Write notable

Several weeks ago we got a call from Brandon of the Cascade Highlands of North Carolina and Virginia Tourism Group. He was scoping out potential places to take a group of travel writers who would be visiting the area on a media tour.

Since we didn't know who the writers would be, we tempered our enthusiasm when we heard our llama trek at Divine Llama Vineyards had been selected for the lunch stop. Saturday was the big event.

The crew showed up and we had a nice time. It was humid, and we had a rookie llama on the trek that was a bit too unruly early on. But, we enjoyed our time with the writers, who came here from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere in North Carolina.

At the end of the day, Brandon passed along a list of who the guests were, where they were from and so forth. It was probably good not knowing too much about the group prior to the trek. It would have made me nervous, which would have made the llamas nervous. They pick up on a vibe pretty easily.

Since Saturday, I've been online looking at their articles and publications. I'm impressed by how easy going and unpretentious they are considering they write for or have written for Southern Living, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, WinesDownSouth.com; Upstate Lake Living; The Greenville Sun (Tennessee), Palm Beacher, VisitSouth.com; and more. Plus, they've tried their share of wine and food during their travels.

Lunch was purchased from the Carving Board. Today, I called to tell the manager what nice comments we heard about the lunch. He seemed surprised and pleased.

I snapped this photo over the shoulder of Denise Reynolds as she used her food stylist skills to assemble the wildflowers, plate, wine bottles and such together for a pretty picture. And Doc Lawrence of WinesDownSouth.com inspired the new discussion on Bloomtown Acres Facebook page. Doc hiked down the trail chatting about what was going on a MerleFest and singing a Hank Williams Jr. tune. I told him I had hoped to get out to see Zac Brown perform Thursday evening but didn't make it.

So watch the Web and any number of publications for possible articles about Divine Llama Vineyards. And, go to Bloomtown's Facebook page and tell me what wine you think pairs best with Zac Brown Band and Nora Jones.