This January, California’s capital city of Sacramento will become the center of the wine and grape world as thousands of industry professionals gather for the 2010 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, one of the largest events of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
The Symposium, to be held at the Sacramento Convention Center Jan. 26 – 29, will feature a mixture of informational sessions and a trade show that highlights the latest innovations in equipment and services available to the industry.
The event will begin with a general session that explores hot issues facing the wine and grape industry. The schedule:
* Tuesday — The Metrics of Business Sustainability
* Wednesday — The State of the Industry
* Thursday — Looking Forward: How Consumers Find Information and Inspiration for Their Wine Purchases
Each afternoon, the Symposium will host smaller breakout sessions that target specific topics in the areas of:
* Grapegrowing
* Winemaking
* Business, Economics and Operations
* Marketing and Public Relations
On Friday, a single-topic, day-long session entitled “High Elevation/High Latitude Symposium: Wine Growing on the Edge” will be held. The symposium will look at the special challenges that face winemakers and grape growers who work at higher elevations and latitudes.
Speakers from several countries will give presentations, including Vittorino Novello, Professor of Viticulture at the University of Torino in Piemonte, Italy, and Pat Bowen of the Pacific Agri-Food Research Center in Okanagan, Canada.
The event also hosts the industry’s largest trade show of its kind, with more than 500 vendors from around the world displaying their products and services.
