Gourmet Food & Wine Show 2016 - Toronto

German Royalty Graces the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo

TORONTO, CANADA – Wines of Germany actively participated in the 22nd annual Gourmet Food & Wine Expo held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from November 17th to 20th, 2016. The 30,000 attendees consisted of media professionals, industry guests and wine & food enthusiasts. 

Expo visitors had the unique opportunity to meet the newly crowned German Wine Queen, Lena Endesfelder at the popular Wines of Germany Lounge and sample over 20 German wines available in LCBO, VINTAGES and on consignment. As eloquently expressed by Wine Educator and Sommelier, Lesley Provost, "these wines represent eight of Germany's wine growing regions, seven of the finest grape varieties, with styles from dry to sweet to sparkling -- the 2016 Gourmet Food and Wine Expo offered wine lovers the chance to taste an incredibly diverse selection of the wines Germany has to offer." 

In keeping with the holiday spirit, Wines of Germany held an exclusive Christmas Market themed Tutored Tasting led by the editor of Vines Magazine, Christopher Waters, with support from Wine Queen Lena. The Queen entertained guests with tales of traditional Christmas at her family’s winery. The 50+ participants in attendance also had the opportunity to learn and experience “Christmas Market” for themselves while sampling eight select German wines paired with delectable German Christmas delights. 

Peloponnese White Party 2016 - Toronto

TORONTO, CANADA - On June 28, 2016 the Association of the Wine Producers of Peloponnese offered an exclusive consumer tasting event at the Berkeley Field House. Guests embraced the whimsical white party theme in an indoor/outdoor environment while sampling over 20 wines from 10 Peloponnesian producers paired with Mediterranean inspired hors d’oeuvres and a DJ playing lively beats in the background. 

“The event was a big success!  Many attending the event were not aware Greece produced wine. This event allowed us to showcase the spectacular wines and culture from the region of the Peloponnese. Thank you to Andros Communication to make this possible” – said Konstantinos Rampaounis, Kolonaki Group.
 
 

Andros Communications Wins at 21st Annual "Elsie" Awards

Toronto, Canada – June 4, 2015 — The LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) honoured its industry partners, suppliers and agents for their innovation, creativity and commitment to customer service and social responsibility at the Elsie Awards held in Toronto on June 3rd. The Elsies is an industry awards program now in its 21st year. 

Andros Communications and its Managing Director, Ted Kalaboukis, were recognized with the Special Recognition Award 2014-2015, for on-going and successful collaboration with the LCBO to develop and premiumize the Chilean wine category, and in particular during the recent February 2015 South of the Equator Thematic, where sales of Chilean wine increased rapidly in the premium segments.

The Elsies recognize those “who have excelled at marketing their products and who have worked particularly wellwith the LCBO to help consumers discover the world of beverage alcohol,” said Shari Mogk-Edwards, LCBO Vice-President, Products, Sales and Merchandising, and co-chair of the Elsies. 

Chilean wines sales in Ontario are growing over +5% in volume and value in 2014/15. Double digit growth was experienced in the premium price points, with the $20-$25 points up +43% and the $20-30 points up +49% in value in 2014/15 and with renewed awareness for Chile’s signature grape, Carmenere. 

Andros Communications has represented Wines of Chile (Vinos de Chile) in Ontario since 2010.

We recently obtained for our client, Wines of Chile, a feature editorial, including front cover, in Air Canada’s enRoute magazine. enRoute has an impressive circulation of 120,000 monthly copies, a monthly readership of 1.2 million, with 9.6 readers per copy. The front cover feature is complemented with a nine page feature story, with an estimated media value of over $220,000. This targeted public relations activity brings a highly relevant audience to Wines of Chile, and will continue helping the Association and its member wineries to increase their premium market penetration across Canada and abroad. 

Generation Riesling visits Montréal and Toronto

German Wine Fairs in Montréal and Toronto surprise Trade and Consumers with their food-friendly wines!

MONTREAL & TORONTO – May 2016 – To highlight their innovative wines and winemakers, the Riesling & Co. German wine fairs visited Canada this spring. From the modern towers of downtown Toronto, to the quaint charms of Old Montréal, German wines found perfect pairings in the cuisines and tastes of Canadian wine lovers in Quebec and Ontario. Led by renowned sommelier and journalist Véronique Rivest in Montréal on May 17th and by Master Sommelier John Szabo in Toronto on May 18th   special food and wine pairing seminars for trade, and tastings for wine consumers, were held in Canada’s two largest cities.

Over 25 celebrated German wineries assembled 100+ wines in each city to offer guests from the retail, media, and hospitality sectors an extensive array of wines to sample and taste. “What better way to discover the versatility of German Riesling and its Pinots, than when matched with the passion of our German winemakers,” effused German Wine Queen Josephine Schlumberger, who was a special guest for the Toronto event.

Together with John Szabo, she led an exclusive seminar pairing of German wines with Asian cuisine.  The seminar highlighting the food pairing versatility of the fruits of these German winemakers’ labours, such as with drier styles of Riesling and varietals such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. In Montréal Véronique Rivest was joined by Ulrike Lenhardt, winemaker from the Baden region and representative of the German Wine Institute, to enthuse assembled media and trade on the specific virtues of pairing German wines with Quebec cuisine.

In the evening of May 17th in Montréal and on May 18th in Toronto, Wines of Germany hosted sophisticated evening tastings for over 200 wine lovers each — offering samples of German wines available for purchase and with many wines, event-only exclusives!  The Montréal tasting was held in the eclectic Galerie Lounge TD in partnership with charity Tablée des Chefs. Invited chefs included Michèle Forgione (Impasto, Gema, Chez Tousignant), Paul-André Piché (Gargantua, Blind Pig, and La Tannerie), Tommy and Frédéric (Pork Shop) and Yoan Boullion (Balmoral).

In Toronto, the evening tasting was held in the beautiful Arcadian Loft overlooking Toronto’s historic City Hall, with cuisine prepared by Oliver & Bonachini

Wines of the Peloponnese Soirée - Montréal

MONTREAL, CANADA - On May 10, 2016 the Wineries of the Peloponnese Association offered an exclusive consumer at the Galerie MX in Montréal. Guests had the opportunity to meet winemakers and principals from Greece, try over 35 wines from 12 Peloponnesian wineries while viewing unique pieces of contemporary art in the art gallery. Chef Paul-André Piché and his P.A. Gargantua food truck prepared delectable delights to pair with the indigenous varietals from the Peloponnese.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for consumers to taste unique wines coming from indigenous grape varieties of Mythical Peloponnese. From the authentic Greek terroirs of the region you find new and intriguing tastes that can match your style" notes Manolis Giamniadakis from the Wineries of the Peloponnese Association.
 

BC Liquor Stores Wines of Germany Thematic Month

German wines shared the spotlight with Asian foods in BC Liquor Stores throughout the month of May, 2016. 40 stores featured the “Taste the New Perfect Pairings with Wines of Germany & Asian Cuisine” promotion and showcased lively displays of a wide assortment of Germans wines, giving consumers an opportunity to learn about the diversity of German wines and how well they pair with Asian cuisine.

The program commenced with a free consumer event on April 16 at the Cambie and 39th BC Liquor Store featuring German wines paired with gourmet Chinese foods, hand-crafted from Vancouver’s best Asian food truck: Roaming Dragon.

German Wine Seminar & Exclusive Consumer Tasting - Calgary

In April Wines of Germany teamed up with savvy Calgary retailer Metrovino to hold a seminar on German wines for a motivated group of local sommeliers.  Led by winemaker and Deutsches Weininstitut representative Ulrike Lenhardt, participants learned the latest on developments in the industry.  In the evening and an exclusive consumer tasting of German wines was held for Metovino’s VIP customers.

Generation Riesling sojourns in Toronto and Montréal in May 2015

MAINZ, GERMANY – May 2015 – To highlight their young innovative wines and winemakers, the Generation Riesling wine fairs visited Canada this spring.

From the modern towers of downtown Toronto, to the quaint charms of Old Montréal, German wines found perfect pairings in the cuisines and tastes of Canadians. Led by German Wine Queen Janina Huhn [see photo], Generation Riesling toured Montréal on May 20th and Toronto on May 21st.

Over 20 celebrated German wineries assembled their wines in each city to offer guests from the retail, media, and hospitality sectors an extensive array of German wines to sample and taste.

“What better way to discover the versatility of German Riesling and its Pinots, than when matched with the passion of Generation Riesling, the new wave of German winemakers,” noted Wine Queen Janina who together with renowned and well respected wine personalities Véronique Rivest in Montréal, and David Lawrason in Toronto, led educational seminars in each city.  The seminars highlighting the food pairing versatility of the fruits of these young winemakers’ labours, such as with drier styles of Riesling and varietals such as Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Pinot blanc.

In the evening of May 21st, Wines of Germany partnered with VINTAGES (LCBO) to host a sophisticated evening for over 250 Toronto area wine lovers, offering samples of German wines available for purchase at VINTAGES and with many wines event only exclusives!  The tasting was held in the eclectic Cathedral Centre in the historic district of Toronto.

Canada is the sixth largest market for German wines in the world with over 618,000 cases sold in 2014, representing over $93 million in annual sales.