Wines of Argentina goes it alone to "disrupt" wine tasting format

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 05 September, 2016

Wines of Argentina have broken away from Chile to run their own trade tasting this year, with a focus on innovation and breaking the trade tasting mould.

Barullo is a new event from Wines from Argentina which will run for the trade over two days on 25 and 26 of October and 27 and 28 October for consumers.

Over the past few years, the country's main trade annual tasting in the UK has partnered with Wines of Chile, for the Wines of the Beautiful South event.

But this year, the body has broken away to be able to concentrate on the areas which are the most difficult to crack, by putting on an "immersive" experience.

"It wasn't that people didn't like the collaboration between the two, in fact they did. But we wanted to do something that was smaller and more focused. In the past, we've struggled to attract independents and the on-trade, so this year we've decided to do something which will be about more than just presenting wines. We want to show what modern Argentina stands for. There are so many trade tastings that you need to stand out, and wine events are ripe for disruption," Wines of Argentina's Andrew Maidment explained.

The decision to split the tastings was a mutual decision made by both Wines of Chile and Wines of Argentina, to focus on different areas of interest.

The team is working with a top Argentine gallery and also a set designer who worked with fashion designer Alexander McQueen to create the backdrop.

Four food stations will hold live cooking demonstrations led by Mauro Colagreco, an Argentine chef at the two-Michelin star restaurant Mirazur in France.

Maidment added: "We haven't got mega bucks to do huge ad campaigns, but we can inspire the trade - those selling the wines - how to sell Argentina. We want to show people that Argentina isn't all about gauchos and barbeques. Argentina is seen as steak and Malbec, and that's wonderful. It got us to where we are now. But we need to go one step further."

The event will run over four days from Tuesday, October 25 to Friday 28 at JJ Studios in Hoxton.

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