|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Texas Hill Country Wineries, Texas is another founding member of Global AVA. (Photo courtesy of Global AVA) 
The wine region of Baja California, Mexico is among the nine founding members of Global AVA. (Photo courtesy of Global AVA) 
The wine region of Alentejo, Portugal is represented on Global AVA. (Photo courtesy of Global AVA)
A newly formed partnership between nine wine regions called The Global Artisan Vintners Alliance extends past borders to exchange best practices in the wine industry.
Composed of winemakers, wine associations, government representatives, tourism and economic development organizations and business associations, the alliance is meant to foster collaboration between wine producing regions around the world.
The founding members are small and midsize wine regions including Livermore Valley Wine Community; Texas Hill Country Wineries; Chilecito, Argentina; Dalmatia, Croatia; Chinon, France; Alentejo, Portugal; Vale dos Vinhedos, Brazil; Baja California, Mexico; Badacsony, Hungary and Ensenada.
As members, they will participate in professional development opportunities, student and professional intern exchanges and share best practices within the wine industry.
The group celebrated its founding at a press conference, Feb. 27.
“This alliance will allow all partner regions to work together and expand opportunities for their winemakers and wineries as well as enhance tourism to their respective parts of the globe,” Brandi Lombardi, executive director for the Livermore Valley Wine Community, said in a statement.
The alliance formed through a collaboration between Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert and Livermore Valley Wine Community — a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization that offers educational and marketing programs for wineries, growers and members in the Livermore Valley American Viticultural Area.
The vision behind Global AVA was to create a network of wine region partners who could trade ideas over shared values and struggles, Haubert explained.
As part of Global AVA, there will be quarterly meetings online to discuss topics including winemaking techniques, sustainability methods, marketing and brand awareness, agri-tourism and government regulations.
An annual in-person gathering is also meant to give professional development opportunities to the members.
Moira Smullen, representative of about 200 winemakers in Chinon, France, said the collaboration through Global AVA is a way to swap stories and experiences.
“But it’s also a great opportunity to professionally collaborate in what is a pretty crowded wine world,” Smullen said. “We need to amplify each other and get our stories out there in front of wine drinkers all over the world because we make great wines, we just don’t have these giant marketing budgets.”
The alliance also aims to help each other navigate through industry challenges like reports from the World Health Organization that drinking wine is not healthy, according to Lombardi.
“It’s a very interesting topic to dance around and to figure out,” Lombardi said. “One of the initiatives and one of the priorities of this group is to make sure that we are sharing messaging that continues to tell the truth, that’s not inflammatory, that’s not fear-based, that is still promoting the fact that drinking wine, enjoying wine is a lifestyle.”
So far, there has been one regular Global AVA meeting online, hosted by Livermore. The inaugural in-person meeting is set for June in Livermore, with rotating locations in subsequent years.
In the near future, Global AVA expects its membership to grow, as the organization is looking to have partners in Germany, Chile and other parts of South America.
