Vin Expo visit brings out old friends,

new distributors

By Rob Baxter, European Sales Manager

Between June 19-23, 2005, Bordeaux hosted the annual Vinexpo wine trade fair, which is held every other year in a different continent. With record high temperatures and humidity, the spacious grand marquee saw thousands of exhibitors from all over the world gather to browse and meet with their actual and prospective clients. This is the world's largest wine trade fair which gathers producers and distributors from all over the world under one roof.

Tom Shelton, JPV's CEO, and I were present at the Kobrand booth to guide customers from around the world through the range of JPV wines.

Assisted at our booth by the indefatigable Gerard Yvernault and his export team from
Kobrand, we met existing and prospective distributors from all over Europe, Asia, Middle East and the Americas.

This well-attended event is where one feels the pulse of the wine world, sees cutting-edge innovations in wine presentation and may taste the latest vintages.

From Ireland came the Febvre team with Managing Director Anthony Aiken, whose family founded the wine agency. Their efforts were greatly appreciated when, during a luxury biking trip in July with Butterfield & Robinson (www.butterfield.com), Le Mistral was poured for dinner in the golf hotel Nuremore, in Carrickmacross (www.nuremore.com). Also, during the same luxury tour our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was served in the fabulous KClub (www.kclub.ie), outside Dublin, only days after the European Golf Open championship.

Our friends from Scandinavia were also in attendance, and we were visited by one of our oldest export partners, the Swiss company Martel who have been importing our wines for over two decades, and with whom we have a strong family relationship since their first visit to the winery in the early 1980's. As an interesting side note, one of their longest-serving employees, Martin Schwarz, worked at JPV in 1982.

In the past year JPV wines have been introduced to two new countries. From one end of the Mediterranean came our friend Jesus Soto with the Pecados Originales team from Valladolid, Spain. At the opposite end of the Mediterranean in Greece, we have Genka, a dedicated group led by Mr Pavlos Karacostas, whose family has been importing and selling fine wine in
Greece for decades. As the exhibition continued we also saw our Asian, Canadian and Bahamian distributors.

The press was active at the exhibition and Tom Shelton was interviewed on two
separate occasions.

In the first, Tom discussed the ceremony promoted by the Napa Valley Vintners Association (www.napavintners.com) wherein New World and European winemakers jointly signed a declaration showing support for regional name protection.

On the second occasion, Tom was interviewed by journalist Eric Riewer for Wine TV (www.winetv.tv), the first 24 hour television channel dedicated to wine consumers. Wine TV was founded in 2004 and is broadcast to more than 8 million homes in Europe (including Germany, UK, Ireland, Russia, Estonia, Portugal and Switzerland), with a target audience of about 24 million.

During our stay we received warm hospitality from our friends the Lafragette's, an accomplished winemaking family whose daughter once worked at JPV. It was a privilege to be accommodated in their Medoc Chateau Loudenne, situated on the peaceful banks of the Gironde. The idyllic countryside made a stark contrast to the hustle in downtown Bordeaux which was filled with Vinexpo visitors from all over the world.

JPV is honored to have its Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon listed in one of the town's oldest family-run restaurants, "Le Vieux Bordeaux," which maintains a friendly atmosphere whilst serving delicious French cuisine accompanied by a stunning wine list. Should you travel to Bordeaux don't miss the opportunity to stop in at this charming restaurant. (www.le-vieux-bordeaux.com)