EAC Regional Festival Santorini May 2014

The program has not been finalised yet, but the following are some of the intended highlights:

• 5 dinners and 3 lunches, including an opening reception and dinner on Tuesday 6 May and a closing one on Saturday 10 May; there will be a free morning and no lunch on one day, probably on Friday. 
• The Andre Simon lecture on `The Wines of Greece’, delivered by Konstantinos Lazarakis, the one and only Greek MW, followed by a tutored tasting intended to show the amazing diversity and quality of Greek wines today 
• a visit to the Sigalas winery (arguably the best on the island), followed by a tasting and lunch 
• a conference on olive oil, followed by a tasting from various regions. 
• a lecture/tutored tasting of Greek cheeses from various regions. 
• a boat trip and guided visit to the island of Nea Kameni, where the volcano lies 
• a guided visit to the archaeological pre-historic site of Akrotiri

The Festival Chairman is Chris Bonsall, Chairman of the IWFS 2008-2010 and Chairman of the Hong Kong Festival 2001. He is assisted by Ari Sofianos, Chairman of The St James’s Branch of the IWFS. There is no IWFS branch in Greece, but Ari has secured the full collaboration of Yannis Theodorou, President of The Hellenic Academy of Gastronomy, who has organised two extremely successful similar international events in Greece in the past 5 years. Yannis is passionate about food and wine and has already purchased about half of the wines for the event, including some very rare specimens! The organisers are confident that this will be a memorable Festival and invite you to join them in this unique experience.

The dates have been chosen on the basis of the current direct London-Santorini flights on Easyjet on Tuesdays and Sundays (as well as on Mondays and Thursdays). In any event, there are also several flights every day via Athens.

The organisers are currently working hard on finding a suitable hotel and an announcement will be made in July. We expect the accommodation to be around £150 per night per room, including breakfast. Excluding accommodation and airfares, the full cost of the Festival will be £1,150 per person. This cost is based on the current GBP/Euro exchange rate. IWFS reserves the right to amend the GBP amount for the final payment if there is a significant change in the exchange rate. 

Numbers will have to be restricted to 60 participants due to the size of some of the selected venues. A waiting list will be opened once this number has been reached. A deposit of £550 per person will be required by 31 March 2013 to secure your registration. As this is an EAC Regional Festival, priority will be given to members within the EAC Zone who register by 31 March 2013.