Georges Janssens, son of Robert Mondavi winemaker Genevieve Janssens, and Anja Cheriakova, Dutch but originally from Belarus, have just set off round the world on their World Wine Tour 2010, hoping to collect bottles of wine for a charity auction and learn and disseminate something about wines off the beaten track as they go. You can follow their progress at www.worldwinetour2010.com. They aim to raise $150,000 for www.laofoundation.com, the Laotian project with which Genevieve has been involved for some years.
When they first contacted me, I put them in touch with Christophe Derouet and Delphine Moussay-Derouet, who undertook a very similar mission and whose Despatch from the top of the wine world was published here in 2005 (in the days when I was even less skilled at inserting images into my articles).
This week they are in Moscow participating in a Crimean wine event. Later in the month they plan to make their first winery visits around Beijing in China and will then proceed to Australia via South Africa, thence to North America, South America and then Europe, according to this delightfully vague itinerary:
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Eurasia: Asia: Africa: Oceania: North America: South America: Europe: | January 2010 February 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 September 2010 November 2010 |
They are still looking for ideas and sponsors and you can contact them at anja.cheriakova@worldwinetour2010.com or georges.janssens@worldwinetour2010.com