Rather like the FIFA World Cup Finals, every four years The Institute of Masters of Wine, gather together. The opportunity is used to discuss a wide variety of issues affecting the wine industry.

This year the symposium was held in the rarefied atmosphere of the Napa Valley, California.

I had an email sent to me the other day from our good friend, Jancis Robinson. She had just returned from the event and said that by far the best presentation, to her mind, was given by one of the few “outsiders” invited to speak there.

Terry McBride from Nettwerk Productions gave a detailed talk on “Innovative ideas for creating new micro-marketing techniques”. Much of his presentation focussed on how the internet has become a powerful tool in this area. Cool!

Our industry needs all the help it can get in connecting with the consumer and it’s encouraging to see people from other areas of business sharing their views and experience with us. I hope that the MW’s will use the information positively.

PS. Terry, it would be good to meet with you sometime. I’ve always considered wine to be part of the entertainments business and there are many common links between our industries