Daily Dollop of Wallop #57
Well that's London Wine Fair done for another year. Granted, I only attended on the Monday and Tuesday, but still, I came, I saw and I left. At this point, I would love to know what you thought of it. Context being on the purpose of your visit; if it was just to meet some producers and have some meetings, then I guess it was just a batch of meetings that 'happened' to be situated at the London Wine Fair. For those that went purely to look, smell, taste, seek and discover then you may well have had the most amazing of experiences. If, like me, you attended for both of the above then I wonder how it went for you?
For me, it was spot on for meeting up with colleagues in the trade. A chance to chew the fat, talk about change, innovation, education and all that jazz. I tried a few new bits and pieces which was an eye opening experience. Particularly the wines from Japan, Greece and Ukraine. It is always a hot ticket (not literally) to go and see the peeps on WineGB as you know full well you are going to taste some naughty bits of kit and meet the most amazingly passionate people. I wasn't disappointed there. However, what I found the most interesting was the quality and mix of seminars, talks, panel debates and masterclasses. This is an area where I think, as a trade we have not been anywhere near where we should be. The Harpers 30 under 30 was brilliant to see, for example. The emergence of new talent is clear to see and bodes well for future ideas and plans.
My big question though is if there is room to make the London Wine Fair a blended experience of both consumer and trade? A week long event perhaps that caters for the trade and then a 2 day 'experience led' period where it is ticketed (opportunity for stands/venue to make some money back) and also the opportunity for consumers to taste what the trade has already tasted - thus the market research and testing is being done for them, directly after the trade show. Food for thought and something I believe, with the right brains could be a bit of a game changer.
Leverage your beverage.
I find homes for wines from Central and Eastern Europe | Wine Consultant | MBA | DipWSET Candidate 🍷
1yThank you so much! I’m always so excited to watch people discover new wines and simply having fun while doing it 😊