The wine world is descending on Rioja this week for Winefuture, a conference asking: what are the major challenges and opportunities facing the wine industry in 2009?
Big names including Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson MW and Constellation’s Troy Christensen will be speaking at the event so I’m heading along with more than 900 others to see what they have to say.
The technical director of Winefuture, Kevin Zraly, said: “Not many events in this industry focus on global sales and marketing of wine. Moreover, not only the event will bring together the most important wine industry professionals but also the most prestigious wine writers in the world.â€
Does that “prestigious wine writers” bit include me Kevin?! I don’t think so. There was a bit of confusion over my press accreditation yesterday. The organisers couldn’t find any trace of me despite sending confirmation of my place by email back in July. Luckily I still had the official email and the conference has happily found me again. Confusion caused by a changeover of staff, they said. I will wait to see if I get a name badge or I’ll have to make my own. Perhaps I should take some card, a felt tip and a safety pin to Rioja with me, just in case.
