On Wednesday September 2nd, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) had the pleasure of organising a virtual welcome meeting jointly with the Great Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC) to celebrate the recent observer status of the network at the OIV.
The President of the OIV, Regina Vanderlinde, addressed the opening speech expressing her desire of a fruitful feedback relationship between the two entities: “As an intergovernmental organisation of a scientific and technical nature, the OIV provides a comprehensive overview of the global state of the vine and wine sector. It works to harmonise practices, supports the evolution of the sector as it faces contemporary challenges, such as digitalisation, climate change or wine tourism, thanks to its large network of international experts. And it relies on its observers to bring up the very concrete aspects of the field.
Each observer, through the specific nature of its activity, contributes to providing the OIV with food for thought. They represent a direct contact with the actors and stake-holders of the sector, which is fundamental for the OIV.”
During this meeting, the Director General of the OIV, Pau Roca, and the Managing Director of GWC, Catherine Leparmentier, presented their respective structure and the advantages that this collaboration will generate.
Three speakers from GWC and its President, Jacques Faurens, then provided the attendees with an insight on different cities member of GWC.
Watch the meeting here
On 8 September 2020, the International OIV Jury, composed of the scientific and technical elite of a number of OIV Member Countries, awarded 19 OIV Awards and 10 OIV Special Mentions. The winners were selected from a list of 30 nominated publications: 27 books and 3 websites.
2020 Awards winners here [FR/EN]
The President of the Award Jury, Azélina Jaboulet-Vercherre, and the Scientific Secretary, Richard Pfister, thanked the many readers from around the world who had evaluated the publications presented with impartiality and professionalism.
The 2020 Awards mark 90 years since the creation of the Awards of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine. This year has seen a particularly diverse range of submissions, with 25 countries in 4 continents represented across the 11 categories for this prestigious Award, which is internationally recognised in the vitivinicultural sector.
On this Anniversary, the Jury also wanted to congratulate and show support for publishers, thanks to whom the work of authors, photographers and illustrators is showcased to a high editorial quality.
With this in mind, the Acknowledgement of the 2020 OIV Award Jury was awarded to 4 Publishing Houses.
Submissions for the 2021 Awards are open from 1 September 2020 until 28 February 2021.
Publications, including books or websites, from around the world (OIV Member Countries as well as non-Member Countries) are anticipated to continue the long history of the OIV Awards – the aim of which is to promote the dissemination of knowledge about vine and wine among professionals in the sector, enthusiasts, and even novices.
On Tuesday 22 September, the Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Pau Roca, and the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, welcomed speakers from the wine tourism sector and participants from all over the world for a webinar jointly organised by the two organisations.
Held in cooperation with the International Wine Tourism Think Tank and moderated by Mariëtte de Toit-Helmbold, based in Cape Town, the focus of the webinar was put on “Innovating in wine tourism in the context of COVID-19".
Speakers from Argentina, Chile, France, Italy and Spain shared their recent experience on how they have dealt with the impact of COVID 19 on their wine tourism activity. Some common trends have emerged in how to innovate in order to rethink and recreate wine tourism in the current context. The importance of local markets, new partnerships, open air experiences and digital transformation were highlighted.
Get to know the customers to offer a personalised experience, finding the right balance between technology and human contact are fundamental for the participating panellists, as digital modifications are here to stay. Along with these changes, improving local tourism turned to be the key for recovery, having sustainability as a pillar.
Watch the webinar here:
On 13 October 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) published its arbitration decision on the Boeing subsidy dispute. This ruling allows the European Union to request authorisation from the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to take countermeasures with respect to the United States to the maximum total amount of 3,993,212,564 USD per year.
The 13 October decision echoes the permission the WTO granted the United States a year ago to raise tariffs on European products by 7.5 billion USD.
The 16-year battle is linked to the national subsidies received by the two airplane giants, Airbus and Boeing. The parties do not believe the estimated damages to both sides over the course of the trade war can be compensated for solely through measures concerning aircraft construction and trade. As such, sanctions have been authorised for other products. Wine has thus become a bargaining chip in a quarrel that it has seemingly little to do with.
The sanctions taken by the United States last year as part of the same dispute have already had a severe impact on the European wine sector. The 13 October decision opens up several avenues of negotiation to the two parties. One option is an escalation of new retaliatory measures. In actual fact, the United States is still a long way from reaching the 7.5 billion USD authorised last year, and the European Union now has the option to begin rolling out a plan for sanctions of up to nearly 4 billion USD. Another approach is that of dialogue and the release of products not directly related to the dispute from negotiations.
Although this fight between the two giants demonstrates the importance of wine for the economies involved, the OIV is calling for this opportunity to be seized and all necessary efforts made to re-establish free market conditions for wine.
The Director General of the OIV, Pau Roca, reiterated that “the wine sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis throughout the world and it has also been impacted by events linked to climate change”. He called for “every effort to be made at all levels to limit stressors and work towards facilitating recovery.”
To attend this press conference, journalists are kindly asked to send an email with their name and their professional contact details to press@oiv.int.
- Date: Tuesday 27 October 2020
- Time: 3pm CET
- Location: Zoom; YouTube livestreaming