This past weekend the 5^th Annual Wine Bloggers Conference and Awards were held in Portland, OR. Over 350 bloggers, wineries and enthusiast descended on the Pacific Northwest to taste, experience new aviations and write about wine.

Just like last year’s conference in Charlottesville, VA, we were greeted by soaring temperatures, nearly 100 degrees on Thursday and Friday. As you might imagine, a lot of cold Pinot Gris, Roses and Sparkling wines were poured, and appreciated, by everyone who was trying to beat the heat.

While we were in town we had the opportunity to visit a few local restaurants with some good friends from last year and make a few new friends in the educational breakouts. In a pleasant turn of events for us (but maybe less so for him), we also got to spend about half an hour chatting with Joe Roberts while waiting for a taxi to take us from lunch back to the conference hotel on Friday afternoon.

One of the highlights of attending the conference is the chance to venture outside the city and travel deep into the heart of local Wine Country. Over 300 of us piled into eight different buses and traveled up to an hour and a half outside Portland to see the beauty of the local vines. The wineries who came out and poured did not disappoint, showcasing their beautiful property and wines.

It was hard not to be drawn toward the ice cold sparkling wines on a day like that, but the Oregon Pinot Noir acquitted itself beautifully as well, whether it was poured in a barrel cellar, the vineyard, or paired with dinner.

Part of the fun of attending The 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference is the flurry of social media activity that was going on. On Friday night, in fact, #WBC12 was the number one, worldwide trending topic on Twitter. New this year was the widespread use of Instagram, capturing everything from the Voodoo Donuts for breakfast, to the inspired food pairings at Saturday night’s gala dinner.

Finally, there were the Wine Blogger Awards. All the nominees represent excellence in the wine blogging arena, and we were, frankly, honored to be considered for the Best Winery Blog of the Year award. And while the Kendall-Jackson Blog didn’t take home the award this year, we are happy that our good friends The Journey Of Jordan did take home the honor.

All in all, it was a great weekend with a phenomenally passionate group of people that we were more than happy to spend time tasting, spitting and learning alongside. The committee already announced next year’s destination – Penticton, British Columbia.

See everyone in Canada next year.