Gastronomy and Wine Portal

The Wine Travel Awards judge, FIH Hotelier, Mentor, Co-Founding Trustee and Chair of the Gerard Basset Foundation, Co-Founder and Vice President of the UK Sommelier Academy Nina Basset becomes ASI General Secretary.

“Delighted to be part of ASI – Association de la Sommellerie Internationale as a Board Member”, commented on her Facebook Page.

“Throughout many years Nina has maintained strong links with ASI and its worldwide community of Sommeliers and most recently Nina helped to co found the ASI affiliated, United Kingdom Sommelier Academy, where she is Vice President”, noted at ASI – Association de la Sommellerie Internationale.

In the interview to the WTA Project Lead Oleksandra Hryhorieva, Nina Basset mentioned: “Working within that team is very important because hospitality demands an awful lot of you in terms of the hours you put in. Working within a team of people, you have to have a camaraderie. It becomes an extended family. If you don’t like people, there’s no point in it. And that’s the first really important thing”.

We are definitely sure the ASI Team has replenished with a top-class professional, taking into account the philosophy and professional experience.

Our congratulations!

Photo: facebook.com/asisomms

The Wine Travel Awards judge, FIH Hotelier, Mentor, Co-Founding Trustee and Chair of the Gerard Basset Foundation, Co-Founder and Vice President of the UK Sommelier Academy Nina Basset becomes ASI General Secretary. “Delighted to be part of ASI – Association de la Sommellerie Internationale as a Board Member”, commented on her Facebook Page. “Throughout many […]

The Wine Travel Awards Voting Winner in Enogastronomic Events nomination Magnet of the Region category of 2021-2022 Campaign Franc & Franc Forum and Tasting Day will take place in Villány (Hungary) on 25–26 November.

That is going to be the 7th edition of the event where professionals and winelove rs may get a deep insight into the different styles of Cabernet Franc with tastings conducted by Peter McCombie MW (New Zealand / UK) and Pasi Ketolainen MW (Finnland) from the Loire valley to Argentina. 

During the first day Top 12 Villányi Franc – the best scored wines of the first Franc du Monde international wine contest – is going to be tasted be participants.

On the 26th of November guests can have the opportunity to visit cellars of the egion and taste at least 40 Cabernet Franc wines. Tickets are still available for both days.

Franc du Monde international wine contest was held in summer 2022 for the first time. At the first edition there were 101 entries from 8 countries: France, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Argentina and certainly Hungary. 

The wines were judged by renowned international wine experts including Master of Wines. Due to the rigorous rules of the contest only 30%of the wines could receive medals, thus all of the 12 wines below received more than 89.2 points – thus at the same times these are the gold winner wines of the contest.

Due to the WTA rules Franc & Franc Forum and Tasting Day has automatically became the nominee of the 2022-2023 campaign since the forum was among the winners of the public vote.

Join the WTA community! Apply for the registration here.

The Wine Travel Awards Voting Winner in Enogastronomic Events nomination Magnet of the Region category of 2021-2022 Campaign Franc & Franc Forum and Tasting Day will take place in Villány (Hungary) on 25–26 November. That is going to be the 7th edition of the event where professionals and winelove rs may get a deep insight into the different […]

Having stepped in the second year of the project, the WTA team is happy to share one more exciting news: our project, in order to support new professions in the field of wine tourism, introduces a new approach to awards for winners. And the first of them is in honor of a professional of the highest level and a Man with a capital letter – Gérard Basset.

Due to our partnership the Gérard Basset Foundation and thanks to the personal consent of Monsieur Basset’s family – Nina Basset, WTA judge, and her son Romane Basset, this year the WTA winner of the Ambassador of the Year category will also be awarded with the Gérard Basset Prize “Ambassador of the Year”.

Gérard Basset was a one of the most experienced and award-winning wine experts in the world, and a holder of the title of Master Sommelier (1989). Subsequently, he became the only person in the world who managed to combine such high titles: Master of Wine, Master Sommelier, as well as Wine MBA. Beside being professional, he was a nice open person willing to share his knowledge and experience with young sommeliers. Gérard was thirsty for knowledge, so he often traveled and discovered new wine regions, grape varieties and wine styles. The WTA project is fully in line with these values, so in the memory of Gérard Basset the prize was created to encourage wine personalities to study and learn more. The winner of the Gérard Basse Prize “Ambassador of the Year” will receive a reward of 1,000 euros (or an educational course in the equivalent+).

Nowadays, sommeliers and brand ambassadors are evolving their status to opinion leaders in trade marketing and wine tourism. More and more winemakers and wine consumers tend to trust them. Considering this trend, the WTA team invites wine personalities to join our friendly community and become part of the professional network.

Persons representing wines, regions, enogastronomic routes, brands, as well as associations, consortia, national wine bureaus, tourist offices, and tour operators which promote their wine region, a specific brand or certain types of wines can be nominated for the Ambassador of the Year category. The early bird registration is open. Apply and get your one-year PR marketing campaign!

Having stepped in the second year of the project, the WTA team is happy to share one more exciting news: our project, in order to support new professions in the field of wine tourism, introduces a new approach to awards for winners. And the first of them is in honor of a professional of the […]

If you happen to be in Thessaloniki during the Philoxenia International Tourism Exhibition, don’t miss this workshop – “The Wine tourism and restaurant business. Ways to increase your business profits” on November, 19, at 11.30, ABC Hotel.

The seminar is aimed at owners and managers of tourism and hotel businesses. Its goal is to understand the expected experiences of wine tourism, its creation and the corresponding offer to potential wine tourists, addressed to owners and managers of tFrom Wine Travel Awards 2022-2023 Jury Member, Founder of Respond On Demand, the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the World Food Travel Association, Master of Culinary Travel, Maria Athanasopoulou.

Certificate of participation from the World Food Travel Association is included!

You can find more information and the online registration here.

If you happen to be in Thessaloniki during the Philoxenia International Tourism Exhibition, don’t miss this workshop – “The Wine tourism and restaurant business. Ways to increase your business profits” on November, 19, at 11.30, ABC Hotel. The seminar is aimed at owners and managers of tourism and hotel businesses. Its goal is to understand […]

For the Sea of Wine project, in which the Odesa National University of Technology participates, Ukrainian specialists have developed a unique ICT platform and mobile application.

The international project Sea of Wine is implemented by the team of the Odesa National University of Technology (ONUT) together with such leading partners as the International Center for Agribusiness Research and Education of Armenia (ICARE), the Fund “Georgian Center for Agribusiness Development” (Georgia) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).

As you know, the Black Sea region is the cradle of world winemaking. Perhaps it is incredibly significant that the countries from these territories decided not to compete for high-profile status, but rather to develop a joint brand of wine tourism. The goal of The Sea of Wine project is to help wine and tourism companies, hotels and restaurants in these four countries develop joint modern approaches to promoting products and services. The platform of the seaofwine.travel project will soon be operational, where wine routes of Ukraine, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, as well as a joint route between partner countries – the Black Sea Wine Route – will be featured. So, you can choose a direction and plan your trip right from home. After downloading the app, enogastronomy tourists will always have all the wine routes at hand – choose and travel!

ICT platform (Information and Communication Technology) is a very important product for communication. Today, an advanced tourist chooses exactly such platforms that have built-in cross-posting with a transition to social networks and other modern options (by the way, the Sea of Wine project already has pages on Instagram and Facebook). This is an interactive platform which provides a system for evaluating routes and wineries where you can leave your feedback. And such feedback, we note, is costless, but it gives invaluable marketing experience to every participating winery. In addition to English, the site and mobile application will be available in local languages: Ukrainian, Armenian, Greek and Georgian.

The mobile application for gadgets can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. It is simple and convenient to use. It presents online routes created by specialists. The platform is more developed because it is connected to Google Maps. Besides, a system of filters and hashtags based on interests is in operation. The visitor will be able to independently shape their trip by choosing what interests them.

The website is designed according to the latest modern trends in web design, so that it is interesting, useful, and understandable from the point of view of user experience. All participating countries are presented on the home page. Here the visitor can choose the one they are interested in and go to its page. General information about winemaking in the region, wine routes is provided further. You can go to the pages of wineries or use hashtags and filters to find out what is nearby, for example cultural sights, architecture, hotels and restaurants, festivals, etc. There is also information on the language in which the excursion can be conducted, and methods of paying for services. Having created your own route, you can use a modern service to save its description, map, locations in PDF, thus creating your own offline guidebook. In addition, the site presents travel agencies and tour operators through which you can book a trip.

On the page of Ukraine, the developers paid a lot of attention to grape varieties, including the local Odesa Black, Sukholimansky, and European varieties, which are perfectly cultivated in the Ukrainian Black Sea region. Therefore, the platform carries out educational work in a broader sense, so that a guest, even before visiting a winery, is informed about the peculiarities of local wines, etc. This is important information also for specialists from other countries because, unfortunately, too little is known about Ukrainian winemaking in the world. For the same purpose, a section of a blog with interesting studies and trainings was created.

The Sea of Wine ICT platform and mobile application are convenient, innovative tools that provide enotourists around the world with the necessary information about routes, countries and their offers. It is a tool that expands horizons.

For the Sea of Wine project, in which the Odesa National University of Technology participates, Ukrainian specialists have developed a unique ICT platform and mobile application. The international project Sea of Wine is implemented by the team of the Odesa National University of Technology (ONUT) together with such leading partners as the International Center for […]

The International Organization of Vine and Wine announced Ukraine’s return to full membership. Thanks to the active support of Dr. Ricardo Núñez, who relentlessly promotes the interests of Ukraine abroad, the hard work of the head of the Ukrsadvinprom Association, Volodymyr Pechko, and the professional skills of Natalia Burlachenko, Ukraine is returning to the OIV family.

The process of restoring Ukraine’s full membership in the OIV was initiated by the Government of Ukraine with the support of “Ukrsadvinprom” – an association that unites the majority of Ukrainian wine producers – and the active support of Dr. Ricardo F. Nuñez, who has an unshakable authority in the international wine community. A huge amount of work was done – for eight months correspondence and coordination with the International Organization of Vine and Wine was carried out, and now an important decision for Ukraine has been made!

Voldymyr Pechko, President of Ukrsadvinprom expressed his great satisfaction at the culmination of this work of rapprochement and admission to the International Organization made up of 49 wine-producing countries of the world.

OIV is an organization whose members are countries, not people or companies, and is in charge of researching the wine world to offer technical, scientific, legal and commercial solutions to all its members.

Its Director General, Pau Roca, and the Chief of Staff, Rodrigo de Casas, were in charge of the guide to reach this result.

The official presentation of Ukraine as a new member of OIV will take place in Mexico, within the framework of the 43rd World Congress of the aforementioned international organization, that will be held from 31 October to 4 November 2022.

The official delegation will be headed by Voldymyr Pechko, who stated that Ukraine is in all international organizations because as a sovereign wine-producing country, it must take its place in the international orchestra and collaborate in directing the destinies of the industry.

Voldymyr Pechko thanked on behalf of all Ukrainians linked to the activity the commitment of the Government of Ukraine, which, despite the unjust invasion that it resists day by day, continues to support all Ukrainian activities that are part of the country’s economy.

The International Organization of Vine and Wine announced Ukraine’s return to full membership. Thanks to the active support of Dr. Ricardo Núñez, who relentlessly promotes the interests of Ukraine abroad, the hard work of the head of the Ukrsadvinprom Association, Volodymyr Pechko, and the professional skills of Natalia Burlachenko, Ukraine is returning to the OIV […]

Since the end of August 2022, COOP, one of the largest retail chains in Denmark and Europe (1,200 stores), has been selling Ukrainian wines produced by SHABO Winery.

Great news from SHABO Winery, one of the public voting winners of the Wine Travel Awards 2021-2022! Since the end of August 2022, COOP, one of the largest retail chains in Denmark and Europe (1,200 stores), has been selling Ukrainian wines produced by SHABO Winery. These amazing Ukrainian wines are available both offline and online and are delivered throughout Denmark. More than 106,000 bottles is a record batch of products that SHABO has already managed to deliver to the Danish chain, despite all the challenges of wartime. We are very proud that the still and sparkling wines, which demonstrate the uniqueness and strength of the Ukrainian land, are now available in yet another country in the world.

How did the story begin? In May 2022, representatives of the COOP network visited the SHABO stand and tasted the company’s wines at the ProWein Expo. The tasting was extremely successful, and the next business meeting of the potential partners took place in Ukraine. Actually, the COOP team together with the Embassy of Ukraine in Denmark launched a project dedicated exclusively to Ukrainian manufacturers. To implement this project, they even visited Ukraine during the war. The COOP business team visited several Ukrainian manufacturers. SHABO Winery was chosen as the flagship of the Ukrainian wine industry.

Unique terroir, beautiful and well-kept vineyards, modern technologies and a special approach to the creation of each product, as well as hundreds of international awards, made a huge impression on Danish guests. SHABO has a special mission: to open Ukraine as a wine country to international visitors and partners.

Denmark has become the 20th country to which SHABO export their products. Currently, they are negotiating with representatives of the COOP in other European countries. And we are absolutely sure there will be more to come!

We are happy to be associated with a Ukrainian company that has brought the brand of Ukrainian wine closer to the consumers of Denmark and other European countries. We sincerely congratulate SHABO on another business victory!

Photo: Sergiy Kadulin

Since the end of August 2022, COOP, one of the largest retail chains in Denmark and Europe (1,200 stores), has been selling Ukrainian wines produced by SHABO Winery. Great news from SHABO Winery, one of the public voting winners of the Wine Travel Awards 2021-2022! Since the end of August 2022, COOP, one of the […]

Solomiia Begun, an expert in the preservation of the ancient castles’ historical and cultural heritage, the president of the Paris-Ukraine Île-de-France international charity association and one of the public voting winners of Wine Travel Awards 2021-2022, has been supporting Ukraine for many years and is a cultural ambassador of Ukraine and France at the international arena. Solomiia has recently organized a charity gala evening in Paris to support Ukraine. The WTA editors sincerely congratulate Solomiia on this success, as well as on the World Order Of Cultural Diplomacy award from the president of the Cultural Diplomacy Charitable Foundation of the Grands of Ratings and Nominations NGO, Ms. Ilona Solonyna!

The main goal of the gala evening was to draw attention to Ukrainian gastronomic, musical and artistic culture, as well as to raise funds for Ukrainians who lost their homes as a result of russian aggression in the town of Borodyanka, Bucha district, Kyiv region, and in the village of Moschun, Bucha district, 90% of which was destroyed as a result of Russian artillery and missile attacks.

The gala evening was held at the Elysées Biarritz on the famous Champs-Élysées. The guests were greeted by the violinists of the Paris Opera and a welcome drink from Champagne Boucant-Thierry, a family winery located 80 km away from Paris, producing refined and elegant champagne wines.

The headline event of the evening was, of course, a charity auction presenting unique lots to support Ukraine. The most special ones were the sculpture of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made by the Brazilian artist and sculptor Marcos Marin, and an exclusive wine from the Iukuridze family, the founders of the top-notch Ukrainian winery, SHABO, — Iukuridze Family Reserve Cabernet 2014. This wine was listed in TOP-5 at the World Wine Symposium blind tasting held in Italy.

The famous Ukrainian pianist Yevhen Khmara impressed the guests with his talent and skills. The evening also featured a collection of authentic Ukrainian clothing, works by Ukrainian artist Oleksandra Fedoruk and Brazilian artist Marcos Marin, as well as a collection of jewelry FROMLI Accessories by designer Alyona Lipshyts, who was lucky to escape from the occupied city of Kherson in the South of Ukraine.

The exquisite dinner was made by the best Master Chefs from Ukraine: Yevhen Korolev (President of Bocuse d`Or Ukraine), Vitaly Guralevich, Vyacheslav Popkov, Artem Blaut. The bread basket of the evening was prepared by the bread chef Ihor Lavreshyn.

All funds raised during the charity auction will be spent to help Ukrainians affected by russian aggression. Part of the funds will be transferred to the official platform of the President of Ukraine, United24.

General partners who supported the charity event: Yury Teslenko’s Charity Fund “Nova Borodyanka” (Ukraine), WORLDWIDE ALERT LAUNCHER (France).

Exclusive partners: Birds for Sofia Foundation (USA).

Photo: Yegor Yeremeyev @photoriarden

Solomiia Begun, an expert in the preservation of the ancient castles’ historical and cultural heritage, the president of the Paris-Ukraine Île-de-France international charity association and one of the public voting winners of Wine Travel Awards 2021-2022, has been supporting Ukraine for many years and is a cultural ambassador of Ukraine and France at the international […]

This sunny autumn weekend, October 8 and 9, the 4th edition of the Worldwide œufs en meurette Championship, WTA nominee and public voting winner, took place at the Château du Clos de Vougeot.

On Saturday, 8 October, 9 amateur cooks passionate about Burgundy recipes competed in the amateur competition. Sunday was dedicated to the novelty of this 2022 edition, the apprentice competition organized in partnership with the Lions Club Paris France Gastronomie, and of course, the Worldwide œufs en meurette Championship, which reserved its share of surprises and culinary demonstrations by the chefs to the public who came in large numbers to attend the event. On this occasion, thirteen chefs competed to win the title of world champion. The victory was gained by Joy-Astrid Blanchard-Poinsot, chef of the restaurant Chez Camille in Arnay-le-Duc, who succeeds chef Grégory Cuilleron (2021 World Champion), chef from Lyon at Restaurant Les Cinq Mains, Bruno Brangea, 2020 World Champion, and Frédéric Vardon, 2019 World Champion. This year, Jean-Bruno Gosse, chef of the restaurant Loiseau des Ducs received the creativity prize for its interpretation of the legendary Burgundian recipe.

The 4th edition of this original culinary competition held by the Château du Clos de Vougeot was more international than ever. Indeed, last year, two foreign chefs were among the participants; this year, 4 international chefs were in the running!

On the international chef side are Pascal Aussignac, Restaurant le Club Gascon in London, Rainier Ng, Restaurant Gaston in Singapore, Eric Starkman, Le Gratin Restaurant in New York, Richard Van Oostbrugge, Restaurant DeJuvelier in Amsterdam. Among French chefs are Philippe Augé, Hostellerie de Levernois in Levernois, Joy-Astrid Blanchard, Restaurant Chez Camille in Arnay-le-Duc,  Thomas Collomb, Restaurant the Table d’Hôte de la Rôtisserie du Chambertin in Gevrey-Chambertin, Jean-Bruno Gosse, Restaurant Loiseau des Ducs in Dijon, Iza Guyot, Le Comptoir de Pagny restaurant in Pagny-le-Château, Sébastien Henry, Le Biz’tro restaurant in Beaune, Sandra Huguenin, Impala des Vignes restaurant in Chevagny-les-Chevrières, Maxime Lamoureux, Restaurant Chez Monsieur (Royal Madeleine) in Paris, Thibaud Morgenstern, Restaurant Nosch in Lyon.

In addition, the amateur competition which took place on Saturday for the 2nd consecutive year, turned out to be successful for Thierry Andre from Beaune, chartered accountant by profession. He was chosen as a winner unanimously by the jury. He succeeds last year’s winner Mickaël Thureau from Bordeaux.

This year’s novelty, the apprentice competition has made it possible to reveal talents and to underline the extent to which the technicality of the oeuf en meurette recipe distinguishes the know-how of future leaders. Valentin Lavisse, 22 years old, an apprentice at the École des métiers de Dijon métropole, won this competition. Valentin also officiates at the Hostellerie de Levernois alongside chef Philippe Augé.

Photo: Benedicte Maniere

This sunny autumn weekend, October 8 and 9, the 4th edition of the Worldwide œufs en meurette Championship, WTA nominee and public voting winner, took place at the Château du Clos de Vougeot. On Saturday, 8 October, 9 amateur cooks passionate about Burgundy recipes competed in the amateur competition. Sunday was dedicated to the novelty […]

The Wine Travel Awards (WTA) and Drinks+ team is delighted to announce their collaboration with Maria Athanasopoulou and her tourism marketing company Respond On Demand.

Maria Athanasopoulou became part of the WTA Jury Committee for the second season and will contribute her expertise to define the final awards’ winners in April. Needless to say, her profile and professional background are worthy of WTA nomination, so that Maria becomes a nominee in the Author of the Year category, Wine & Food Influencer nomination. B2B Travel & MICE Event organised by Respond on Demand is nominated for the Event of the Year category, Enogastronomic Events nomination.

In the framework of this prospective collaboration, the Drinks+ Communication Media Group, one of the most authoritative international groups in Eastern and Southern Europe, became the information partner of all the B2B Travel & MICE Events headed by Mrs. Maria Athanasopoulou. 

Such an association is quite logical because in the second 2022-2023 edition, the leading project of the D+ group – Wine Travel Awards – is betting precisely on operators of the tourism sector that specialise in food and wine & spirits tourism. We lead by the example that the WTA community helps initiate partnership and collaborations between different actors of wine tourism.

We would like to remind you that from September 1, the WTA have opened early registration and are inviting all tourism operators to participate in this innovative marketing project. Take your chance to benefit from joining the WTA community: https://winetravelawards.com/registration-form 

Maria Athanasopoulou is the founder of the tourism marketing company Respond On Demand. Besides, Maria serves as the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the World Food Travel Association, and she is also a Master Culinary Travel Professional. She represents Green Destinations as an ambassador. She has given seminars for tourism professionals, as well as many speeches and presentations on tourism in Greece and abroad. Maria is also a Sustainable Tourism marketing expert.

The Wine Travel Awards (WTA) and Drinks+ team is delighted to announce their collaboration with Maria Athanasopoulou and her tourism marketing company Respond On Demand. Maria Athanasopoulou became part of the WTA Jury Committee for the second season and will contribute her expertise to define the final awards’ winners in April. Needless to say, her […]