Posted by Nancy D. Brown

I'm off to Las Vegas for the Luxury Travel Expo taking place December 2-4, 2008 at Mandalay Bay. I stayed at the Mandalay Bay in 2006 for the travel show, but this year I'll be staying at the Luxor thanks to a screaming cheap deal I found on the Luxor's website.

With the Luxor Winter Offer I stay three nights in a king, non-smoking room with a nice view for $65 the first night, $50 the second night and the third night is free. With tax included, three nights at the Luxor comes to $125.35. Can you beat that Mandalay Bay? I'd also like to give a shout out to Hotel Manager Barry Vaccaro who is in charge of the front desk operations. My 2006 check-in at Mandalay Bay was so slow that I simply had to look for an alternative. The Luxor's check-in for my 2007 stay was seamless. I'm looking forward to a repeat performance.

One of the panels that I look forward to attending at the Luxury Travel Expo is New Media Wizardry: Shine with Blogs and Social Networking. As some of you know, I am active on Twitter, a real-time short messaging service that works on your laptop or cell phone. The travel writing community has a strong presence on Twitter. In fact, we'll be having a travel writer meet-up, or tweet-up, after the Wednesday panel session. Hotels and resorts are joining the Twitter bandwagon, as it's an ideal way to keep travelers abreast of special offers and updates on their property. I've enjoyed following Brandie's tweets from the Luxor at http://twitter.com/LuxorLV.

The Luxury Travel Expo provides a wealth of information for travel writers, as we learn about the next great destination places, how to navigate the choppy waters of luxury cruising and hear first-hand about new and exciting hotels, spas, restaurants and clubs on the Las Vegas strip.  I'm looking forward to attending Cirque du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio on December 4.  Last year I was able to experience Monty Python's Spamalot, which has since closed, and Blue Man Group at the Venetian the year prior.

Check back for my report on what's new and what's next from Luxury Travel Expo 2008

 Photos courtesy of Mandalay Bay and Blue Man Group.

Posted by Nancy D. Brown

How many wine bloggers does it take to open a bottle of wine?  One to open it and 174 bloggers to write about the experience. 

I'm here in Santa Rosa at the Flamingo Resort and Spa attending the first North American Wine Bloggers Conference '08.  The conference is the brain child of several members of the Open Wine Consortium, (OWC) a global wine industry association, featuring an online wine business network, forums and social networking platform for folks who enjoy wine.

The three day conference, taking place October 24-26, 2008, brings together wine industry leaders, media and bloggers to discuss how to better share information to wine lovers across the globe and how to stake our claim in this new generation of wine media. 

So that's the nuts and bolts.  Now lets get into the fun stuff…tasting wine. 

After a kick ass lunch  at Kick Ranch Vineyards, we're now live blogging wines.  First up…

Cupcake Vineyards, 2007 Chardonnay located in the central coast.  Director of Marketing Nicholas Tucker said, "having a glass of Cupcake is like giving yourself a reward from making it through your daily trivals."  The wine retails for $11.99 and is available at Cost Plus World Market.

Kanzler Vineyards 2007 Pinot Noir barrel sample.  "We were one of the first vineyards planted in Sebastopol in 1996, says Stephen Kanzler of Kanzler Vineyards.  The wine will be bottled in January and will release in January for $48.  "We're usually in barrel between 12-16 months," adds Kanzler.

 Sean Minor Wines, Four Bears 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, retails for $17. Sean Minor said they were tired of spending their household budget on wine so he became a winemaker. The four bears represents the four children in the family.  www.seanminorwines.com

Lionheart Wines  Leon C. Glover, owner/winemaker is sharing his 2007 Roussanne from Santa Barbara County.  If you like hawaiian style pizza, Glover said, "it sounds kind of stange, but it's really a good match." You can purchase the wine, which retails for $30, on-line at www.lionheartwines.com. 

Bonterra Vineyard Mcnab 60% merlot, 26% cabernet and 14% petit verdot.  The wines are certified bio-dynamic and organic. "We keep chickens and gineau hens so they eat all the cut worms,"Says Jim Caudill, public relations director.  "The vineyard manager moves the mobile chicken coop around if there are any problems in the area. "  

Well, I'm not sure what I think of speed wine tasting and blogging, but I will say that it is different.

Stayed tuned for more wine tasting and for those of you on Twitter the hashtag is #wbc.