| February 15, 2013
This past week, Maxi’s Creative Director and miwinebarrel COO, Joshua Rubin and I attended the Midwest Grape & Wine Conference and Trade Show in St. Charles, MO. This was our second year attending this event and it showed. We were treated very well by the organizers from Vineyard and Winery Management. Our booth location was excellent, right next to our good friends Ron and Pam Lancaster from Titan IBC. They are the good folks who make our miwinebarrel Stainless Steel IBC’s to our and our customers’ exact specifications.
The first night had the Tour de Vin Welcome Reception where along with appetizers we were treated to wine tasting from various Midwest states. I must admit that I was amazed with both the variety and excellence of the various white and red wines, both dry and sweet, from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio. If I missed any of the presenting states, it was not due to the quality of their wine, just the quantity that I consumed.
The trade show had several hundred more attendees than the year before, there was a steady stream of people inquiring about our product lines. Once again our mixture of Oak and Stainless Steel wine barrels drew a lot of attention and Requests for Quotes. Our newest offering, the 5 gallon stainless steel wine barrel was of particular interest to many of the conference attendees.
The last night we had a 6 course meal with specific wines for each course. The food and wine were both excellent. If you have never attended one of these events, you should at least once.
This was the first of four Wine Trade Shows we will be attending this year. We will be the Keynote Sponsor at this years Michigan Wine and Grape Conference in East Lansing. In March we will be at the Eastern Winery Exposition, Lancaster, VA and the Wineries Unlimited in Richmond, VA. Look for ore posts from these conferences.