What future for Wine Future?
Thursday 10 November
Wine Future is over for another two years.
Did things improve after the car crash first day?
Well, it didn’t get any worse. And there were some interesting insights worthy of a news story from Prosecco estimating it will quintuple in size by 2035 to one billion bottles plus some revealing statistics: Wine Intelligence’s Lulie Halstead revealed social media was relevant to just 13% of regular wine drinkers in the UK but 62% in China. Food for thought
On the last afternoon, I did a tour of the conference, getting folks’ opinions. The main benefit of the conference? Networking. How often do you get Jancis Robinson, Robert Parker and co. in the same room? It was a great opportunity to reconnect with contacts and old friends and meet new ones.
I am also much more knowledgeable about the Asian markets thanks to Jeannie Cho Lee, sommelier Yang Lu from the Peninsula, Shanghai and Don St Pierre Jnr of ASC.
The conference finished with a final debate on the ‘future of wine’ with an illustrious panel. Yet it failed to deliver any excitement. The conference should have gone out with a bang with the high profile names on stage but instead ended with a fizzle, with many shuffling out before the conclusion.
If there is to be a future for Wine Future (and there’s plans for Brazil 2013), exhibitors and other delegates have to speak out about the issues they had, not just confide that they agreed with what I said in my blog in a private moment (although thanks for the support)!
I want more debate, smaller break off seminars and less time allowing the biggest players in the industry to tell us about their company. What do you want?
Rebecca, out of curiosity, what subjects/ workshops would you have liked to have seen at Wine Future?
- by Gabriella Opaz
There must be a way to harness the combined brain power of the assembled delegates, not just the speakers, to try and solve some of the key issues facing the industry through true debate and discussion.
It would be interesting to hear opinions from both the stage and the audience, given that in spite of the price tag, WF does still attract a diverse group with between them some excellent experiences.
- by Justin Liddle, Stokes Fine Wines
I’ll bite, Justin what do you see as the key issues that you would love a combined speaker/delegate discussion on?
- by Gabriella Opaz, Vrazon.com
Hi Gabriella,
I’d like to have seen something on the role of the western wine world in Asian markets. What place do we have in China, Japan, HK?
In addition I would have liked to have heard something about next generation social media - we all know about twitter and facebook but what do we need to be doing next.
And with ever increasing consolidation in the wine world, what does this mean for both the wine consumer and those within the trade?
Workshops would be a great way to have brainstorming sessions and get something worthwhile from the event.
- by Rebecca
Rebecca,
My question was is no way meant to go fishing, but I might suggest that to your point about social media, WF may not be the ideal location to seek said answers. I think the EWBC would be better suited to tackle your questions about the future of wine and the internet.
As to your first point, I’m curious if you’re trying to answer a cultural or philosophical question? What do mean by the term “place”? I would imagine the question could easily be asked of French wines in Argentina, or Spanish wine in Canada, no? Or am I missing the boat entirely?
- by Gabriella Opaz, Vrazon.com
Dear Rebecca,
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts with you during WF. We have learnt a lot about the event, the topics to be discussed and the way that panels should be managed. We gave questionnaires to 400 participants to know their opinion on the event and to make the necessary changes for the next edition.
By the way, a few points that I would like to clarify:
1. 1900 euros was the cost for the VIP Gold Tickets - the basic ticket was priced at 625 euros.
2. We dont know where the event will take place in 2013. Brazil, Shanghai, Singapore and the US are the names mentioned so far but nothing will be confirmed until spring 2012;
3. The speakers and the topics are chosen based exclusively on a market research. If a speaker is not in the line up is because he or she was not available (E.g. Oz Clarke) but mostly because their names were not mentioned in the market survey. For 2013 this survey will be conducted by a professional independent consultant.
4. Indeed, the cost of the event exceeded 1 million euros - just as an example, the cost of the venue and the A/V equipments exceeded 200.000 €, flights for 65 speakers, 90 hotel rooms, staff, food for 1000 people during 2,5 days, etc, etc.
We worked very hard, specially David Furer, with all the speakers trying to make sure they understood our goals. We tried to coach them on how to tackle the topics. However, on stage they can do whatever they want. For 2013 we have approached a professional agency that works with conferences and speakers, in order to drastically change the format.
Thanks for the feedback and we appreciate any suggestions that can help us improve.
Best,
- by Pancho Campo MW
Pancho Campo’s efforts, not to mention organisational reach are clearly commendable.
However, from the experience of 2009, La Rioja, an event I attended, perhaps what stood out most for me was the lack of awareness among trade professionals in Spain, the host country, which was total. Nor was there a great amount of curiosity, rather it was seen as what was marginal not those who didn’t attend!
I would argue that, beyond its high-profile nature, this is likely to be the case today with the national account manager or wine buyer anywhere. This, I believe, is due to the exclusive nature of the event – I am not talking ticket prices, which were prohibitive, but the way it is populated and communicated about.
If leadership is the aim of, or even if it is not, if it is to affect the future it will have to connect with the wine world, a world composed not just of the trade and brands but the everyday wine drinker and wine lover also.
- by James Swann, Ditton Wine Traders