ECRM curates face-to-face meetings with distributors and retailer buyers whose category needs align with those of the seller. Mickey Deehan, our US based market development manager, will be representing Wine Victoria at this event.

Wine Victoria will be showcasing 13 wines at this year’s SommCon Conference and Beverage Expo in California. The “Taste the Wines of Victoria, Australia” Seminar will be presented by Bob Paulinsi. SommCon is the preeminent gathering for wine, beer, and spirits professionals, in North America and is an exciting opportunity to showcase the diversity and quality of our wines and our regions to US buyers and forms part of our ongoing commitment to growing Victorian wines in the US.

Wine Victoria, with the support of Global Victoria, is planning a 4-city roadshow across North America in 2025, targeting Denver, Phoenix, Houston, and Atlanta. The roadshow will feature a masterclass and a walk-around tasting in each city, with a media event planned for Houston. The key audience for these events includes trade professionals (distributors, off-trade buyers, on-premise buyers, eCommerce buyers, sommeliers), influencers, and media. Wineries and agents who export to the USA are encouraged to align their travel plans with these dates and consider scheduling ancillary activities, dinners, and meetings while in-market.

A third and final inbound across Victoria is scheduled for early 2025 for key distributors, retailers and on-premise buyers. See highlights from our 2024 inbound below.

Wine Victoria is excited to announce a partnership with The Tasting Panel Magazine and The Somm Journal, featuring a series of collaborative events and promotional activities. This partnership includes an editorial Wine Victoria study guide series and magazine advertising to enhance our visibility and engagement with key industry players.

As part of this collaboration, we are hosting a Wine Victoria Webinar Masterclass on Friday, October 1, 2024. The Tasting Panel Magazine and The Somm Journal will recruit up to 80 buyers to receive samples of eight Victorian wines and join the masterclass, led by high-profile wine educator Lars Leicht, The Somm Journal's VP of Education. The wines will be shipped by Wine in Tubes.

Additionally, Wine Victoria will participate in the inaugural International Cabernet Symposium in Paso Robles, CA on November 1-2, 2024. We will have a table at the Grand Tasting, showcasing up to six wines, and a spot on the panel for two separate seminars.

Looking ahead, Wine Victoria is set to host events at Somm Camp on July 30-31 and August 1, 2025. These events will include winemaker dinners and tastings designed for top buyers, offering a unique opportunity to connect with industry leaders and showcase our exceptional Victorian wines.

Wine Victoria is expanding its media partnerships with Vinous to enhance our regional presence and highlight Victorian wines. This collaboration will involve comprehensive tasting reviews and reports on key Victorian wine regions. James Forsyth of Vinous Magazine notes, “We’ve already received a ton of feedback from major industry players that Angus’ reports to date have made a meaningful difference to their ability to select and sell Australian wine. But there’s still a long way to go. Victoria is a particularly exciting region that people should know more about.”

The agreement will cover three Victorian regions over the next 18-24 months: Yarra Valley and East Victoria (including Gippsland), Rutherglen and beyond (covering Heathcote, Goulburn Valley, Strathbogie Ranges, Upper Goulburn, Glenrowan, King Valley, Beechworth, Alpine Valleys, Murray Darling, and Swan Hill), and South Victoria (encompassing Geelong, Henty, Grampians, Pyrenees, Bendigo, Macedon Ranges, and Sunbury). Additionally, Vinous will develop a proprietary version of the Wine Victoria map, similar to their new official map of Sonoma County AVAs, to further showcase these regions.