The 7th annual Digital Wine Communications Conference (Montreux – Switzerland, October 31–November 2, 2014) welcomes new sponsors Coravin wine access system and the Vivino wine app. Winerist founder, Diana Isac, will be in attendance at the DWCC and will be taking part in the panel discussion on Day 1.
The founders of the DWCC (the only international conference dedicated to the convergence of wine and the web) are pleased to announce new partnerships with wine access system CORAVIN and wine app VIVINO, with both companies actively participating at the three-day event.
About DWCC and Coravin
The DWCC founders are excited to announce their partnership with Coravin, the revolutionary wine access technology which leaves the cork in place, safeguarding the wine from oxidation and allowing consumers to enjoy wine by the glass without opening the bottle. Founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht will be a keynote speaker at the conference, sharing his thoughts on the subjects of context and bringing new ideas to life, as well as taking part in the Innovation panel discussion and offering a Coravin Wine Access System to be won as part of a DWCC competition (details to be announced later).
About Greg Lambrecht and Coravin
Greg Lambrecht has a background in physics, mechanical engineering, nuclear power and medical devices. He invented the Coravin Wine Access System, which was launched in July 2013. Coravin, Inc. is a privately held company located in Burlington, Massachusetts focused on transforming the way wine is served, sold and enjoyed. Coravin designs and markets the Coravin Wine Access System for wine enthusiasts, restaurants, wine stores and wineries, using proprietary patented technology to access and pour wine from a bottle without pulling the cork.
About DWCC and Vivino
For the first time ever, the DWCC will be using an official wine tasting note and sharing app. All conference participants will be encouraged to install and use the Vivino app during the DWCC, using it to rate and review wine, and share the information. Founded in 2010, Vivino is a wine community, built on a database of 3,000,000 wines from more than 100,000 wineries around the world. Almost 6,000,000 users of the Vivino app provide reviews, ratings and price info on a daily basis. With smartphone apps for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, and an interface in 6 languages, Vivino uses image recognition to identify wines; it is the fastest-growing and most downloaded wine-app in the Apple App Store. The Vivino app will be used by delegates at the conference’s Bring Your Own Bottle ice-breaker event on the eve of the DWCC (Thursday October 30), with a free-for-life pro account being offered to all registered delegates.
Vivino VP of Product Torben Mottes will speak at the DWCC as part of the Communications that are ‘Fit for Purpose’ panel moderated by Robert Joseph, looking at the wine messages reaching wine consumers, as well as contributing ton the topic of “blogging without a blog,” acknowledging wine communicators who create online content via channels such as Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, twitter or their Vivino profile.
About Torben Mottes
Torben Mottes is VP of Product for Vivino, responsible for global product strategy across all platforms. His interest in joining Vivino grew out of his own frustration with choosing the right bottle of wine and developing his own wine app in his spare time. Prior to Vivino, Torben was VP of Product at global security company Avira, where he also led the product team. Torben has worked at several early stage companies in Silicon Valley for the past 15 years and earned his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
DWCC Content
Internationally-renowned wine expert Jancis Robinson MW will be a keynote speaker. Besides addressing conference delegates and attending the Gala Dinner, Robinson will be lead a tutored Grand Tasting of Swiss wines with Wine Grapes co-author Dr. José Vouillamoz, with a focus on four grape varieties: Chasselas, Petite Arvine, Merlot and Pinot Noir. This unique opportunity will be followed by a walk-around tasting with 40 of the best Swiss producers, many of them being in the Gault & Millau Top 100 Swiss Wines 2014 ranking, presenting their wines to the 300+ conference delegates, and two masterclasses highlighting rare Swiss grape varieties and iconic Swiss wines led respectively by Dr. José Vouillamoz and Paolo Basso, Best Sommelier of the World 2013.
Location
The DWCC celebrates its 7th anniversary in 2014; it will be held in Montreux, a town of some 25,500 inhabitants situated on Lake Geneva. Famous for its jazz festival (held every year in July since 1967), Montreux is in the French-speaking Vaud canton and within easy travelling distance of many European locations (previous conferences have been run in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Italy and Turkey). The three-day conference will be held in the 2m2c, Montreux Music and Convention Centre.
Theme and Content
The theme of this year’s conference is Wine in Context, and the DWCC will be partnering with Wine In Moderation to organise a panel debate on the subject of wine culture in context; delegates will be encouraged to reflect upon the potential of digital media to create entirely new ways to talk about and sell wine. As in previous years, DWCC 2014 will feature a range of communications and technical workshops on the skills and information needed by wine communicators in the 21st century. These sessions are led by international experts in the field who come from around the world to share their knowledge with delegates, and thus, the conference is an excellent opportunity for anyone in the wine trade to network and learn alongside peers and leading figures.
Conference delegates will attend a wide range of educational wine tastings as well as experiencing Swiss wine and food culture and hospitality in events, tastings, winery visits and tourism opportunities within Switzerland’s six wine-producing regions, with an emphasis on native Swiss grape varieties.
Sign Up
Delegates can benefit from special rate bookings with conference partners, detailed on the DWCC website. The delegate rate is €450 with reduced-rate fees for bloggers and alumni.
Conference Sponsors
The 2014 DWCC is sponsored by Swiss Wine Promotion, the body responsible for championing Switzerland’s national wine production. It is organised by Ryan and Gabriella Opaz and Robert McIntosh of social media company, Vrazon.
Title Photo: t.saldanha