Vinocamp Portugal, 2014′s Edition Report

[The Vinocamp Portugal official Langage is English, so is the report.]

Vinocamp Portugal was held in Lisboa early July this year with the great help of the cork professionals and a successful collaboration with the Adegga team.

“Vinocamp Portugal was a breathe of fresh air to the discussion about relevant wine topics in Portugal. The visits, the international list of participants and the very active discussions panels have made this Vinocamp one of the best so far. It was a pleasure to be part of it. Thank you for making it happen in Portugal. ” Andre Ribeirinho (Adegga).

For us all, it was also a very good way to start the summer on the laid back sunny terrasses of the hilly city.

We were about 60 to show up at the Phenix Hotel: nearly half of newcomers, 24 Portuguese and mostly French travelers. Amonsgt them, 17 entrepreneurs, 10 represent of vineyards and 18 bloggers whom 10 were invited by the Cork Professionals. It was a good number to debate about the Port image in France, the future of wine communication, wine tourism and the place of cork in today’s wine industry.

Notons le #dressCode de ce #Vinocamp #Lisbonne ! pic.twitter.com/PtCOLpOaci

— Lost In Wine (@LostInWine) July 5, 2014

After a Portuguese lunch where Bacalhau was king, we had the chance to experiment the Summer Wine Market: a laid back and smart concept of wine exhibition developed by Adegga : Andre Ribeirinho and his team.  It gave us less time for workshops but more to meet winemakers and their selection from all over Portugal. With an access to the VIP room, we were able to taste, relax and enjoy delicious food and wine pairings.

The wifi break down let us 500 tweets thanks to the invited influencers @lostinwine @lactuduvin @jaimetonwine @GDwine @Papilles  @FabSommelier @nicolasderouyn @winesup @orgyness that managed a few live tweets during the event.

Carlos de Jesus, representing the cork professionals on their worldwide campaign answered the group questions about the situation of cork closure in today’s wine industry.

Sessions were chosen upon your suggestions, here are a few words on the 4 mains workshops. 

How to higher up the image of Port Wines in France? (report by Henri Sizaret)

One, the situation is confusing, we don’t know when and how we should drink Port. We don’t know either how long we can keep a bottle opened. The traditional image of Port, with cigars and desert is limiting our creativity. Meanwhile, the low end of Port is exported to France which is the first country in consumption, contributing to its poor image. Nevertheless, Port just like Champagne has a strong and not associated to wine. Port at the end, has its mains competitors in spirits or beer rather than in wine.

How to help it positioning? The team suggested it could be associated with more moments of consumptions that would overcome the traditional idea of Port. Going premium is another idea – focusing on the best Port to push the wine to the top as it was decided for Cognac. If I pay more, I want to know why it is more expensive. Storytelling, education and image should be worked on. The Graham Story was shown as an exemple : The group members all gave an hashtag to give an insightabout the discussion.

1. Technology : apps to foster the wine tasting experience (Vivino), Connected Object for an optimized tasting (Smart Wine Glass), captors and wearable tech to react to the consumers’ feeling: today there are already instore apps to recommend a type of wine depending on the body language of the consumer. And finally, cars with no driver should change the don’t drink & drive policy ;).
2. Global warming might shaken up the AOC and rankings of emblematic vineyards (Bordeaux, Rioja, Napa) for new terroirs. Technology could come as a solution for these changes.
3. Social and societal changes: we pictured a low down in wine consumption due to law changes and a rise of quality and export quantity in emerging countries. We also will witness a come back of the hyper personalization of products like Crushpad.

The limit for digital in wine tourism ? (report by Francisco Vieira da Silva)

1. Digital vs Analog: Nowadays everyone is going insane with digital, but sometimes, digital is not the answer (or better, is not the 100% solution). We need to understand what is the best solution for a specific problem and don’t discard immediately the analogic answer.
2. A tourist, usually doesn’t have data on their smartphone while they are abroad. The consequences of that are: a) difficulties to promote an app on “the spot”; b) difficulties to use: no wifi, big roaming fees
3. Even when he/she does have a connection, being in a different country is an analog experience, so you may not want to be staring at your smartphone the whole trip.The workshop conclusion was that the best way to use digital in tourism is to have an interactive experience, improving the “real life” experience and feel of being in a different location, with the digital solutions. Just because apps and other digital solutions are the “thing” nowadays, there’re still opportunities for analog to shine and solve problems, sometime even better :). Catavino’s Port Lodge Map (physical map) was used as a great example: http://catavino.net/catavinos-port-wine-lodges-map/

Watergrid wins the startup competition with 33entrepreneurs

Congratulations to Watgrid that has won the Wine Startups Competitions and to Arthur Tutin for Trocwine that had all the public voices. Interviews to come along with a presentation of the jury members. (List of startups participating here)

Watgrid‘s customers are wine producers that need real time and low cost solutions for wine quality/maturity assessment. No other products in the market provide the type of analysis in a low cost solution. The company provides a unique solution for real time assessment of different stages of maturity of the wines. The technology is based on fiber optics and is patent pending. In addition, the technology can also be used for wine quality assessment of physical parameters. Their portfolio also includes software for image processing analysis of vineyards for path optimization and assessment of the maturity stage of vineyards.

Also look for >>  our day in the cork forest
A venir : Porto avec Quinta Do Noval & The Vinocamp Lisboa Startup Competition

Our Web Review