Ascot Launches Wine Club

Royal Ascot 2020 was canceled in April due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The racecourse’s flagship five-day event will not be open to the public, but organizers still hope to draw in fans by broadcasting the popular outing behind closed doors. Racegoers will still be able to enjoy the racing action, take part in themed activities and dress up at home to bring Royal Ascot to life.

As an event which truly showcases the very best in food and drink, Ascot has launched the ‘Ascot Wine Club’ in association with its wine and champagne suppliers Hallgarten & Novum Wines and Moët & Chandon.

Three cases of wine are available, each named after former Gold Cup Champions – The Yeats Case, The Sagaro Case and The Fame and Glory Case – featuring wines from across Hallgarten Wines’ award-winning portfolio and Moët & Chandon’s flagship cuvées. Customers will also be able to create their own mixed cases with wines at a special Ascot Wine Club price.

10% of all wine sales through their website will be donated to Ascot Racecourse Supports Charitable Fund.

Juliet Slot, chief commercial officer at Ascot Racecourse, said: “As we plan for Royal Ascot 2020 behind closed doors, we wanted to offer a delivery service of some of our best-loved Royal Ascot wines while supporting the Ascot Racecourse Supports Charitable Fund. Combined with expert pairing advice, we hope The Ascot Wine Club will help bring the Royal Ascot experience to life, wherever you are watching the action from in this unprecedented year.”

WBWE Asia Launches Virtual Wine Exhibition July 12-13 in Yantai

The World Bulk Wine Exhibition, WBWE Asia has just launched a virtual wine exhibition, which will include an online trading system in which wineries will establish direct contact with buyers.

How it will work

The technology-based communication system will allow wineries to close deals without being in person at the trade fair. Wines will be shipped to China as usual and displayed with a promotional stand, material and staff representing the winery. Chinese buyers and merchants will be able to taste the wine and can ask winery managers any further details via WBWE Asia’s virtual system.

WBWE will be inviting buyers, purchasing managers, consultants, managers, merchants and the media to the fair on 12-13 July in the city of Yantai. All attendees will receive a list of those exhibiting before the show starts.

Winery managers who are unable to travel to the exhibition can instead “virtually attend”.

The statement noted: “Winery managers will be able to do business from their offices or their place of origin, whilst virtually attending the fair with the same trading warranty as if they were in China.

“Right now, it is too soon to be certain that the fairs of the future will follow this route, yet we cannot afford to run the risk of stopping exports while we wait to see what unfolds.”

“WBWE Asia ensures that your winery is accurately displayed and that your wines are available to be tasted by an important portfolio of buyers and distributors from China, whether you can attend the fair in person or via the internet.”

WBWE Asia noted that the bulk wine market was helping the Chinese market to recover from Covid losses. Imports of bag-in-box (BIB) to China rose from 1.12 million litres to 1.14 million litres in the first quarter of 2020.

World Bulk Wine Exhibition ASIA Website wbweasia.com

Wines of South Africa (WoSA)  launches ‘Spectacular South Africa’ Campaign

Wines of South Africa (WoSA) just announced they are launching monthly social media campaigns and an online campaign to promote “Spectacular South Africa” wines.

Building towards a virtual tasting of South African wines on Friday 22 May, the campaigns will run across all export markets, encouraging producers and their importers to become involved and support the hard-hit industry.

“In each market we will be encouraging importers, retailers and trade and to come together and get involved in the campaign and supporting the South African category, firstly on May 22, by hosting a tasting, opening a bottle of wine and sharing it on any of their social media channels, video and photos,” says WoSA’s UK market manager, Jo Wehring.

WoSA is keen to build upon the outpouring of support for the country’s producers at a time when lockdown has also been accompanied by a ban on alcohol consumption across the nation, plus a (now lifted) ban on exports of wine.

Dates and themes for the campaigns:

May 22 – Spectacular South Africa (all SA wines)

June 20 – Drink Chenin

July 24 – rosé

August 28 – sustainability (IPW seal, WWF Champion)

September 25 – MCC

October 10 – Pinotage

The social hastags include:

#SpectacularSouthAfrica #SupportSouthAfrica  #DrinkSouthAfrican #southafricanwine #tastingtogether #lockdownwine

 

Idealwine launches Fine Wine Auction for Healthcare Workers #ProtegeTonSoignant

Online fine wine auction site idealwine has launched a charity auction to raise funds for healthcare workers in France.

Unveiled this week, the auction will run until May 7. The auction includes Château Lafite Rothschild 1996 in a double magnum, and a range of large formats Bordeaux such as Pichon Baron, Phelan Segur and Suduiraut, and Salmanazars from Domaine de la Solitude, Domaine Albert Bichot and Champagne Drappier.

All proceeds will be donated to the #ProtegeTonSoignant collective which is a multidisciplinary team that identifies hospitals’ urgent needs, to buy and deliver the medical equipment.

Just under 1,000 bottles will be up for auction, with donations from 100 domains, which is worth an estimated €60,000-€100,000.

The auction will be live from April 27 until May 7 2020 on the iDealwine.com site.

The auction will be administered by International Wine Auction, the certified public auction operator and subsidiary of iDealwine.

How to Bid

Simply sign up on the iDealwine site.

All proceeds [the hammer price and buyer’s commission (19% excluding tax)] will be donated to the collective. The wines bought will be shipped to buyers by iDealwine (shipping fees apply), or will be available for collection at the iDealwine warehouse (in Paris) after the end of lockdown.

http://www.iDealwine.com

Asia Pacific Wine and Spirit Institute helps industry professionals with online learning during social distancing

APWASI launched this week 20 online wine and spirit certification courses in 26 languages. The newly released programs include the world’s first certified courses in “Icewine”, “Wines of China”, “Caviar” and “Truffles”.

The APWASI (Asia Pacific Wine and Spirit Institute) board unanimously agreed to move the launch forward to offer support to those in the airline, cruise line, hotel and hospitality industry who are facing uncertain, challenging and life-changing situations because of the global pandemic.

APWASI will be making the important Wine Essentials 1 Course complimentary and other courses qualify for special pricing. The program goals are to allow people to be more productive, acquire new knowledge and get certified during this period at home that many are experiencing.

In 2018/2019 there were over 100,000 wine and spirit students globally undertaking courses from various wine bodies. The wine and spirits market is explosively dynamic and experiencing generational, global and dramatic taste changes. APWASI’s mission when developing these career courses was to combine required fundamental theory and practical skills required for the workplace.

Industry experts were consulted to ensure APWASI courses had the impact and relevance to enable course graduates to be seamlessly and more easily absorbed into new career positions. As a non-profit organization, APWASI wants ensure the courses can be delivered globally and at scale.

Dr. Clinton Lee, Executive Director APWASI said, “It is imperative students have the choice now of a condensed route to attaining new skills with the flexibility to further upgrade those skills during their career. Not only are work skills important but so are cultural awareness levels. I was adamant that APWASI courses incorporate cultural awareness and we have done that. As a lifelong student myself, I can share through my own experience, that lifelong learning is the only way forward.”

APWASI developed a holistic approach for their students, from start to career, by developing strong strategic alliances with pivotal partners in the field. APWASI strategic alliances include Quini (http://www.quiniwine.com), a respected, established online wine tasting software company. Students can taste wine and record professional-grade tasting notes with ease, anywhere, anytime and recall them at the touch of a button. Students can also take online language study components through APWASI’s strategic partnership with Rosetta Stone Language. “Studying Italian wine and language just became much easier,” said Dr. Lee. APWASI students will also be able to keep up-to-date online with the wine industry through our highly valued APWASI strategic partner, Wine Spectator magazine.

Students will be able to access APWASI strategic partners, including global recruitment agencies geared to focus on APWASI graduates, to assist in placement during and after their course completion.

Roger Noujem, CEO of Quini, said, “Global industry requires talent that is digitally savvy in cross-functional areas of business. Going well beyond being personally knowledgeable about wine, for example. It is skills related to bringing automation ideas to the workplace that have now become more important than ever in the wine and hospitality sectors. With the new depth of education, certifications, virtual environment and partnerships that APWASI has crafted, we see a paradigm shift that QUINI is exceptionally proud to help advance and stand shoulder to shoulder with APWASI on.”

For further details: http://www.apwasi.com.