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Wine Dinners
For hotel restaurants around the world and for Bordeaux chateaux, I
propose business-to-business marketing through “winemaker dinners.” My
connections in Bordeaux run deep, thanks so far to 10 years of constant
visits to Bordeaux, averaging twice per year. Since 2004, I have been
organizing winemaker dinners and tastings for top hotel restaurants
worldwide, from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts to Berlin, Germany. The
synergies created between wineries and venues not only attract hotel
clientele and lend prestige to hotel restaurants, they also give
wineries direct access to their respective markets. How it works: the
chateau owner or winemaker travels at his or her expense to the venue
and sends bottles free of charge to be tasted at the hotel. In return,
the hotel provides an elaborate four- to five-course dinner with all
service included, prepared around the vintages to be tasted, following
close consultation between the hotel restaurant chef and the winery
representative. The hotel also provides free room and board for the
chateau representative. My role is to coordinate and help provide press
relations services for the event and accompany the winemaker and – if
needed – translate brief remarks made during the dinner (into English
or German). I work with the hotel to find a local journalist or two who
would be invited to the dinner. Upon request, I can help locate a local
merchant who sells the wine. Based on previous tastings, I know that
participants enjoy the dinner tastings because I have “regulars” who
attend them, particularly in Germany. Featured are elaborate four- or
five-course dinners with several vintages of a specific, celebrated
wine – what in wine parlance is called a “vertical,” which lends
participants memorable and hopefully flavorful insight on how a
particular famous wine evolves over time.
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