Winefuture limps into action
Thursday 12 November
Winefuture should’ve started with a bang – it was more like a wet weekend.
I can’t say it’s been that enlightening. There haven’t been many new and interesting things said to be honest with you. I am covering the event for a number of magazines and boy oh boy has it been hard to find anything really newsworthy.
Plenty of speakers have had their chance to unabashedly promote their company – Xavier Pages, CEO at Codorniu told us about his grandfather and the history of the company for the first ten minutes before he actually got to something interesting. And while I like Stephen Spurrier his speech on the future of wine writing was a Decanter advertorial. The twitterati at the event had a field day. The magazine should’ve sent a real journalist like Adam Lechmere or Guy Woodward (editors) who could’ve made a real contribution to the debate.
I sloped off before the “How to improve sales and consumption through fairs and competitions” but from all the tweets, it seems that I didn’t miss much. Rob McIntosh of wineconversation.com tweeted from the event: “BREAKING NEWS: Mel Dick announces a wine event in Florida experienced great weather”
If I had been paying for the ticket, I might be feeling robbed by now if it weren’t for Ryan Opaz of Catavino and Gary Vaynerchuk livening the day up
Nevertheless I’ve met a lot of old and new faces, which is great, and I’m ever the optimist for a better day tomorrow.
Quotes of the day
“People are obsessed with wine scores…scores have become involuntary sellers of wine or a defence tribunal for consumers” - Jose Penin, founder of Penin guides
I don’t give a crap about about facebook and twitter but I care about consumers. “You should be embarrassed if you don’t recognised that this platform allows you to talk to them.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
“Bordeaux Grands Crus are the Champs Elysee of Bordeaux but also the Silicon Valley”- Matthieu Chardronier, CEO CVBG Dourthe
Great resume Rebecca. In an event like this, where a lot of speakers came to “unabashedly promote their company”, presenters should in fact be asking questions and trying to understand what their peers think of them.
Talks by Ryan and Gary were in fact an eye opener for most of the audience. Connecting with consumers (by listening first) is what most people should have been doing a long time ago!
- by Andre Ribeirinho, www.adegga.com
“I don’t give a crap about about facebook and twitter but I care about consumers. “You should be embarrassed if you don’t recognised that this platform allows you to talk to them.” – Gary Vaynerchuk”
Amusing. GV has 850 000 twitter followers and how many on FaceBook I don’t know.
He talks TO them but hardly WITH them. How much “dialogue” can you have with a million people?
Is ‘not giving a crap’ about the underpinnings of your business credible? Or do I misunderstand it?
- by Per