fi:af
fi:af
I enjoy creating and executing first-class special events, either for professionals or for consumers. It takes a lot of patience and diplomacy to organize and execute a top-level event for wine and spirits importers and marketers, but this is a skill that I have developed during the past 20 years of working with top sommeliers, wine buyers, leading retailers and restaurateurs, as well as commercial wine and spirits companies and non-profit organizations.
To take one example, beginning in 2007 through 2010, I organized an annual French regional wine tasting and education series for the French Institute Alliance Française, a non-profit New York City-based cultural institution. Thanks to my strong relationships in the wine business, I was able to secure charitable donations of all the French wines and spirits featured at these tastings from leading New York City fine French wine suppliers and wine and spirits distributors. On behalf of FIAF, I identified and briefed our star wine sommeliers each season – top wine stewards from Cru, Cookshop, Restaurant Boulud and Café Boulud restaurants – each of whom offered commentary and accessible information about each of the wines tasted during each season. The FIAF Tour de France Wine Tasting Series featured top wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhone Valley, Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon and Champagne. The program was so successful and well-attended, it generated needed funds for this non-profit institution.