Wine Dinners

For hotel restaurants around the world and for Bordeaux chateaux, I propose business-to-business marketing through “winemaker dinners.” My connections in Bordeaux run deep, thanks so far to 10 years of constant visits to Bordeaux, averaging twice per year. Since 2004, I have been organizing winemaker dinners and tastings for top hotel restaurants worldwide, from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts to Berlin, Germany. The synergies created between wineries and venues not only attract hotel clientele and lend prestige to hotel restaurants, they also give wineries direct access to their respective markets. How it works: the chateau owner or winemaker travels at his or her expense to the venue and sends bottles free of charge to be tasted at the hotel. In return, the hotel provides an elaborate four- to five-course dinner with all service included, prepared around the vintages to be tasted, following close consultation between the hotel restaurant chef and the winery representative. The hotel also provides free room and board for the chateau representative. My role is to coordinate and help provide press relations services for the event and accompany the winemaker and – if needed – translate brief remarks made during the dinner (into English or German). I work with the hotel to find a local journalist or two who would be invited to the dinner. Upon request, I can help locate a local merchant who sells the wine. Based on previous tastings, I know that participants enjoy the dinner tastings because I have “regulars” who attend them, particularly in Germany. Featured are elaborate four- or five-course dinners with several vintages of a specific, celebrated wine – what in wine parlance is called a “vertical,” which lends participants memorable and hopefully flavorful insight on how a particular famous wine evolves over time.