Zone News
We welcome two new Chairmen for the Zones, and members of the International Council of Management – Steve Hipple (Americas) and Michael Tamburri (Asia Pacific)
AMERICAS - Steve Hipple
The various Americas Branches have responded in diverse ways to the Covid-19 virus. Some branches have had negligible interruption in scheduling dinners at local restaurants: Omaha, Council Bluffs and the Cayman Island branches fall into this category. Other branches, such as New York and Chicago have had to cope with no indoor dining and then limited capacity seating at restaurants, yet have had success in scheduling Zoom tastings with wine and food delivered to participants.
New York has been very active and innovative this year, starting their 86th season two months earlier, in July, with their very first Zoom Tasting and dinner and have held seven Zoom events so far. For dinners the branch has managed their food deliveries by carefully packaging them and sending them Priority Overnight with dry ice or freezer packs or picked up on the day of the event to ensure freshness. Included in each box are re-heat instructions for all meals their attendees receive. They set up an itinerary for the evening, including times to open the wines, when to start cooking and when to connect to Zoom. Their events started in Italy with the winemaker Salvatore Ferragamo joining members via Zoom just after midnight, from Tuscany, with his wines of Il Borro and a meal prepared by chef Raffaele Ronca of Rafele’s. The New York branch team, and many of our other branches, are to be congratulated for their hard work in putting so many events on for members in such difficult times.
Regrettably, a few branches have been unable to have dinners and are anticipating resuming activities upon the availability of a Covid-19 vaccine. Hopefully, normalcy will return to all Americas Branches shortly.
There is light at the end of the day! On the horizon are Covid-19 vaccines, both Pfizer and Moderna pharmaceutical companies' immunizations are approved for distribution by the FDA. Naturally, many of our members have fervently awaited this fabulous news and are ready to celebrate.
ASIA PACIFIC – Michael Tamburri
Warm holiday greetings from the APZ.
This is my first address as Chair of the APZ and I am greatly honoured to take over from James Lin who has retired. Thank you, James, for your contributions and we wish you and your lovely wife Kelly a good retirement. 2020 has been challenging for many, with most branches being unable to hold meetings however, we have been lucky in Perth as we have been able to hold events since August. We held our virtual APZ AGM in Perth last month. Thank goodness for teleconferencing which keeps us together during such times. Looking forward to 2021 which will hopefully see us meeting in Singapore on 18th to 20th June for our rescheduled APZ festival weekend.
Wishing you all happy holidays and may 2021 be filled with good news and cheers.
EUROPE AFRICA – John Nicholas
As I write, there is a glimmer of hope that vaccines will enable a return to social gatherings during 2021 but it looks like virtual events are here to stay too! Clearly they will never replace face-to-face events as they cannot allow us to enjoy that essential social interaction. However it has become clear that virtual events have allowed those who may not usually be able to take part to join in. Virtual events make the world a much smaller place and allow us to be more inclusive – whether it is on a branch or international level.
Numerous EAZ branches have been very pro-active ensuring that their members have been provided with a regular timetable of events - as our Branch News focussed on the recent innovative events held by West Yorkshire. But there have been many more. Moscow held an online dinner with the long-time partner of the branch “Buloshnaya’ restaurant in Moscow. The dinner scenario included video greetings and live broadcasts from members in different Russian cities and other overseas countries. London have held regular events including a number of wine tastings from inviting members to introduce wines they had been drinking during lockdown to a more formal tasting of three ‘Rich and Oaky’ New World Chardonnays which were delivered by a local wine merchant. Merseyside & Mid-Cheshire held an indoor wine tasting which met with Covid-19 guidelines. The presenter was wearing a visor and event noted that the visor ‘concentrated the nose’ – so again there are nuances from these restrictions which make for an enjoyable event! An upcoming event being run by the Zurich branch is members are invited to buy certain wines and then decide what dishes they feel match best with them. Watch this space for news of how it went. Many other branches have also been holding events including Blackpool & Fylde, Devonshire, Helsinki, Herefordshire & Monmouthshire, Manchester, Surrey Hills which have all been reported in our Zone magazine Wine & Food.
It is great that many members have succeeded in maintaining contact with each other. I also know that many branch Chairs and committee members have maintained communication with their members, particularly those who have been self-isolating or vulnerable.
The Executive Committee (Exco) has also kept things moving. Three new members have joined Exco. Our quarterly meetings have been held on Zoom. The marketing strategy has been progressed and ideas are in the pipeline for implementation. Of necessity, the two festivals planned for 2020 have been postponed to 2021. We have postponed the Piedmont festival from April to July 2021. Details of the these, including the relaunch of the Cambridge festival can be found on IWFS website / Events page.
It remains for me to thank all those who have helped during these times. To wish everyone, your families, and friends an enjoyable and safe festive season, whatever restrictions you might be facing. I also wish you all a Happy New Year and hope for a resumption of our events and festivals where we can again enjoy good food, good wine, and good company amongst like-minded friends.