RE: [wine-453] Wine Bats meet-up group update

Jen,

I am very interested in participating in your meet ups Whether with the Wine Bats or another group.   I am a student of wine and currently studying for my sommelier certification  with ISG.  My forte is wine education and tours of the Texas Hill Country.  I do, however, plan to  lead tours to destinations in California and France in 2010.

Thank you in advance.

Sue Ellen Smith

Hi folks!

I wanted to address a couple of issues that people have brought up.

Regarding the group name, and people's wish it remain the same, Damon seemed to have copyrighted the term Wine Bats, so I didn't feel at liberty to keep the name. Also, Damon was inaccessible until just recently, so I was unable to ask him about it. He has contacted me, though, and I'm talking to him both about the name of the group, and if he wants to step in again as organizer. (If he does want to step back in, I will probably start another group, as no one in town really seems to be doing with their groups what I intended for this one, so keep that in mind.)

Regarding the purpose of the group, I have some thoughts. I am a member of a couple of the other wine groups in Austin, and found that they tend simply to meet up and socialize at wine bars in town--sometimes repeatedly at the same wine bar. There seem to be several groups of this sort, and I don't want to simply repeat what they have done. I don't want to overlook the fun of just going out and socializing over wine, as it's one of my favorite things to do, and I think several great bars in town are being overlooked by the groups. I will, though, try to incorporate a larger number of formal--or at least directed--tastings, both in bars, and at people's homes.

Part of the success of the other group to which I belonged with regard to learning about wine was actually the atmosphere in which we learned the information. The other part, though, was the regularity of the meet-ups. We had at least one meet-up per month, throughout the year, so the group actually had some cohesion. Also, it provided people the opportunity to taste many more wines than they would usually have exposure to out in the real world. Meeting at people's homes also allowed more casual discussion of the wines than can happen in some of the louder wine bars here.

If Damon doesn't step in as the organizer of this group, or start a new Wine Bats group, then I will certainly keep blind tastings as one of the core purposes of this group, so don't think that the name change has changed that.

Please don't forget to respond to the survey.

Cheers!

Jen




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