[Update: Wow! What a day - from all accounts, everyone had an amazing time, plenty of wine and cheese was had by all, we learned a ton, met new people and enjoyed a civilized ad-hoc afternoon. Thanks to all of our sponsors - check the Flickr Pool for photos of our day (thanks to one of Vancouver's best photographers), our Tweets and tags and hash tags #vinocamp and #vccc09 for all the updates. Thank-you to everyone who helped (especially the MAG team) and to all of our speakers and participants. See you next year...]

There just might be RAIN this Saturday in Vancouver. We need it. But even if it doesn’t rain, I say after all of this heat wave, it’s the perfect timing for the perfect pairing and staying inside to taste (drink) fine wines, eat delectable cheeses, learn from the best in the business and, if you are so inclined on the “geekery” side of things, going tech with what you are taking in – blogging, flickring, tweeting all of your new wine and cheese knowledge and experiences, all day.
Check out the line-up of amazing Speakers and the Schedule and Sessions – including a few lightening talks in the breaks and a Live Twitter Tasting with Stag’s Hallow.

REGISTER HERE – tickets are going!

Hope to see you there – Keynote with Dr. Donna Senese begins at 12:30pm.

Follow @vinocampvan
Official Tags: vccc09 | vinocampvan09 | vinocamp | cheesecamp

It’s 10:45am. I am tasting my first wine: a Sauvignon Blanc from Wild Horse Canyon – yes.

VinoCamp has commenced… the day started with a pick-up at 8:15 of fellow comrade committee guy, Boris, where the joke of setting your alarm clock to get up and have a day full of wine first got its legs (thank-you to the man/driver on this morning, who never fails to supply me with all my material).

We are in the beautiful Botanical Gardens at UBC, thankfully in a shady, breezy room on what is supposed to be a hot 33 degrees summer Saturday. Everyone has arrived in one shape or another, they have collected a fancy Riedel wine glass for keeps, a lovely bag of truffles each, a beautiful program and lunch menu (well done Lori) and we are deep into the Okanagan Valley region as Kathy Malone (from our major sponsor the Artisan Wine Co.) takes us from the Island, over the Pacific and through to the Interior of BC so we’re all better equipped with the knowledge of the BC wine Regions.

This is already a great day and we’re only into tasting one. Let it be known: I really don’t mind drinking wine before breakfast.

Our sponsors are fantastic – Cheers to you all for making the inaugural day happen:
Artisan Wine Co. / Puddifoot.com / Riedel / Taylor Hill / Kitsilano.ca / Techvibes / Miss 604 / Joeys / Farmstead / The Player’s Chophouse / Blue Water Cafe / The Cascade Room / Unwined / Trattoria / Habit.

(more links later people – I gotta drink some vino!) Mostly done.

flickr pics here!