Who Was the First Board Member You Met Offline?

Indybob in 2011 in the bar at Wildfire in Oak Brook. Waiting for others to show up. They included xhoser, jcubed, aphilla, berno and thelostverse. You might have very recently gone under the knife if I recall correctly.

Great thread idea.

04/15/03 - My first offline ever - ttepper and Doc at Morrell's in NYC.

@billhike posted:

Indybob in 2011 in the bar at Wildfire in Oak Brook. Waiting for others to show up. They included xhoser, jcubed, aphilla, berno and thelostverse. You might have very recently gone under the knife if I recall correctly.

Great thread idea.

Right. That was offline was less than a week after my surgery.

My Wine Spectator Journey | Wine Spectator Forums

VM

I believe it was Hunter who I meet first, then Tbird, then Paul and Stefania and a handful of others at my first offline in NYC, shortly thereafter it was sarbuze in Maryland iirc.

It was definitely tbird way back in .. 2005?, then double d and noregonian shortly after.  then going out to napa and meeting paul and stefania.

Then hunter, from tbird, and then finally meeting dave when we went to whitman's

My first was purple haze, then comet spider, then gentleman farmer.  Have met gman, lentini, wine+art, merengue, Board-o, jcocktosteren, FK Girl, and some of the other Floridians.

I met a number of former forumites at my first offline (under the previous iteration of the forum, so I have no record of all of them).  The only semi-current member of that group that I know of is spo.

The first person I met was SD-Wineaux!  Closely followed by SPO, and a few other San Diego locals. I felt so inexperienced and awkward, but they did a great job of making me feel welcome. And the best part is, most of us are still getting together from time to time.

@irwin posted:

My first was purple haze, then comet spider, then gentleman farmer.  Have met gman, lentini, wine+art, merengue, Board-o, jcocktosteren, FK Girl, and some of the other Floridians.

i cant even remember when that was anymore  has been way too long.

must have been back in 2015?  I'd like to say

forgot name [sock guy from San Diego]  no longer on the Board

Jcocktosten and FloridaKeysGirl, at a bar at the Disney Beach Club Resort.  It was like "you're actually going to meet someone in person from the Internet??"  Fortunately, they were not serial murderers or pyschos.  Have met a number of the Floridian WS Forum members, and some of the visitors who have been down.

“Creepy wine people from the internet” is how my wife once referred to us.

@Rothko posted:

Jcocktosten and FloridaKeysGirl, at a bar at the Disney Beach Club Resort.  It was like "you're actually going to meet someone in person from the Internet??"  Fortunately, they were not serial murderers or pyschos.  Have met a number of the Floridian WS Forum members, and some of the visitors who have been down.

This was something like 2002 or 2003 I think

I believe shortly before we met Emilio Dinwiddie amd Off the Vine at Grazianos. Then countless others. 

Steve8 and J, vinaigre and Dr. C here in Montreal at a wine bar back in November 2004

Found some notes.  First offline was in 2005. Festiva was there as well.  Later met Longboarder, sarbuze, FL Wino, Rothko.

Having a quiet dinner tonight with Board-O, although if you have met him, there is nothing particularly quiet about him!!

That's a lot to tax my memory with, but I'm pretty sure it was Mattach, and I "think" Kybo was in town for that offline at Serafina in Seattle? I could be wrong on that. I met Ampuis and BRR shortly after that.

I've met Mr. & Mrs. Seaquam a number of times when they dropped down to visit. Always a pleasure. Same with Mr. & Mrs. pape du deuf. All lovely people.

Jaimetown. Absolutely stellar person (as is his wife) whom I wound up sharing many memorable meals with.

First dinner was him, me and my then-girlfriend, and an old friend of ours at a restaurant in Woodley Park (DC) called New Heights. We wound up Italian themed; though, looking back, all the wines were quite “New World” in style.

After a little search, I found this.   

Casa Red Guy and Gal, 7/15/2012

This was my first offline (shanet's also, IIRC)

Edit:  Racer117 and Whine-o were there also.

I just looked up mine…it was April of 2011, and it was SD-Wineaux, Whine-oh, and Gigondass. I’m excited to report that 12 years later, 3 out of the 4 of us still get a kick out of sharing wines and stories whenever we get the chance.

azwiese puts it best, things get busy but it's still nice that after a decade + I still talk with the same folks all across the country/world through just sharing wine.

though it'd be nice to get to visit more folks

I don't remember exactly when the Chicago Wine Mafia got together.  I do recall that my wife, like other spouses, was a bit hesitant about meeting strangers I only knew from online postings on the old (three generations ago) WS forums.  But, VM will remember, as he was there along with (if memory serves) R2D2, Grossie, Blue Oval, Scott McD, and maybe Otis?  It was a lot of fun and Mrs Haggis and I hosted many happy hours and "happy days" until we moved to Hawaii (thankfully, many CWM board members came to visit!).

Haggis,

That was in 2004 at Spago when the Ohio WS members came into town and we had a blind tasting challenge.

And as you mentioned, the Haggis Happy Hours ended in 2007 with this event:

Aloha Haggis- Cellar Diminishment Party | Wine Spectator Forums

VM

That Aloha offline was epic!