My sights are set on Washington, D.C. this July where I’ll be in attendance for the Society of Wine Educators‘ annual conference.

I am thrilled to be presenting again this year, having co-presented the Certified Wine Educator Preview with Geralyn Brostrom and Ed Korry last year in Sacramento and on Long Island wines in 2007 in Monterrey.

Taking my cue from the patriotic location and aptly-named conference theme of Red, White and Bubbles… A  Capital Perspective on Wine, I proposed a session, “Born in the USA: American Sparklers”, which was accepted for presentation in mid-January.

I don’t want to give too much away at this point since I want to ensure a good turnout for my session, but as I have just finalized the list of producers, I am very excited. The presentation will shed some light on the history of sparkling wine in America and will feature tastings from nine different sparkling wine producers, hailing from eight states. The wines themselves will offer a diverse sampling of sparklers, making for what I hope will be a fun and festive tasting.