Winefuture-Rioja 09 will gather together a cast of wine world luminaries to discuss the challenges facing it and – who knows? – possible 'solutions, ideas and leadership'. Other speakers include Gary Vaynerchuk, Mel Dick of the ominpotent US distribution Southern Wines & Spirits, his counterparts in the UK Dan Jago of Tesco and Troy Christensen of Constellation Europe, Miguel Torres, Oz Clarke, Steven Spurrier, and me.
Here's what the organisers are hoping for:
500 delegates
350 attendees at Robert Parker´s tasting
100 wineries to be represented with tasting tables in the trade show area
More than 40 nationalities
Over 50 journalists from more than 30 countries
Profile of the attendees:
Winery personnel
Masters of Wine
Wine authorities
Winemakers
Off trade professionals
Importers
Distributors
Wine buyers
Journalists and other media
Sommeliers
The cost of tickets to this event, if booked before August, are a robust €667, or €899 to include a ticket to Parker's tasting and a special dinner. But purple pagers are being offered a 20% discount on these prices. Click here to see how to claim this.
Coincidentally, the impresario of the Grand Jury Européen, François Mauss, is organising something remarkably similar earlier that same month at the Villa d'Este on Lake Como. For details of the invitation-only World Wine Symposium, see here.
