Very good points made here. Sorry I didn't get to make it up there to meet you all (and help lower the average age a tad bit, though I would have raised the married with kids ratio...)

As a winery I don't think there are many wine bloggers out there just looking for free wine. There is plenty of opportunity to find out the legitimacy of a blogger, you just need a computer and internet access. One look at the blog will tell you if they have a clear history of reviewing wine. It's hard for me to imagine a person asking wineries for samples without having a long history of writing about wine payed for with their own money.

Another note, we have never been solicited for samples from any blogger, legitimate or not. That said, I don't think there are a bunch of people going around asking for free wine and just writing some quick short notes. I think wineries find the bloggers on their own, and send samples to those they find to be of value.

Where did the rest of my comment go, oh no! The blame may fall more squarely on the Trade Association, who likely asked wineries to sign up for topics they created. The Trade association is very used to selling lifestyle storylines and topics for feature articles in traditional print media. The wineries marketing folks likely would have wanted to have them pour their wines for a captive audience of wine bloggers, they'd be fools not to.

Someone along the line must have worried that people would be tasting wine all day, and might find themselves beyond their limit by the time the tasting rolls around later. That's also a poor assumption that the attendees are not professional enough tasters to know how to taste within limits (i.e. spit when appropriate.)

So yes, presentation was to the wrong audience, and the decision not to pour were both bad choices. Who's to blame, I don't know. But I'd guess that one or more winery hoped that by meeting everyone face to face they'd have a great opportunity to engage in discussion about their wines at the tasting later. So I hate to hear that you have a bad impression of all the wineries for someone else's mistake.

This is good feedback for the wineries, who are used to telling stories to media outlets that run feature articles on things like "the challenges of running a winery big and small." Most wine bloggers write about wine, how much they liked it and how it was experienced. The focus is primarily how good is the wine, and where was it enjoyed.