NEWS ©Journal des
NEWS ©Journal des Palaces © Jean-Bernard Nadeau Vinexpo Challenge: test your blind tasting skills Could you put your tasting skills up against the Best Sommelier in the World? Come along to the Vinexpo Challenge on May 16 and find out. Marc Almert, who earlier this year was named the ASI Best Sommelier of the World, is hosting a special tasting challenge, sponsored by Vinc by Cork Supply, where he will take those Vinexpo visitors willing to take part through a special tasting of 10 wines. The challenge will be to taste the five whites and five reds, all chosen from wines at the fair, blind, and then try and identify the grape variety, the country and the vintage. The winner who correctly guesses the largest number of wines will receive two prestigious bottles from event partner, Baron Philippe de Rothschild The event takes place today between 11am-12.30 pm in Hall 1 Salle 3 Places are limited Old and new world at ‘Vertdevin Selection’ tasting A special tasting is being held in Bordeaux on the evening of May 15 by French wine magazine, Vertdevin, that is a collaboration of some of the best wines and spirits from both Old and New World producers taking part in Vinexpo. Tonight’s event brings together 30 producers selected by Vertdevin from France, Italy, Portugal and the US. It will be the chance for Vinexpo visitors to taste and explore wines from Bordeaux to Champagne, from Piemont to Sicily and the Douro Valley in a relaxed format at the end of the day’s show. The ‘Selection by Vertdevin’ tasting takes place between 6.30pm and 8.30pm at the Espace Chapeau Rouge, 9 cours du Chapeau Rouge 33000 Bordeaux (Tram C, Place de la Bourse or Tram B, Grand Théâtre). To enter you will need to bring a business card or your Vinexpo registration badge 6 VINEXPO DAILY / DAY 3 / WEDNESDAY 15 TH MAY 2019
NEWS ADVERTORIAL Lionel Osmin & Imanol Harinordoquy Les Passeurs de Vins Pushing back the horizons: when a chance meeting creates wine chemistry Monday 22 March 2010, Saint Jean de Luz. It was a meeting: a Basque and a Bearnais. Two paths would cross that day – and the rest is history. It’s the story of how the matching of the minds of Lionel Osmin and Imanol Harinordoquy (eds: the French International Rugby Union player), would add new flavour to the French wine scene. We asked Lionel to tell us more… There was no pre-defined path. No codes to respect… just the will to discover wines, people, different terroirs, new grape varieties, and bring back to France the ones that seduced us, or gave us pleasure and emotions … and to quickly forget the ones that didn’t. Imanol Harinordoquy and I thus created “Les Passeurs de Vin” in order to move the lines, and I like that idea. We are presenting wines in all cases that people are not too familiar with, whether it be with the wines of France’s southwest or wines of the world. Imanol was always a wine fan. When we first spoke of the idea in 2010, he was still pursuing his rugby career – but he told me that he would like to eventually join in on a “wine adventure”, firstly because he likes wine, and secondly, because his family had a long background doing business in Spain, primarily in the field of livestock trading. In 2014, I finally found some time to work on the project, after several intense years after the debuts of Lionel Osmin & Cie. I contacted Imanol and he said, “Let’s do it!” We work as a team: me working on quality selection and him more in an ambassadorial role. We have been very pleasantly surprised by the reaction of French buyers, who seem to have a strong will to allow their customers to discover something a little more exotic. For these people, we have become somewhat of a onestop-shop as a preferred supplier. We have over a hundred references now, and buyers are also able to bundle these wines with our wines from the Southwest Hall 1 / Stand CD197 THERE WAS NO PRE-DEFINED PATH. NO CODES TO RESPECT… JUST THE WILL TO DISCOVER WINES, PEOPLE, DIFFERENT TERROIRS, NEW GRAPE VARIETIES (…) vinexpodaily.com VINEXPO DAILY / DAY 3 / WEDNESDAY 15 TH MAY 2019 7
