Upcoming Spirit and Wine Events and Tasting Competitions

We get asked for recommendations on which competitions and industry events our off-shore clients should participate in and attend, so I've compiled a list with some of the key dates and links. These are posted roughly in order of their deadlines or event dates.

-NY Wine Expo: Feb. 26-28 at the Jacob Javitz center (I'll be there)

-South Beach Wine and Food Festival Event Feb. 25-28, 2010

-San Francisco Wine and Spirits Competition
Event Mar 13-14. Deadline for entries Feb. 19

-Ultimate Spirit Challenge (judging takes place March 1-3 in NY, and Ultimate Cocktail Challenge (judging takes place April 12-14 at Astor Center in NY but entry deadline is Feb. 15. These are two new events which split from the SFWSC. They represent a new concept in spirit review methodologies and also a new contest specifically dedicated not just to spirits but the cocktails that are made with them.

-BTI Eastern European wines deadline March 25.

-Wine and Spirits Wholesaler Assn. WSWA takes place April 6-8 in Las Vegas Nevada. This used to be an "old boy networking" event but has evolved in the last few years to be more egalitarian. The exhibit floor used to be a minor adjuinct but now has become much more significant. It's not the answer for exporters looking to find importers in the U.S., but it's a good start.

-Winery and Wine Distribution Law: April 29,30, Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua, NY. This is the third of these beverage alcohol law seminars hosted by Nixon Peabody that I've spoken at. They attract a stellar list of attendees and speakers including Craig Wolf of WSWA, a senior staffer at TTB, Ted Jansen of Inertia Beverage, Bill Tomaszewski of Wine.com, Jason Eckenroth of Ship Compliant, and hosts Vince O'Brien of NP and Ron Fondiller General Counsel for Constellation Brands. A lot of what will be presented at this event will focus on the issues surrounding direct shipping.

-Manhattan Cocktail Classic: Takes place May 14-18 New York. This is also a new event backed by some major names in the US spirit business including Dale DeGroff, Simon Ford, Doug Frost, Allen Katz, Steven Olson, Paul Pacult, Sasha Petraske, Gary Regan, Julie Reiner, Audrey Saunders, Andy Seymour, Charlotte Voisey and the man with the Civil War-era beard David Wondrich. They had a “test” launch of the event in the fall that was well represented by spirits suppliers and the may event is eagerly awaited by the cocktail community.

-Ultimate Wine Challenge Deadline for entries May 25, Event June 7-11, New York

-Aspen Food and Wine Classic This event is an interesting blend of consumer and trade participants, but you have to be an advertiser in Food and Wine Magazine to be an exhibitor. Aspen, CO, June 18-10, 2010.

-US Wine Bloggers Conference June 25-27, Walla Walla WA. I'll be there this year, but was unable to attend the first two. I heard some very good things about the USWBC as well as its European Counterpart.

-Fancy Food Show Event dates for NY: June 27-29, 2010 and San Francisco, Jan 2011


-Tales of the Cocktail: Tales is the Grand-daddy of cocktail events and the one that defined and democratized spirits well before social media became cool. Unfortunately I've not been invited to speak this year (but I'm available!) and will be joined by my daughter Lindsay who's now a very successful Brand Ambassador for Mekhong, The spirit of Thailand working the Meatpacking district in New York for them.

-BTI World Value Wine Review for wines under $20 deadline is Aug. 6.

-US Drinks Conference Oct. 12/13, 2010 in NY. (Full transparency...we are the organizers of the USDC) This will be the fourth year of the conference and last year we attracted 160+ delegates from 11 countries...we're hoping for 250 next year, so please pass this on.

-European Wine Bloggers Conference Vienna Austria, Oct. 22-24 (and sponsored by our client the Austrian Wine Marketing Board! Thanks to Susanne Staggl and Willi Klinger for hosting the event.!) I plan to be there and look forward to meeting my blogger friends from Europe.

-NY Wine Experience (M.Shanken Publications)
NY: Oct. 28-30, 2010

-Miami International Wine Fair
Oct. 16-20, 2010

-BTI Wine Packaging Competition (takes place Dec. 29, 2010)

-BTI Spirits packaging contest takes place Dec. 30, 2010

-Boston Wine Expo Jan. 2011, Boston, MA

-BTI Spirit review schedule covers all categories which have various deadlines throughout the year.

-BTI Wine review schedule runs throughout the year for various regions, countries and wine types Sphere: Related Content

Vino 2009

I had the honor of speaking on a panel discussion at last week's Vino 2009 event in New York on "Vintners' Access to the American Wine Market." (That's me hiding behind Lynn Walding.) Not surprisingly, the issue of direct-to-consumer shipments was the key point of debate. As we all know, distributor consolidation has exacerbated the situation further leaving few options for smaller producers, many of whom were among the 250+ exhibiting at Italian Trade Commission-sponsored event.

Tom Wark of SWRA (Specialty Wine Retailers Association) eloquently voiced his mantra that there ought to be a level playing field for consumers, as well as suppliers, distributors and retailers. The U.S. may be on the brink of becoming the largest wine market in the world, but the reality is that consumers in many states don't have access to more than a fraction of the wines currently imported into the U.S. because of the three-tier system. His point of view was countered by Jim Rowland of WSWA who reinforced the reasons why the current 3-tier system works. Lynn Walding who leads the Iowa State Alc. Bev. division gave what to me was the most compelling argument as to why the system is unlikely to change...money. The system may be archaic, dating back 75 years to repeal, but the grandfathered entities...Control States and distributors.. are powerful forces with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. John Beaudette of MHW addressed the complicated registration process suppliers need to be familiar with to even get samples into the country.

One solution I've been a proponent of is e-commerce which is a way producers who can't get on the physical shelf, can at least get on the virtual shelf of many retail stores that have e-comm sites. And in spite of a couple of state law changes in MA, IL and KY to the contrary, I think it's a solution that ultimately may undermine the three tier system itself.

So stay tuned...with Amazon.com's wine initiative coming down the pike, the argument is definitely going to heat up. Sphere: Related Content

“This Guy Told Me He’s Best Friends with Harvey Chaplin and he can get me…”

Many of the newbie foreign suppliers we saw at WSWA seem to sing this same song to us on our first meeting. They’ve met some random guy trying to sell them on the guys’ relationship with Harvey Chaplin (or John Magliocco or Vern Underwood or…) He promises to not only get a meeting, but imply that it means Southern is not only going to take on the brand, but also focus the entire 30 state operation on developing the brand for you, (even though it might be a direct competitor to the bread and butter brands from the big boys).

Well, in spite of the WSWA’s public rhetoric to the contrary, distributors do not build brands; it’s the suppliers’ responsibility to do that. And the only sure way I know to get the attention of one of the major distributors is do something Marty Wolinsky and Dave Eickholt used to pound into my head: Focus, Focus, Focus. And in today’s Bev Alc industry, that means: start small and targeted, concentrate your investment and energy in a few markets, and build sustainable, repeatable, noticeable and measurable success founded on retailer support and consumer pull. THEN you can go to a distributor and present a fully integrated support program that’s scaleable. The key is to demonstrate that you have done it, not that you’re going to do it. Sphere: Related Content

WSWA observations: Don't Paint the States

I guess we owe an acknowledgement (or perhaps an apology) to Ron Lepow of Glazer’s. He used the metaphor of offshore suppliers thinking they can just “paint the states” at the US Drinks Conference in London last year, and evidently it really struck a chord…so much so that he told me he keeps hearing it come back to him third and fourth hand. By Don’t Paint the States he means don’t look at the US Bev Alc market as one market; it is really 51 different markets (don’t forget Montgomery County). One strategy will not fit all but it is a pretty good recipe for failure.

New suppliers trying to get in to the U.S. market need to recognize it’s far different than the EU. In fact our friends from the former Soviet Union countries tell us the US market is more complicated to navigate than the Communist bureaucracy, but they could at least manage their way through it with “gifts”. Sphere: Related Content