Hows my little wine conference?

Last week I had the pleasure to attend my third Illinois Wine conference. I've typically blown these off on my blog, but this time around I thought, hey I bet someone want's to know what a conference about wine and grapes is all about. So I brought my little camera and did some documenting.

I won't go into too many details so enjoy the photos!

Day #1

Where I thought I was going to sleep for three nights.

But I got a real bed instead...whew!

This is my learning space.

After our first speaker we did some wine troubleshooting. Our table brought mostly good wine with few troubles.

Cheeky vine humor. Our team name for trivia & pizza night.

Wine Sample.

Round 4 Trivia answers.

We came in second place! Joe and I typically do pretty poorly.

Day #2

Each day had a similar setup. Lots of glasses waiting to be filled!

The winemaker from Wollershiem Winery

This is for learning!

We talk about exciting things like 2,4,6-Trichloroansiole AKA TCA or Cork taint.

More learning!

There is also a festival where something like 15 wineries were sampling and selling their wares.

At the festival, It got quite a bit busier and I had to work instead of photograph.

After party!

 Day #3

"Penalties for breaking state wildlife laws"

We got to taste some Frontenac Blanc this at this one. It makes good wine!

I got fancy for the banquet.

That's my co-worker Chelsia getting social before dinner.

The cool thing is there is always time for drinking good wine. You know, for learning.

One empty glass per course, 6 + 2 I didn't finish while being social.

Awards are given, like Winemaker of the year.

Hats are stolen by goofy fellas.

Chelsia gets conned into drinking more.

After 6 courses of wine I bid on other people's wine in an auction.

It's hard for everyone to finish all the wine during dinner, so we tried to help afterward.

These guys were doing their part too.

We took what was left to someone's room later.

We called it a night I'm getting old, and thought the time was significant.

At 5:30am the fire alarm went off on the top two floors and having been asleep for only 3 hours and probably still a bit drunk I didn't know what the hell was going on aside from the LOUD NOISE. I'm happy it wasn't a real fire because I was not clearly thinking one bit. At least we had enough sense to take the stairs.

Day #4

So long Springfield! It was fun!