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 The objective of the meetings is to get the genuine wine buyers from across the globe together in a city in Europe where around 50 producers of quality wine meet buyers who have the opportunity of tasting wines and interacting with the sellers and conducting business in a peaceful and serene atmosphere. The buyers are under no obligation to buy but are expected to have a minimum of 12 such meetings fixed beforehand and are expected to remain present during the whole programme. There are nominal registration charges of €30-195 but normally one should consider the upper limit as it includes the 4-night stay and winery visits.
Anthony Swift, Managing Director of the company says that this is an efficient marketing event which enables both wine buyers (importers, distributors, agents, retailers & the On-trade) and wineries to make business relationships in a one-stop, low cost event. For instance during the programme in Spain next February, the buyers will be able to meet the boutique producers from France, Spain and Portugal. They will have a personalised schedule of one-to-one appointments with boutique wine producers from differing terroirs in these three countries. They can also extend the stay and participate in a winery visit programme to the varying terroirs of Catalonia.
‘Yes, winery tours are also a part of the visits to this programme’, says Swift. ‘Wine Pleasures opens winery doors that are normally closed to public, introduce you to the winery owners and/or winemakers and generally ensure you see, smell and taste what you want. And if you are not sure what that is, we will advise tours for the absolute beginner to the crustiest Gran Reserva collector,' he says.
Wine Pleasures offers fabulous lunches and dinners where you can try wines at the Workshop with different types of dishes. They also take care of the hotel accommodation for 2 nights-4 in the case of the buyers attending the winery visit programme, and sponsor meals throughout the event as listed in the event programme. The Workshop will be held in the delightful Barcelona Golf Resort & Spa, a four star hotel located amongst the rolling hills and picture-perfect scenery of the Penedès wine region located in the Province of Barcelona.
The Buyer is responsible for all travel arrangements and costs incurred but will be reimbursed flight costs upon presentation of an invoice once the event has finished. The maximum amounts payable are as follows: Canada, USA, Central & South America: up to 450 Euros; Asia, Australia & NZ: up to 550 Euros; Europe: up to 180 Euros. However, the Buyer must buy his own ticket and pay for the Schengen visa, if required, for Spain.
 The Buyer must also be fully present throughout the duration of the workshop and is not allowed to take part in non-Wine Pleasures functions which would preclude their attendance at the published and scheduled Wine Pleasures activities. The Buyer shall also not participate in winery visits or FAM trips on February 3-5 sponsored and supported by companies and organisations not actively participating in the Wine Pleasures event. About 30 wineries have already signed up. The number is expected to go up to around 50, says Anthony. The latest list of wineries who have signed up is available at
http://www.winepleasures.com/
At the event that concludes today near Rome in Italy, there are about 35 wineries from Italy and the balance from Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece and as far east as Georgia, the cradle of wine. Starting from this year there has been the introduction of Wines with more than 90 points – each winery participating in the Workshop will have at least one 90+ point wine to showcase at the Workshop and include in the tasting on day 1 of the event. This is expected to be a normal practice in future programmes such as the one in Barcelona. The company is in the 14th year of operating this event and continues to improve its footprint.
The event offers an excellent opportunity for the genuine importers who are interested in adding French, Spanish and Portuguese wines to their portfolio and who would like to visit the Catalonia wineries too. The costs work out to be very nominal. Neither delWine nor Indian Wine Academy are involved directly or indirectly and the report is only to bring like -minded people together. Please contact Anthony Swift directly without any copy to us at info@winepleasures.com . As a courtesy, you may want to mention to them in passing that you read it in delWine. We may be contacted by the organisers to check up the antecedents of applicants on a complimentary basis.
Cheers, or in our parlance, Jai Ho!
Subhash Arora |