LIWF/Distil Day 2

I was the only one working our booth so had limited time to explore the two shows. The wine side was huge with a diversity of places, varietals, styles and types that , well honestly, surprised me that I was surprised. Coupling my lack of familiarity with the European market with Europeans’ lack of familiarity with the U.S. market gave me a new perspective on what we’re doing with the U.S. Drinks Conference…clearly there’s a need there, and I believe it’s much larger on the wine side than we initially thought.

I did a brief interview with Charlotte Hey,Managing Editor and Publisher of The Drinks Business' DBTV, so check out www.thedrinksbusiness.com for that clip next week.

I eschewed more formal dinner options in favor of taking in a production of the Midsummer Night’s Dream at the New Globe Theatre…a recreation of Shakespeare’s original theatre in Southwark…theater in the round, groundlings and all that. It was a magical experience. Sphere: Related Content

London International Wine Fair and Distil

(l to r: Cyril Necker, Steve Raye, Eugen Schwartz)
This was my first experience at the LIWF, and also the first time they’ve separated the spirits booths from the wine show into a separate hall. Overall, I’d give it a positive review. While traffic is significantly less on the Distil side, the consensus among exhibitors I spoke to was that the quality and focus of the attendees is pretty high. So, less traffic, but more valuable leads.



I’ve seen a number of clients and friends including Cyril Necker of byNecker---Girl liqueur; Eugen Schwarz from Oval Vodka; Dale Sklar of Wine and Spirit International. with Hapsburg Absinthe and the European HQ of MHW and the U.S. Drinks Conference in London; George Rowley of La Fee Absinthe; Emmanuel Solinsky, Nancy Little and Veronica Lamb of Walders Liqueur fame, Marc Charles of DBI and James Steiner of Cutty Sark. I also met with David Rose of The Drinks Business and Chris Boaz of Just-Drinks, both of whom are sponsoring the U.S. Drinks Conference. And surprisingly had literall run into Dave DeBoer on the street at Canary Wharf on Monday. Dave and I worked together at Heublein, and had a chance to catch up. He left Conn. for the vineyards of California, and has been heading up international sales at Delicato Vineyards since. Sphere: Related Content