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IN THE OPINION OF EXPERTS AND CRITICS: WINEFUTURE WAS A ROARING SUCCESS
2009-11-30 09:53:50
27th & 28Th OCTOBER, 2011: THE PROVISIONAL DATE FOR THE NEXT WINEFUTURE CONFERENCE
Experts such as Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson, Rafael Ansón and José Peñín all agree that Winefuture- Rioja’09 has shown “a before and after” in the wine industry.
Spain, 30th November 2009 –. Two weeks after Winefuture – Rioja ’09, the experts and attendees of the congress are now beginning to reflect on the importance of Winefuture to the wine sector, as well as understand the wide range of ideas generated by the industry that it believes are fundamental challenges. Challenges such as consumption and sales and the problems caused by the global recession, globalization of markets and using education as a way of drawing in new customers, as well as communication and the interaction with consumers.
The Wine Academy of Spain, the organizing team behind Winefuture already has its sights set on future events: the third edition of the Climate Change and Wine conference, featuring Kofi Annan, will take place in November 2010, with the next Winefuture coming in October 2011.
“People will be able to see a before and after thanks to Winefuture”, explains the renowned wine critic Robert Parker. Kevin Zraly, Technical Director of Winefuture – Rioja ’09 adds his view by saying that this event was “the best wine conference in which he had taken part in his 35 years in the profession”. Jancis Robinson, MW, also agrees and has said that “Winefuture has been the best event that I have ever been to”.
For Rafael Ansón, President of the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy, “Winefuture has been the most important event held in Spain regarding the world of wine. Spanish gastronomy must be grateful to Pancho Campo, coordinator of the event, and his organisation for being able to bring to Rioja the most important names in the world of wine, amongst whom, the elusive Robert Parker”. Many of the speakers are on a similar vein with regards to the conclusions presented by Winefuture, as is José Peñín, one of the most influential people in the Spanish wine industry: “I agree with the comments made by Parker, Robinson and others that I have heard. I have been to many conferences where much is said and little is done, but this has not been true of this event”.
At the local level, the President of the CRDO La Rioja, Victor Pascual, showed his satisfaction with the conclusions of Winefuture, and has in the last few days added that “the ideas put forward by the experts will help the wine sector of La Rioja to make new decisions with regards to the new opportunities in the markets, given that we have a sector that is perfectly aligned, and with a proven track record of making these types of decisions with the speed demanded by the circumstances”.
Winefuture-Roja’09, which took place on the 13th and 14th of November in Logroño, brought together for the first time the most influential experts in the wine industry, and gave them a forum in which to conduct an exhaustive and complete analysis of the current sector, as well as predict the trends that will appear in the next few years. More than 1000 people from forty countries came together in Riojaforum during the two days of the conference, which received excellent media coverage from over one hundred journalists, who gave accounts of everything that went on in the Auditorium, the exhibition hall, and above all, the Grand Tasting conducted by Robert Parker, in which 530 people took part. Next to the quantity of personalities present, the quality of the participants also shines out, with ticket holders coming from all areas from the trade: wine makers, distributors, sommeliers, representatives of the On Trade, importers and buyers, among many more.
Robert Parker, with the Vincente Ferrer Foundation
The man considered by many to be one of the most influential wine critics in the world had a private meeting with representatives from the Vincente Ferrer Foundation during his stay in Rioja to make a donation to the foundation. In this way, Parker wanted to help out with the work that the Vincente Ferrer Doundation has been doing in India over the last 40 years.