DLW 2012: Colorado

DrinkLocalWine will hold its fourth annual conference this weekend in Denver, focusing on Colorado wine.You can follow the fun -- because, every year, we do have a tremendous amount of fun -- on Twitter at #drinklocal and #colwine, as well as @drinklocalwine and @wine_curmudgeon. Yes, I will be tweeting. No, I am not looking forward to it.

All of which means it's time for a few thoughts about regional wine, what DLW is doing, and how we got here. More, after the jump:

• We must be doing something right, because we're seeing the beginning of a backlash from, believe it or not, devotees of California wine. "Stop picking on our wine," they say, or "Why are you telling people they shouldn't drink California wine?" Both are not true. Any picking on California wine that I do has nothing do with my role with DLW. Our mantra, which has not changed since Dave McIntyre and I started this thing, is that people should try regional wine. They don't have to drink it if they don't like it, and they certainly don't have to give up something else.

• The newest excuse for not drinking local? That wine is not a fresh product, like pork or tomatoes. Which is even sillier than the one about all regional wine being crappy. Craft beer and spirits aren't especially fresh, and they don't seem to have a problem with the locavore people. And the last time I checked, cheese was aged, too -- and local cheese is one of the linchpins of the local and slow foods movements.

• I can't believe we're about to do our fourth annual event. Just like a real organization. That's about the last thing Dave and I expected, and is another indication of how popular the local wine movement has become. We actually have people coming to us asking if they can host the conference.

• And it's not just us. The number of people writing, blogging and tweeting about local wine seems neverending, despite the obstacles -- no money and all of the time required. I'm not sure that the Internet changed wine writing as much as it was supposed to, except for regional wine. The Internet has given a voice to people writing about local wine who never would have had the opportunity before, and that's especially true in New York, Virginia and Texas -- and Colorado, where the wine bloggers seem to be everywhere.

We'll have lots of coverage on DrinkLocalWine.com throughout the weekend and next week, and I'll have my thoughts on the blog on Monday. Plus the tweets. Sigh.