4488: A Ridge Blog

Greetings from Downtown Santa Rosa! Took a cab today, and the driver was lamenting the loss of quality as regards the prostitutes in this once rather more rustic neighborhood … but I’m getting ahead of myself … Meaning, I’m staying in Santa Rosa, so that I can attend the 2010 Tasting Room Profitability Conference, which has, in a rather virtuoso display of real-time Social Media proactivity, already become #trp2010 … and by the way, and perhaps by way of explanation and/or the proferrment of context, the driver was a former Navy man … as was my Grandpa …

Anyhow, I’m here with my missus and our lil’ baby girl (2 ft. 7 inches worth of Lil’ Clara Bay at 15 months! Who, might I add, wore her first pair of Levis to have lunch with Daddy during a break in the conference!), which is a digression, I admit, but I am about to start a paragraph about how my day started, which will begin with the conference itself, but actually, my day started with a baby wake-up, and mushed up apples and blueberries, and  a rapidly downed cup of coffee, and such and such …

Anyhow, the day began with my meeting up with Melissa Baker, essentially my counterpart at Ridge Vineyards, meaning she is the Tasting Room Manager at our Lytton Springs facility, while I hold down the fort at Monte Bello … and we have a pretty groovy and appropriate division of labor betwixt us as regards Social Media; she being crisp, clean, focussed, and to the point, takes care of the Tweeting, whilst I, being prone to rather ponderous and polysyllabic exercises in rhetorical excess, attend to the blog … Anyhow, the rather pregnant Melissa, in search of whatever comfort a conference hall can afford a lovely pregnant woman, wished to sit right in front, where leg stretchability was at a premium, whilst I, being rather self-conscious about my height, and accordingly normally preferring the Bob Uecher seats, but out of respect, sat up front as well, and proceeded to rapidly numb my backside courtesy of a long, low, stretch …

Ugh, digressing again … Anyhow, speaker #1 was Rick Bakas, director of Social Media at St. Supery (cheers to a great producer!), and I must say, all incessant references to bacon aside, he was truly excellent … not that I minded the bacon references, mind you. Bacon is just one of those funny words. Like coccyx  … You know, coccyx! Where I was numb …

Anyhow, this is a man to listen to, and to listen to closely, and to watch, and to follow, if you have any interest in wine, social media, and especially, if you happen to be interested in the intersection of both … More on Rick shortly …

And in fact, more on the #trp2010 shortly … must go sip some of our newly-released 2008 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay from, well, us (being Ridge) because I have a bottle with me, and I also have Haig’s Hummus (the greatest hummus ever, bar none, so good that either it, or other hummus, should really have to change its name), Lambchopper and Herbed Chevre from Cypress Grove, and some Roasted Garlic and Cheese bread from local stars Full Circle Baking Company, and, and, and … um, I’m very hungry and thirsty now … must run. #trp2010? Very excellent … More soon!