Posted by: igsegma on: November 4 2011 • Categorized in: Tasting
What can we say about the tasting we had on Monday 24 th October?
What can be said about this tasting? That it was as good as the one we hadin July. We were a few less, but enough to make it just as succesful.
I want to thank Lola Núñez Pinto for leading the tasting in such a professional,educational and fun way. And thanks to utopic_US for spreading the event, and some of them for being present at the event also. To Santiago Valllado for the nice video he has made of the event, to MatiasBejas for the fantastic poster he designed. And of course to the wineries who participated with their fine wines.
Any comments about how to improve the event are welcome.
I hope to organize the next one soon. I count on you (my readers, attendees at previous tastings, broadcasters of events, those who wanted to come but for whatever reason you could not).
I always join the European Wine Bloggers Conference on the last minute I have the good fortune to get it. This is my third edition.
To meet wine lovers is an especial experience. These people have a lot in common, but maybe most important is their attitude to have fun in every event they assist.
When you are 20, you may not appreciate this characteristic what is worth. To laugh and have fun then is easy. But when you get older you become more demanding. Besides many things happen around you. These things that happen make you consider a somewhat different classification. On leisure the most important classification you do is wheter the people you meet are like living mummies to which nothing excites, and another group of those who get excited about little things, trying to have awakened the senses to realize that they are alive and also have a strong desire to live.
On the wine events except on rare occasions you find yourself almost exclusively with people who want to enjoy life and look at activities as a way to enjoy it. Enjoy life or the bad feeling is contagious. So there nothing like to meet with people who only intention is to ass his best and give it to the surroundings.
The European Wine Bloggers Conference is all that but much more. It is because it is an event that occurs once a year, because the places we visited are truly wonderful, because they meet the 250 people attending that are connected by Social Media, and with a hobby in common: they are completely mad on wine and its environment, to try new wines, for reading and writing about wine, wineries, meet old friends and make new ones and then keep in touch via Social Media and Internet. And much like the above who are willing to make thousands of miles, to meet like minded people. If it turns out that the organizers do a pretty good job, because they do it (Thank you Gabriella, Ryan, Robert), and if local partners, in this case the Italians in Franciacorta, do the best they can, the result can not be better.
I was delighted in Lisbon, I was delighted in Wien. And has come to pass in Brescia, Italy. We have spent 3 unforgettable days.
How to transmit all this in more graphic way?. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe with a couple of videos …
On the first you can see what I appreciated through the window of the plane on my trip to Milano. I was up at 3 in the morning, to catch the plane at 6. As you will understand I was knackered. But something was happening inside me as I was approaching to Brescia. I got asleep on the plane, but at a certain time I woke up and saw something that I guess you can see many times when you fly. But If you go to the EWBC your sensitivity is different. The plane seemed to not need wings because it seemed to float in cotton. Look at the video. Is this a good start no?
The first day we had a very long time (from 3 am on foot), with many interesting tastings and conferences. Then evening comes. On the program appears: Private Dinners at Secret Franciacorta Wineries. Uauuu!!!!!. This looked good. We went up to 4 buses each with a different destination. I happened by a Brazilian tasting teacher, with very lively conversation, but there was a time when, in the darkness of the bus, she and I, got asleep. (for the second time in a conveyance that day) I do not know how long it took. But I woke up, got off the bus like a zombie and I find this.
When you see the video you will see that it takes a bit to focus in the darkness of the night. This an effect I did not look for, but that accurately reflects how evolved my state, which was cleared in a few seconds to start listening to a story in the darkness of the night seemed a fairy tale.The owner of Il Mosnel Winery, talked to us (this was the winery we were visiting). She gave us the first details about the visit we were going to do. In few words she said we were in a winery that was founded in 1836, a family winery that strikes an important stretch in the 60s, and currently produces around 250.000 botttles.
The dinner was wonderful, with 9 winemakers of Franciacorta sitting each in echaof the tables. The dinner was prepared by the restaurant in Brescia, Due Colombe. They got out. His chef, Stefan Cerveni, at the end of the dinner, was so kind as to come to us and made a small speech, extremely emotional in English. As I had my Iphone at hand I recorded the finishing words of his speech. Thank you very much Stefano.
Posted by: igsegma on: October 19 2011 • Categorized in: Tasting
When: Monday October 24
Where: Utopic_US
The tastings we organize are quite special because of:1) The quality of those who lead the tastings
2) The quality of the wines presented3) The magical environment that surrounds the room Utópicus.4) The special atmosphere provided by the attendees.5) The way that afterwards we always go on to the Cava Baja.
On Monday October 24th at 19h30, in collaboration with Utopicus,Utopic_US we are organizing another tasting: “Taller Sensorial del vino 2. in C/ Concepción Jerónima 22. (Madrid)
On this occasion under the direction of Lola Núñez Pinto we will taste five red wines and one Rosé. Lola Núñez Pinto , is a famous wine taster with an excellent track record in the tasting of Spanish wines. We are expecting that about 60 people will attend.
Who is Lola Núñez Pinto Lola Núñez Pinto has an incredible curriculum vitae which reveals her to be probably one of the best active tasting directors in this country.
This event is similar to the previously highly successful tasting held on July 26, which was called “White Wine Sensory Wokshop”. We had space for 50 people – and 50 people came, despite the fact that in mid-July, half of Madrid are away on vacation.
If you enjoyed the previous tasting I highly recommend that you come to this next event. If you missed the previous one but have friends that attended, ask them what they thought!
The ticket price is € 15 per person with a € 3 discount if you buy through Ticketea. To purchase tickets via Ticketea, click here.
This is always what we are asked when we order a glass of red wine in a bar or restaurant. However, there are more than 60 Appellations of Origin in Spain! Most of which are a complete unknown to the average consumer. Yes, it is true that Ribera and Rioja, or in white wines , Rías Baixas and Rueda, are among the oldest Appellations and therefore have had more time to build a reputation and ensure that consumers see them as quality trademarks.
Yet, we cannot deny the evidence: quality wines exist not only in the Ribera del Duero and Rioja. We can drink great wines from the Tierra del Vino de Zamora, Valdeorras, Jumilla, utiel-Requena, Ribera Sacra, paid, and many others. Then, why is it impossible to find more wine-region references in the majority of bars and restaurants? The answer is clear, consumers prefer to be safe in the decisions, they are afraid of risk, and first and foremost, There is a profound ignorance of the wealth that Spain has in variety of wines.
Appellations of Origin refer to wines from a specific geographical area. The vine is particularly susceptible to be differentiated in various areas, since the different conditions of soil, climate, orography, practices from both, the wine grower and manufacturers of wine, or indeed, landraces in the different regions. All these factors make possible that we get completely different wines, particularly concerning its organoleptic properties and structure. This is why make Spain is one of the richest countries, in wine terms, of the world.
In conclusion, the question we must ask to ourselves is whether the “not well-known” Appellations of Origin are doing what is necessary to ensure that this situation changes. What is clear is that “the big four” Appellations in Spain are taking the steps to stay on top and not to lose market share with huge advertising campaigns. Others, such as Toro, Vinos de Madrid, or Priorat have made some improvements towards the right direction and little by little are achieving a quality trademark. But given the existing resources today, with social networks and the internet in general, this lack of performance of the least known cannot be explained. Regulator Councils have the means to reach a large audience in a click and at a lower cost than a few years ago. They may not waste more time without having access to the part of the cake that they legitimately should own. This is going to be a great challenge but the benefits for them will be huge, given the great effort made by winemakers and wineries in the last years to achieve an exceptional quality.
“In Spain, less than 2% of our wine sales are online. Compare that to France which already sells 5% online and The USA is already at 9% and likely to reach 11% or 12% in the next year. And, what happens in the US, sooner or later happens here!
“With these growth expectations, many companies are beginning to sell online – and not only pure web-players but also some of the traditional wine shops and conventional wholesalers. Even a few wineries have started and this movement is already beginning to change the rules.
“However, I am sorry to say that this will not offer the solution to the crisis, but it does create a new opportunity and as importantly creates visibility and brand awareness, in addition to revenue.”
Nico continued the discussion around the customers. “The internet wine buyer is different as they are influenced by non-traditional information and settings. First he searches in Google to gather some initial ideas. Then he makes a buying decision based on information from people he trusts. This is very different to making a decision based on advertising, brochures and comments from very well known experts from the past.
“This works in two ways. Now the internet enables wineries access to a much broader customer group than before. In Uvinum we encourage visitors to express their own sensations when they taste certain wines in their own words. That is not the same as telling them what they should experience based on the palate, culture and language of expert wine tasters – which only represents 2% of consumers. Access to this other 98% allows a winery to spread their own story, uniqueness and personality – and this is the essence of wine marketing.
“The wineries have a story to tell to differentiate themselves from their competitors and the internet is the perfect medium for doing this.
“When a wine buyer goes to a supermarket, he can find about 1200 different wines. The consumer can be overwhelmed by this variety. With the help of Uvinum he has the opportunity to access advice from experts and not-so-experts and can be encouraged to try new brands. Whether or not you are an expert, you are invited to leave your comments. Uvinum can also offer recommendations of wines chosen by visitors with similar characteristics .
“Within this new world, the activity of the wineries certainly expands and becomes more complex. But at the same time, the winery then gains the opportunity to interact with the end consumer and take greater control over the sale of his product.
“These new rules allow smaller wineries to compete with the large players without following the same path as them There is no doubt that marketing budget invested in the internet potentially has far greater payback than in the more traditional media.”
These are the comments that nico Bour made to me in the interview. but I guess is better to hear Nico Bour from their own words. (if you understand Spanish. The interview is in Spanish)
