Sarah May Grunwald is originally from California by way of Australian parents and lived in Australia and Germany before settling in Italy in 2005. She graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in European Humanities and has a 3rd level sommelier certificate from AIS and has completed WSET. Sarah was a professor at a local University in Rome where she taught the course “Wines of Italy.” She is also the co-owner and manager of Antiqua Tours, which offers wine tastings, winery visits and cultural tours in and around Rome. In 2014 she was a speaker and joined the FAM trip for the IWINETC conference in Georgia and she fell in love with the country, people and wine of Georgia and now dedicates most of her time to wine and food travel in Georgia.  She is an ambassador for wine and travel to the Republic of Georgia and also offers food and wine tour services to Georgia and has co-founded a website and business called Taste Georgia which will provide group and private culinary and wine tour services to the country and also provide wine education services to educate the general public and people in trade about Georgian qvevri wine through representational services at trade shows and private tastings

Sarah will be delivering a talk titled:

Wine tourism in the Republic of Georgia, working with local government agencies and finding balance between wine trade and travel industries>>

Wine Tourism is gaining momentum quickly in the global tourism industry. The IWINETC is heading into its 9th conference and the number of people interested keeps growing. The Republic of Georgia hosted the first United Nations World Tourism Organisation International Wine Tourism Conference in September of 2016. It was a fitting place to host the first conference as the birthplace of wine. My talk will go over the key points that can be used globally as an approach to world wine travel and will cover the following points: Why work in Georgia? What makes Georgia special? Republic of Georgia specifically and working in a market that is just opening and still adjusting to global trends. How to work with local tourism and wine agencies efficiently, using my examples as a come any working in Georgia How to approach new markets; such as the growing interest from India and China Wine trade or travel industry? What has worked for us in Georgia when we work with media outlets The Republic of Georgia and its future as a wine travel destination. Predictions and plans.