2014 Drink Local Wine Week: Starting October 12

Drink Local Wine (DLW), the organization whose goal is to bring greater attention to regional wines, announces that the seventh annual Drink Local Wine Week (formally Regional Wine Week) will take place the week of October 12, 2014. The members of DLW encourage all North American wine critics, bloggers, and broadcasters to participate in the virtual event by publishing an article, blog, or broadcast on wines from their local area.

“We’ve made great strides over the past several years with building recognition for lesser known areas,” said Michael Wangbickler, President of the Board of Directors for Drink Local Wine. “Regions in the states of Virginia, Michigan, Maryland, Texas, and Colorado have all been receiving more press and consumers are starting to realize that wine is made in other states besides California, Oregon, and Washington. I’d like to believe that DLW has played a part in that, but there is still more to do. Drink Local Wine Week gives us an opportunity to showcase wines that don’t get as much recognition in the press.”

Drink Local Wine Week is an annual event that recruits and encourages bloggers and wine columnists to write something about their local wines. It is the original activity on which Drink Local Wine was founded, and continues to this day to increase attention for local wines among both the wine trade and consumers.

“The exponential growth of the American wine industry over the last ten years has led to thriving industries all over the country,” said Michael Kaiser, DLW Board member and Director of Public Affairs for WineAmerica. “Drink Local Wine is working to put the focus on the lesser known regions not as a competition with the established regions, but as a complement to them. A growing industry benefits consumers as well as winemakers.”

“To me, a large part of the enjoyment of wine is exploration and discovery, the adventure of tasting the vast diversity of wine, from obscure grapes to lesser known wine regions,” said Richard Auffrey, DLW Board member and author of The Passionate Foodie. “Exploring wine from states all across the U.S.., from Massachusetts to Maryland, from Texas to Colorado, is exciting and I've found plenty of worthy wines. More people need to expand their palates and taste wines outside of California, Oregon and Washington.”

“The phrase ‘variety is the spice of life’ is particularly true when it comes to wine,” said Dezel Quillen, DLW Board member and author of My Vine Spot. “Adventurism, exploration, and discovery all things I embrace, are the key to stumbling upon hidden gems from lesser known US wine regions. Trying the wine is the hurdle – high quality, personality-driven wines can be grown in areas of the US that one wouldn’t imagine. Just have an open mind and keep tasting and trying new things!”

Those interested in participating in Drink Local Wine Week 2014 need only write an article or record a broadcast and send a link to drinklocalwine@gmail.com.

The kickoff of Drink Local Wine Week 2014 will be TasteCamp 2014, with which DLW has partnered this year. TasteCamp is an annual event that immerses writers and bloggers in a new-to-them wine region. TasteCamp 2014 will take place in the Hudson River Valley October 10-12, 2014. (And I will be there!)

“We all know that there are great wines being made in California, Oregon and Washington,” said Lenn Thompson, DLW Board member, founder of TasteCamp, and Executive Editor of the New York Cork Report. “Where's the fun in only drinking those wines? I'd rather scour the lesser-known corners of the American wine industry. That's where you'll find distinctive, delicious wines that taste different from wines made anywhere else in the world and wines that not everyone knows about -- yet, anyway. When you drink local wine ---- from wherever local might be for you -- you can get to know the people behind those wines, maybe even befriend them, and come to understand and appreciate their passion and their craftsmanship. That's when wine enjoyment peaks -- when it's about more than just fermented juice in a bottle.”

Please support Drink Local Wine Week, and write something about your local wines.