NO WINE FOR YOU

On June 26th, 2012 nearly 250 distributors, retailers, food & beverage directors, wine buyers and others invitees from the U.S. western region converged on the Montage hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. for the 2012 Wine Dialogues sponsored by E & J Gallo Winery. Attendees were treated to an insider glimpse of the wine business covering many different subjects such as: the red blend movement, wine in the California central coast, worldwide extreme viticulture, wine & food, digital marketing… All these subjects were supported by the live testimony of experts and the synchronized tasting of wine samples to further validate the matters at hand. The 2012 biennial Wine Dialogues was moderated by Doug Frost M.S. M.W. (Doug is one of only three people in the world to hold both titles).

The overall tone of this symposium was set early on by Doug’s great sense of humor combined with a modicum of modesty which allows him to keep the audience focused and interested which is not an easy feat considering that very few of the guest speakers are actually professional speakers but rather experts in their own field and shared their passion in their own words.

The day started with a meet & greet California style luncheon al fresco on the terrace of the Montage hotel. One of my early observations of the well represented Las Vegas, NV delegation was their comfortable acquaintance with the “wine bar” portion of the buffet!.?

After the obligatory introductions we were ushered into the ballroom of the hotel where we would spend the next 5 hours. Opening remarks came from Roger Nabedian, Senior VP & GM premium wine division E & J Gallo Winery. Mr. Nabedian joined Gallo in 1986 and today oversees 30 different international brands “…the goal is to create a dialogue in order to keep a moving flow of information…” The rest of the day would be broken down in mini seminars. As follow:

Continue reading →

Tags: Wine