New World unites for tasting of ‘beautiful south’

The generic bodies for Argentina, Chile and South Africa will come together for a collaborative tasting in autumn 2013.

The event will be held on 11 and 12 September in what will then be the newly refurbished Olympia 2 in London.

In a move described by Wines of Chile’s director, Michael Cox, as “breaking the mould”, the three bodies have declared that with a combined event, “they can create an event which has greater relevance to the UK and international trade, meets the needs of importers and producers and is also cost effective.”

Dubbed “The Beautiful South” tasting, the event will exhibit wines by winery with the exception of some shown by their UK importers, which will be grouped together.

Each country will be showing wines “seeking representation” and there will be cross-country seminars and tastings.

UK marketing manger for Wines of South Africa, Jo Wehring, said: “This is a confident move by three wine-producing nations that are not afraid to stand together to meet the needs of the international trade. We are excited about the calibre of visitors we will attract by coming together and working in a way that is dynamic but has a solid strategy.”

Wines of Argentina’s European director, Andrew Maidment, added that the event was the result of hearing years of talk about a different approach to tastings.

“We aim to be fresher, more exciting and also to provide an event which makes the best use of time for all involved,” he said.

This is no the first time that these three New World countries have united for a tasting, as they have run shared events at ProWein for several years now.