On June 20th I attended a Vinho Verde trade event in Toronto which was organized by Vinho Verde. Vinho Verde is a wine region in beautiful Northern Portugal perhaps best known for its crisp white wine.
As far as trade shows for wine the venue was great but were there some opportunities missed? Given my recent attendance at Wine and Travel Week in Porto in February I thought many Portuguese wine regions through their promotional and regulatory arms were promoting a new paradigm of “wine tourism”. That paradigm so evident and Wine and Travel Week holds that wine, travel, gastronomy and culture should be in a symbiotic relationship. Exhibitors at that event were promoting not only wine but wine travel routes, gastronomy, touristic sites and attempting to clarify there is more to wine than wine if you know what I mean. I found it telling I was wandering around at the trade show in Toronto with a guide on the Vinho Verde Wine Route I picked up at Wine and Travel Week in Portugal. I had several people ask where did I get the guide….not at the event!
At the Toronto trade event there was lots of wine illustrating the variation in white wines but there was no Vinho Verde reds perhaps reinforcing the stereotype Vinho Verde is an exclusive white wine domain. I was not the only one at the event disappointed with its white wine hegemony.
The food served lacked a Vinho Verde gastronomic offering. Most of us in the trade are not there to eat but some authentic Vinho Verde food appropriately labelled would have given the event more zip. Italian wine trade shows are masters in providing Italian cuisine! Attendees at these wine events are not afraid to express their opinions as to the “cheapness” of food offered! Ungrateful you say? Perhaps but I am telling you like it is. Again there is more to wine than wine.
No attempt was made to champion the Vinho Verde region for its tourist sites, accommodations or gastronomy. The wine trade discusses and makes its views known on more than wine in a bottle. What may interest its clients in visiting Vinho Verde? It must be more than simply wine. Having spent some time years ago in that region the gastronomy, accommodations and geographical beauty were worth touting! Would it have been difficult for Turismo Portugal to set up a desk at the show to promote the Vinho Verde region?
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