting you (#IRL) in real life. Until next time my friends, sip long and prosper cheers!