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Virtual Vino 2010
New York, January 20, 2010 –
The Italian Trade Commission’s VINO 2010 - Italian Wine Week February 2-5, 2010, hosted at the Waldorf Astoria and New York Hilton hotels will be the largest Italian wine trade show to be held outside of Italy.
Responding to the growing importance of digital and social media, the Italian Trade Commission will for the first time ever introduce VIRTUAL VINO, a dedicated program for wine bloggers aimed at opening dialogue with online wine enthusiasts both nationally and internationally. Bloggers attending VINO 2010 will be encouraged to share their experience interacting with over 400 Italian wine producers and more than 50 leading importers and tasting up to 500 new wines from 120 producers available in the US for the first time under the Meet & Greet VINO2010 DIRECT program. In addition to the producers & wines shown, VINO 2010 will also host regionally themed dinners for select trade and press presented by sponsoring regions Apulia, Calabria, Tuscany and Veneto and three days of panel discussions featuring diverse topics. A special seminar, “Virtual Vino: Millennials & Social Media Decanted,” streamed live on the event website will focus on the impact of digital media on the marketing and education of Italian Wines. During the Grand Tasting event on the final day of the conference the “VIRTUAL VINO Blogger Lounge” will allow participants to blog, tweet and post comments and tasting notes on perhaps the widest selection of Italian wines ever assembled in the United States. The ITC also encourages questions, discussion and comments from wine enthusiasts via VINO 2010’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
In the spirit of the vast influence of social media and wine blogging, VINO2010 has appointed an Official Blogger to spark online dialogue during the conference. James Rodewald, former Drinks Editor of Gourmet magazine, will live-blog during VINO 2010 seminars and tastings, engaging with other bloggers at the conference via blogging and networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and the official VINO 2010 blog.
Updated in real-time on the VINO 2010 homepage, Rodewald’s VINO 2010 blog and Twitter account will bring his keen and unbiased editorial perspective to the discussion and facilitate the participation of bloggers throughout the US, illustrating the impact of social media on wine education.
The decision to hire an official blogger and to invite influential bloggers is far from arbitrary. VINO 2010 discussions will explore the role of social media in the future of the wine trade, and panelists including Alder Yarrow (vinography.com), Anthony Dias Blue (The Tasting Panel), and Doug Cook (Twitter, Director of Search) are among the Web 2.0 experts to contribute to the weeklong conversation.
Providing visiting bloggers with access to digital images, tasting notes, winery histories, and importer information via the Virtual Vino Blogger Lounge, the Italian Trade Commission hopes to spread word about Italian Wines, encouraging bloggers to share tasting notes and other reactions via live-Tweets. Followers of @Vino2010 on Twitter can ask questions of on-site bloggers and of Rodewald, and by extension, of the visiting producers by tagging Twitter feeds with the official tag for the conference, #virtualvino.
While the conference is for trade and press, wine enthusiasts can participate remotely by following Rodewald’s blog and the aggregated Twitter discussion on VINO 2010’s website, www.italianmade.com/vino2010.
Note to bloggers:
To participate in the events of VINO 2010 and to gain access to the Virtual Vino Blogger Lounge, please submit your request to VIRTUALVINO@italtrade.com. The Virtual Vino Blogger Lounge will be equipped with high-speed internet connections and files to accompany all events and presenters at the conference and Grand Tasting.
Follow VINO 2010 on Twitter: @vino2010.
