Ex-Silicon Valley entrepreneur launches experiential wine platform

By Lisa Riley

Published: 14 December, 2020

Ex-Silicon Valley entrepreneur Michael Baum, owner of Burgundy estate Chateau de Pommard, has launched an experiential wine platform with sustainability at its heart.

Available for consumers to use from today, Vivant streams live experiences from wine regions around the world, a first for a wine experience platform, according to Baum who founded the venture in 2019.

Each live session will be hosted by expert wine advisors who will teach participants how to assess wines via the platform’s ‘Interactive Tasting Method’, with advisors also on hand to answer questions.

All experiences will feature organic, biodynamic and sustainable wines and winemakers. Launching with three French wine regions: Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Loire, new experiences are set to be introduced from Alsace and Champagne later this month, with plans in the pipeline to also add Italian, German and Spanish wine regions next year.

Blending “engaging interaction, personalised education, and lively entertainment”, Vivant would bring together winemakers, wine lovers, and wine educators committed to a sustainable future, said Baum.

“Our ambition is to recreate the magic of visiting a wine region without the carbon footprint of stepping on an airplane," he said.

“We’ve assembled a team of wine educators, product designers, software engineers and media producers to immerse people in the world of wine like never before.”

Behind the name — French for “living, alive,” Vivant reflected the passion for great tasting wines, living systems, biodiversity, clean air, clean water, healthy soils and human health, he added.

“Vivant’s mission is to accelerate the wine world’s transition to a sustainable future by amplifying the voices of responsible winemakers, showing consumers naturally produced wines taste better, and building a global wine community committed to a better way.”

Five different types of experience are available on the platform, including Essentials (introduction to wine regions, winemaking, grape varieties, terroir, wine characteristics, history food and wine pairing basics); Regional (virtual journeys through the worlds famous wine regions introducing them to responsible winemakers); Premium Producer Experiences (introduction to a specific winemaker, sharing his/her own story and philosophy; Tasting Experience (dedicated to assessing wines with Vivant’s ‘Interactive Tasting Method’ and Pairing Experiences (covering food pairing basics to unexpected food pairing fun and featuring “notable personalities and talent from the culinary and wine world”.

Vivant, which has offices in Europe, the US and Asia, pledges 1% of membership fees and wine sales to support innovative new ideas and research accelerating a sustainable future for wine through the 1% for Wine initiative.

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