Grand Hotel Sofia will host the BIWC 2013 Festival

VisitBulgaria.NET, May 08, 2013

Grand Hotel Sofia will host the BIWC 2013 Festival on May 18th and 19th, 2013.

Official program:

16 - 17 May, Grand Hotel Sofia, Triaditsa Hall 2, floor 1 - Tasting and evaluation of BIWC 2013 wine samples (closed for public)
17 May, 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), 9, Iskar street - Conference: Wine and Wine Tourism in the Balkans - Possibilities of Development and Synergy (for more contacts: pr@balkanswine.eu)

18 May, Saturday - BIWC Festival - day one
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM - Specialized TRADE TASTING for importers, buyers, distributors, wine journalists, bloggers and the BIWC 2013 jury

01:00 PM - BIWC Festival Official opening ceremony
01:00 PM - 07:00 PM - Tasting of Balkan and other wines, olive oil, olives and other typical regional products - open for the public (more)

18 May, Saturday, Triaditsa Hall 2, Grand Hotel Sofia, floor 1
11:00 АМ - 12:00 АМ - Movie premiere "Bulgarian wine" - The film tells the story of one of the pride of Bulgaria - excellent wines and beverages. Besides advanced technology, Bulgarian wine culture is primarily a history, spirit, tradition and of course, a lot of positive emotions. The episode examines the main wine routes in Bulgaria, as well as the most famous traditional Bulgarian grape varieties.
12:00 AM - 02:45 PM - Master class - Christy Canterbury's Selection: The Best of Balkans - Christy Canterbury MW, USA
Uniqueness and extraordinary diversity of Balkan wines are more and more globally recognized and appreciated. The indigenous local varieties from the region should be discovered. For us to enjoy, our panel member Christy Canterbury MW picked her Balkan favourites, and will show us some of the Balkan best wines!
9 wines will be tasted - Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary. List with all wines coming soon!
02:00 AM - 03:45 PM - Master Class - Turkey - Bringing the Old and New Worlds Together, Taner Ogutoglu, Turkey
In the past few years Turkish wines firmly positioned themselves on the global wine market, especially on the very demanding British market. This state of affairs is a primarily result of the diligent work of Wines of Turkey, which managed to organize and integrate the best wineries from Turkey under the single umbrella body! Wines of Turkey director Taner Ogutoglu managed to discover and show the world the beauty, richness and potential of Turkish wines.
04:00 PM - 04:45 PM - Lecture - Andreas Wickhoff MW, Austria - What’s hot and new in Austria’s wine world! (the latest trends from the Alpine countries, up- and coming regions, challenges in the appellation system, rising stars etc.)
Andreas Wichkoff is Austria’s third Master of Wine is the managing director of Premium Estates of Austria, a group of the country‘s leading wineries.
05:00 PM - 05:45 PM - Lecture - Authenticity in wine - Jamie Goode, United Kingdom
Jamie Goode is a London-based wine writer who is currently wine columnist with UK national newspaper The Sunday Express. Jamie came to wine writing by a rather convoluted route, via a PhD in plant biology and several years of working as a book editor, before he began publishing www.wineanorak.com, which is now one of the leading GLOBAL wine websites.
06:00 PM - 07:00 PM - Lecture - Efficient and Winning Advertising Strategies of Wine -
prof Christo Kaftandjiev, Ph.D.
Christo Kaftandjiev is professor, Ph.D. and Doctor Habilis on marketing communications in Faculty of Journalism, Sofia University, Bulgaria, in Tomsk University, Russia and in “Boris Grinchenko” University, Kiev, Ukraine. He specialized in Holland (CITO Institute); UK (Westminster University); and Ireland (Dublin Institute of Technology).
The most efficient and winning communicative strategies are analyzed in the multimedia presentation with the help of the best and newest from the world marketing communications.
The explored topics are: different ads of wine, the rich system of advertising appeals in wine advertising, different communicative strategies.

19 May, Sunday - BIWC Festival - day two;
12:00 AM - 07:00 PM - Tasting of Balkan and other wines, olive oil, olives and other typical regional products - open for the public (more);

19 May, Sunday, Triaditsa Hall 2, Grand Hotel Sofia, floor 1;
12:00 AM - 01:45 PM - Master Class - Greek Wines - The Jurassic Park of Viticulture - Rare Greek varieties, Konstantinos Lazarakis MW, Greece, BIWC Chairman;
02:00 PM- 03:45 PM - Master Class - Falling in Love with Croatian Wines – Charming; Mediterranean Terroir, Saša Špiranec, Croatia;
04:00 PM - 05:45 - Lecture - Italian Wine Market - An Inside Approach, Alessandro Griccioli, Italy
05:00 PM - 05:45 PM - Presentation - #winelover Community: The Wine Power of Today, Luiz Alberto, USA;
06:00 PM - 06:45 PM - Lecture - How to Promote Balkan Wines via Internet, Dusan Jelic, Serbia, BIWC Social Media Manager.