Start planning your Beautiful South Tasting

By Erin Smith

Published: 29 August, 2013

With over 300 tables and 330 producers the first Beautiful South Tasting, to be held on September 11 and 12 in London's Olympia, demands a plan and the full show catalogue is now available online to download so attendees can devise a tactical plan of what producers to put on their 'must-see' list.

The Beautiful South Tasting is the first collaborative tasting in the UK that focuses on wines of the southern Hemisphere, and is hosted by Wines of Chile, Wines of Argentina and Wines of South Africa.

Jo Wehring, head of Wines of South Africa in the UK said: "For a number of years there have been requests in the UK trade for generics bodies to consider collaborating, to reduce the number of tastings and save on resources. With this in mind we began exploring the possibility of working on collaborative events in some markets. The seed of the idea came to fruition at Prowein were we ran a series of seminars, first with New World countries and then focusing on Southern Hemisphere countries. Strategically it made sense to pick up on the Southern Hemisphere theme and run with that. We believe that the term New World no longer applies to countries such as Argentina, Chile or South Africa and it's our synergy as Southern Hemisphere that creates the platform for joint events.

"We believe that this event positions our three countries as dynamic and forward thinking, we're not afraid to stand together to create a tasting that better suits the needs of the trade and our producers. It's a confident move, achievable because we are all very active in promoting our wines in our leading export markets."

Michael Cox, European head of Wines of Chile said: "Our annual tasting has proven to be a great way to draw attention to the impressive strides Chile has made over the years, but this is an event that provides the trade with an even better opportunity to think creatively, to banish preconceptions, and realise how these three countries can help to reinvigorate tired wine lists, and thus enlighten inquisitive consumers. Yes, it will be a big fair, with over 300 producers, and seminars, and focus tastings, which is why we urge visitors to come on both days."

Andre Maidment, one of the masterminds behind the event and the manger for Wines of Argentina for the UK and Asia, said: "Wines of South Africa, Wines of Chile and Wines of Argentina ave been collaborating in some capacity since Prowein 2010. After two years, we decided to focus just on the southern hemisphere producers. So we brought together Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and South Africa to really target the on-trade."

Read more in Harpers Wines and Spirits September 6 edition, featuring an extensive preview of the Beautiful South Tasting.

Click here to download the full catalogue, map, and further details of the tasting, but note it is a large file.

Click here to register and attend the the event.

Printer friendly version