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Wine Future Rioja ’09 kicks off in style
A busy first day at Wine Future Rioja ’09 saw some strong presentations from the diverse panels which covered off everything from the current economic climate to the future of the internet and it’s rise in importance for the wine trade.
No doubt the stars of the morning were the presentations from Tim Hanni MW and Gary Vayernerchuck.
Hanni started his presenatation on the premise, which he admitted was a generalisation, that the wine trade has no idea about what really drives the consumer.
His premise that the wine trade is losing not only consumers but money due to ignoring those consumers, often regarded by the traditional wine snob, who prefer a sweeter style of wine, was fascinating.
The rock star slot most definitely went to Guy Vaynerchuck. Evangelistic in his approach to the way wine consumers interact with wine, he had heads shaking amongst some of the audience.
"This is the biggest revolution for journalism since the printing press," stated Vaynerchuck, "this is the first time that the brand owner and the producer has the true ability to connect with the consumer."
His almost berating style he believes that we are moving towards a "thank you" economy where service and caring about the consumer will be paramount, where we can return to the former values via the internet. no doubt you can read more about it in his best selling book "Crush".
Charlotte Hey, 13.11.2009