The Rioja 'Taste Experience Lounge' sponsored by the Spanish government, was set aboard a boat at the Expovina event held annually in Zurich.
The lounge was designed to be subtly informative about Rioja, its regions and grape varieties, people and culture as well as the wines and their classifications but not in the usual 'hard sell' sales expo way.
The idea was to recreate the atmosphere of a relaxed bar from the region with not only good wine but good music and good local food too. This informal change of direction proved extremely popular with the wine buyers who returned time and again during the three day event for various presentations, musical acts and food events. I designed a number of support materials including a brochure detailing the classifications, regions, grape varieties as well as a 'Z' card type tasting guide to the wines available for tasting as you made your way around the lounge as well as a general guide on how best to 'taste' wines and what to look for.
Sales of Rioja wines were comfortably up on previous years and the 'experiential' route declared the way to go for future expos.