As a global community, we are going through a time of unprecedented change and disruption. Together, we will get through it! For many of us in the wine industry, we’re having to adapt not only to a new routine of working from home but also having to deal with the uncertainty of the future. Our next Wine Pleasures event is looking to help wine importers connect with boutique wine producers when travel is virtually impossible.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve discovered that virtual events aren’t a “nice-to-have” anymore, they’re a must-have.

Respected wine event organsier Wine Events Worldwide under their brand Wine Pleauares is, on the 26 – 28 May going to lauch the first edition of Italian WINE Week – an online trade fair to give wine producers the chance to pitch their wineries and wines to wine buyers from around the globe. Event host Anthony Swift explaiins how it is going to work.

Tell us about Italian WINE Week.

As we organise B2B Workshops in Spain, Italy and the UK it made sense in these challenging times to look at how to keep wine producers and wine buyers connected and doing business while simultaneously providing educational content to help the wine importer with their businesses. Having just completed Spanish WINE Week, organising the Italian WINE week was a obvious next step.

Delivered in English, the Italain WINE Week 3 day education programme offers cutting edge professional education opportunities for the wine buying professionals at all levels. Attendees can take advantage of influential, expert led sessions and enhance their knowledge, grow their business and in their profession and be inspired in these challenging times! It also contains Live interviews with boutique wine producers to enable wine buyers to discover the surprising terroirs & Wines of Italy. Each producer will have a profile page where buyers can request a B2B online meeting.

That seems like a good blend of  tools to help both producers and buyers in what is a difficult time. How did Spanish WINE Week go?

Apart from a few techincal hitches it went very well. We had Master of Wine Fernado Mora as one of the keynote speakers and we had a good range of boutique wine producers from around Spain. The event was attended by wine importers and distributors from Japan to the USA and from Scandinavian countries to Australia.

So how will Italian WINE Week work? 

Much the same as Spansih WINE Week but with a greater attendance of wine importers – we are expecting betweeen 500 and 1000 buyers to sign up for the event on 26 – 28 May 2020.

5 live daily session will be run with a program that includes  talks delivered by expert speakers, interviews with producers, and some videos of different regions of Italy.  We’re also providing a tool to set up private meetings between producers and buyers to create new business opportunities.

Wine producers interested in participating in the programme should register here:  https://www.winepleasures.com/workshop/italian-wine-week/

What happens if a buyer signs up but misses a live session?

No problem. If an attendee misses any or all of the live sessions he or she will be able to view a replay whenever convenient. 

How do buyers get involved if they want to participate?

The event is free for wine buyers, distributors, retailers, agents, journalists and bloggers. Wine importers can sign up for free here: https://www.winepleasures.com/workshop/buyers/

If you would like to find out any more about Italian WINE Week then contact Caterina Longhi on caterina@winepleasures.com or T. +39 347 6785162