Liz Palmer elected to the board of Federation Internationale des Journalistes et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux (FIJEV)

I’m soooo excited! I’ve just been elected to the board of Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux (FIJEV) at a meeting held today at Vinexpo – Bordeaux!

About FIJEV
The International Federation of Wine and Spirit Journalist and Writers/Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Écrivains des Vins et Spiritueux (FIJEV) is a French non-profit association created in 1987 and is based in Paris. Its goal is to promote contacts between wine journalists and writers all over the world and to defend their profession. Beyond providing an international press card, aims at helping its members to establish contacts to editors, newspapers, and magazines in other countries; assure the recognition of its members by the producers, publishers, public relations’ organisations and all members of the trade; create contacts between organisations of the wine and spirit business organising press presentation (events, tours) and its journalist members; defend its journalist members and the freedom of the press; respect of a common code of ethics.

Who
FIJEV has more than 400 members in 60 countries.

Liz Palmer

Wine Origins Alliance Welcomes Missouri Wine & Grape Board (US) and Yamanashi Wineries Association (Japan)

The Wine Origins Alliance announced March 17th that the Missouri Wine & Grape Board (United States) and Yamanashi Wineries Association (Japan) joined their global efforts to protect wine place names. The Alliance now includes 25 members representing wine regions in 10 countries spanning North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. It welcomed its newest members at a meeting during the ProWein trade fair, where members discussed ways to continue to push governments to recognize the distinctiveness and value of wine regions to the global economy and the need to legally protect the names of these regions.

“As the home of the oldest American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the United States, Missouri has long known that unique places produce unique wines,” said Jim Anderson, executive director of the Missouri Wine & Grape Board. “We are proud to join alongside our colleagues from around the United States and indeed the world in the important fight to ensure that all wine region names are protected and not abused. We look forward to championing our efforts with our Missouri representatives and those in Washington.”

In early 2018, the Wine Origins Alliance released a consumer survey that found that 94 percent of American wine drinkers support laws that would protect consumers from misleading wine labels. The survey, conducted by GBA Strategies from February 6-13, 2018, interviewed 800 American wine drinkers. The group also released a short film featuring winemakers explaining how the complete environment of a wine region’s location makes their wines unique.

“Yamanashi is the first recognized geographical indication by the Japanese government. Since 1874, we have produced great wines that cannot be reproduced anywhere else in the world,” said Shigekazu Misawa, Vice Chairman of the Yamanashi Wineries Association. “Yamanashi stands with its global partners to send a clear message that when it comes to wine, location matters. We look forward to telling our story beyond the Japanese borders and to governments across the globe.”

Since 2005, the Wine Origins Alliance efforts have led to increased attention around the protection of wine place names. Last year, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution, S. Res. 649, acknowledging the distinctiveness of American wine regions and AVA’s and the contributions they provide to the U.S. and global economy. In 2019, the Alliance will work to get a similar resolution passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Wine Origins Alliance, previously known as the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin, works to ensure wine region names are protected and not abused or miscommunicated to consumers worldwide. Members represent regions in Barossa, Bordeaux, Bourgogne/Chablis, British Columbia, Champagne, Chianti Classico, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, Long Island, McLaren Vale, Missouri, Napa Valley, Oregon, Paso Robles, Porto, Rioja, Santa Barbara County, Sonoma County, Texas, Tokaj, Victoria, Walla Walla Valley, Washington state, Willamette Valley, Western Australia and Yamanashi. For more information, visit origins.wine or follow the Alliance on Twitter and Facebook.

Champagne Sales 2018: Record High of €4.9 billion

Total volume of Champagne shipments declined by 1.8% in 2018 to 301.9 million bottles, with a total turnover reaching €4.9 billion – 0.3% higher than in 2017.

As reported by the Comité Champagne at Prowein today, exports of Champagne are on an upward trajectory, rising by 0.6% in volume and 1.8% in revenue.

In Champagne’s more traditional markets of France and the UK, which together account for 60% of total sales, volumes dropped by around 4% each, while by value turnover slipped by around 2% in both markets.

The UK market, which remains the largest export market by volume, imported 26.7m bottles in 2018, a decline of 3.6%, while value reached €406.2m, a drop of 2.2% – making it the second biggest export market by value after the USA.

However, demand is most dynamic beyond the European Union. The USA, which remains the biggest export market by value and second biggest by volume, saw exports rise by 2.7% to 23.7 million bottles. To Japan, exports increased by 5.5% to 13.6 million bottles, while exports to the “Chinese triangle” (mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) increased by 9.1% to 4.7 million bottles.

Following very significant growth over the past decade (+134%), Australia saw imports of Champagne dip slightly, by 1.8%, to 8.4m bottles, which was attributed to a “less favourable exchange rate”.

Other countries are emerging stronger for Champagne, including Canada which increased its imports by 4.8% to 2.3 million bottles, Mexico by 4.3% to 1.7m bottles, and South Africa, where sales topped the million-bottle mark for the very first time, recording growth of 38.4% by volume and by 43.4% by value – the highest increase of any market on both counts.

“The 2018 results validate the value creation strategy of the Champagne region, based on a continual pursuit of exceptional quality and rigorous environmental targets,” the Comité Champagne said. “From an agronomic point of view, 2018 was an unprecedented year with a bumper harvest of outstanding quality, boding extremely well for the future Champagne cuvées.”

Champagne shipments* over the past 10 years:

2018: 301.9m

2017: 307.3m

2016: 306.1m

2015: 313m

2014: 307m

2013: 305m

2012: 309m

2011: 323m

2010: 319m

2009: 293m

Source:  Drinks Business and Just Drinks

Ring the Bell for Gender Equality 2019 at NEO Exchange – Toronto

It was thrilled to attend the #internationalwomensday2019 event at NEO Exchange last week. Many inspiring speeches by Jos Schmit, CEO and President NEO Exchange, Anne Le Guellec, Consul General of the Netherlands and Deborah Frame, CFA – Co-Head Women in ETF.  Followed by an outstanding panel discussing investing in Gender Diversity.  Topics discussed and debated were: women on boards, what public disclosures are required to evaluate companies on GD, and Canadian ETF providers who introduced gender-focused investment products and their performance. Panel participants included: Clare O’Hara, Moderator, Jennifer So, Lindsay Patrick, Florence Narine and Raj Lala.

A Special Congratulations to Heather Zordel who was recently appointed Commissioner at the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)!

#iwd2019 #genderdiversity #etfs #fairness #equality #diversitymatters #womenonbaystreet #baystreet #speakup #womenonboards #bebold

Meredith uses AI to sell wine

Meredith Corporation the US largest brand-powered food, lifestyle and entertainment media company, and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the third-largest premium wine company in the U.S., are exclusively partnering to position the remarkably broad and deep Ste. Michelle Wine Estates portfolio as the perfect wine pairings of choice through the use of Meredith’s smart technology capabilities, including proprietary first-party data, real-time consumer insights and predictive advertising capabilities. This alliance marks the first time a major advertiser has joined forces with Meredith to create and deliver a program rooted in artificial intelligence.

The program taps machine learning techniques to automatically classify recipes on Allrecipes, the world’s largest recipe site with a reach of 55 million consumers, and the diverse wines in the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates portfolio. An AI-based algorithm then combines the classifications to automatically generate specific wine pairings for each recipe. Suggested pairings appear adjacent to recipes and are automatically linked directly to local grocery stores or to e-commerce partners such as Instacart and Amazon Fresh for fulfillment using Meredith’s proprietary Shopper Marketing platform. Automated wine and side dish pairings can also appear in interactive meal plans which permit users to customize various elements of the meal based on their personal preferences.

Real-time insights generated from this program include user location store proximity, impressions by channel, trending products and trending recipes to help create usage occasions that reinforce the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates wines of choice, keeping the brand top of mind for all entertaining purposes. As part of the campaign, high-impact and targeted media also engages users with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates across Meredith platforms, including strategic video alignments, custom native content, high-impact media and editorial sponsorships.

“We are very excited to partner with Meredith to accelerate consumer engagement with our portfolio of world-class wines,” said Jim Mortensen, President and CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. “This data-driven approach represents a smarter, more impactful, results-oriented form of advertising, allowing us to reach high-value consumers at the point at which their wine purchasing decisions are made.”

Corbin deRubertis, Head of Innovation for Meredith, commented, “Consumers are increasingly expecting media platforms to do more than just present search results. They’re gravitating to smart platforms that take into account all available data to make intelligent recommendations. Picking the perfect wine to pair with a new dish is exactly the type of challenge we can solve at scale, and we’ve combined our deep, first-party insights, including our unparalleled context taxonomies, with new machine learning and AI techniques to deliver a next-generation consumer experience that also drives brand equity and product purchase for our client.”

In addition to investing with Allrecipes, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates will leverage Meredith’s scale by extending its exclusive partnership across the company’s O&O assets. Meredith owns the largest premium content digital network for American consumers, reaching 175MM engaged consumers across its platforms.