The pandemic has disrupted and ruined so many well-laid plans. One of mine was to attend the Wine Media Conference in Oregon this summer, where I was slated to talk about the past and future of wine blogging. So much for that!

But all is not lost, and the WMC has shifted gears to become a virtual event for the first time. And what’s more, they’re making it free. It begins on Thursday, August 20th, and continues through Saturday, August 22nd.

As part of this new incarnation of the long-running conference for wine communicators I will be moderating a panel of wine writing personalities to discuss the state of wine writing and to share personal stories of how this year has impacted wine writers.

Here’s the official description of the session:

2020 has proven to be a crazy year with a pandemic, recession, and Black Lives Matter protests. And we are just over halfway through. These events have affected everyone in the world, including wine writers. We’ll talk to several of them to hear their views on the turbulence affecting the world, how their year has been affected, what they are doing to adjust, and how they are planning for 2021. Our panelists include moderator Alder Yarrow of Vinography, Max Allen from Australia, Thaddeus Buggs, and R.H. Drexel.

My session will take place on Saturday, August 22nd at 3 PM Pacific / 6 PM Eastern. You can register to attend for free on the WMC Virtual Conference web site.

I hope you’ll join me and some of my fellow wine writers for a conversation about where we’ve been and where we’re going.