This Guest post was written by Guillem Sanz Obach exclusively for SocialVignerons.
Do you love wine? Coming to our city? Put two bottles in your wine suitcase and enjoy a taste of local wines. This is TradeforWine, a thriving social project helping worldly wine lovers tip back glasses. The project started in Barcelona and now has expanded to the United States, particularly in New York City, NY and Paso Robles, California.
A year and a half ago TradeforWine was born as a social project and even more so as a wine cultural meeting point for wine lovers traveling to Barcelona. The aim of attracting wine lovers around the world visiting Barcelona to trade wine and above all offering wine tastings with local wines of Catalonia, independent and customized, has been the mission statement since the beginning.
We are Guillem Sanz Obach, a sommelier and Catalan architect, and Chandler Stump, a California native, a graduate of Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine and balanced with a passion of wine and culture.
People from Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy, USA, Argentina, Lebanon, Australia, Fiji and Hong Kong among others have visited Barcelona to try this revolutionary experience. Now we have expanded the project and two more cities in the world will have their doors open and wine glasses ready: New York City, NY and Paso Robles, California.
But, let’s get to the details. Many have asked us: how does TradeforWine work? Does it cost something? Where is the event taking place? What will this wine taste experience consist of?
Well, TradeforWine is a social project with the goal of inviting wine lovers from all wine regions in the world traveling to one of our cities, and providing unique, personalized and non-commercial wine tastes with local wines.
This is not another touristic activity. There is no money involved, it’s just a trade. It is a trade between wine enthusiasts that is symbiotic in nature. Naturally there is more to the event than just wine being traded, but that is where the magic happens, it’s an exchange of culture with wine as the cohesion.
Wine has brought many of us together and we’ve shared a lot of laughs between sips.
So if you are planning to travel to a TradeforWine city, all you have to do is go to our website. Choose your destination, what kind of wines you would like to try and your preferred dates, and then wait for our confirmation.
Once we’ve confirmed, choose a wine from your land that you love and feel is worth sharing with fellow wine enthusiasts, 2 bottles per person to be exact, and wrap them nicely and nestle them in your wine luggage. Once you arrive, meet us on the agreed date and be prepared for a spread of our local favorites and appreciated. For smaller groups, the event is normally held at the host’s place, otherwise at a convenient locale such as a winebar.
The idea of this project came after a trip to California in 2014 where a local wine lover asked us to trade the wine we just tasted at her tasting room for one we were carrying in our car. It was something unexpected, but we thought, hey, why not?
We usually bring wine for family and friends and fortunately, that time we had an extra bottle. This, along with the experience of the wine tasting culture in California, as well it’s entrepreneurial mentality, all fermented into our subconscious minds for several weeks after returning. Then we went for a walk, talking about our ideas of a wine trade project and then, not just one, but many light bulbs fired on all simultaneously.
For us TradeforWine is an example of beginning your own start-up without focusing on money or investors. Sometimes you can start a project yourself and you can do a lot with very little.
The project is now looking to expand to other continents in 2017.
We want TradeforWine to become the global wine community that allows wine lovers traveling to meet local people with the same interests wherever they go.
Do you consider yourself a wine enthusiast? Are you passionate about the wine regions where you live? Why don’t you share it with the rest of the world? Become a TradeforWine Ambassador and show the world your region’s unique wine!
And remember, if you are planning to travel to Barcelona, New York or Paso Robles, don’t think twice; put two bottles in your luggage and let’s TradeforWine!
Please let me know your thoughts