Vamos Argentina!

I'm always asked, "what do you think of Napa, or have you been to Napa?" and my response is usually -- "Well I've been to Argentina probably around 35 times but Napa only twice." "But you're in the wine industry", people will usually say, and I respond, "Yes but I've only been on the import side and my specialty is Argentina." In fact the first time I went to Napa was with a bunch of my Argentine friends who happened to be in CA along with me for a Wines of Argentina Tasting many years ago. I'm still pretty close to most of the guys from that trip which was over 10 years ago; we are lifelong friends and I get to see them every time I go back to Argentina for work.

So speaking of going to Argentina and visiting, I just got back from a fantastic trip, and for the first time I didn't have to be the organizer! In another blog I will recount the amazing trip I just took; however, I'd like to reminisce a bit first. Since 2006 I had led Educational Trips for my previous company and what a treat this time to be taken on a trip. Being in the wine and spirits industry, we are incredibly fortunate to be able to travel the world; we get to taste the finest wines, eat amazing food, stay in some of the most beautiful accomodations in the world, immerse ourselves in the culture and surround ourselves by fantastic people. Sounds like a dream come true right, well I can actually say this part of working in the "industry" is amazing, and I will never say otherwise.

As I got ready for this particular trip, I started thinking about the first time I took a group of people down to Argentina. It's a lot of organizing that goes into making these trips seamless and sometimes the country doesn't quite cooperate! And boy do I have stories! In future blogs I will tell you about some of the funny things that happened along the way to Argentine, what can and did go wrong and how to make it work when it seems like all the elements are against you. These trips are about the folks attending and how great an experience you can create for them. It's the responsibility of the organizers to make sure of that so that afterwards the attendees have fallen in love with the wineries, the country and of course your company. It takes a combination of the right people, organizing their travel to and from, and working with the wineries to create the right experience.s It's all a complex coordinated effort that when done right will yield a "trip of a lifetime." Argentina is a long ways away but trust me, but it's totally worth the hours to get there. The folks at the wineries truly are some of the most amazing people I've had the pleasure of working with and as I said in the beginning, many are lifelong friends, as are some of the folks I've hosted on these trips.