August 26th - 28th, 2022
Join us at Nashville’s Exclusive Travel, Wine, & Restaurant Exclusive Industry Event Weekend.
ELEVATE Weekend Package Includes:
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1 King Sized Bed
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Bring your favorite fine wine to trade & share with folks from across the world.
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Listen to Seasoned Industry Professionals, Somms, Winery Owners, & Michelin-Starred Restaurateurs
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Put your expertise to the test with our Bling Tasting Competition, accompanied by a catered banquet.
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Hear one of Nashville’s Top Up-and-coming Artists Perform Live in the Ballroom at the Kimpton Aertson
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Win prizes, wine, and bragging rights from the weekend’s festivities.
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Get dolled up in the long dressed and tuxes, it’s time for a formal dining experience.
What will we learn?
Saturday will be jet-packed with learning & engaging (while drinking & eating - of course!).
The Panelists will cover:
How to Succeed in the Hotel, Restaurant, Wine, & Travel Business
Captivating Success Stories
How to Start Your Own Travel & Wine Blog & Business
Becoming a Master
How to Get Followers, Gain Influence, & Get Noticed in the World of Hospitality
What will we do?
Friday, after you settle into your rooms, you’re invited up to the rooftop for a private, live concert from an acclaimed Nashville Musician with a full band. You can mingle with other attendees, and enjoy wine from all over the world, and grab some stellar hors d'oeuvres. Bring a special bottle to share and exchange, or just show up to enjoy. Don’t worry! There will be no shortage of great wine.
Saturday, we’ll get together for 3 sessions of panelists and the keynote speaker, interwoven with great food, wine tasting, and a blind tasting competition. After our midday break, we’ll join back together for a formal wine pairing dinner. Bring your gala-wear!
Sunday, we’ll join together for a small awards-brunch.
What will we eat and drink?
The Kimpton Aertson has coordinated with the National Food & Beverage Director to bring you top-of-the-line meals throughout your stay. From brunch to hors d’oeuvres to intentional wine pairings, you’ll leave the weekend satisfied!
As far as wine, we have a variety. You’ll try wines from around the world, but also have the opportunity to hear from winery owners and taste their wine. The wines you taste from our panelists and sponsors will be available for sale if you were to fall in love!
Our Major Wine Sponsors:
Winery 1
Winery 2
Winery 3
Keynote Speaker
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Session One: The Business of Wine
SOMMS & RESTAURANTERS
Tips, rituals, and practices of powerful wine-tasters and industry leaders.
PANEL TOPICS:
The Art of Listening
Post-Covid Restaurants
Service Styles and Beyond
Writing a Wine List from Scratch
The Importance of Knowing The Vineyard Staff
Wine as a Multi-sensorial Experience
Small v. Big Wine Producers
Liz Martinez ⫸
Food & Wine’s Somm of the Year (2019)
With over two decades of experience, Liz is known for designing award-winning wine lists for America’s best restaurants and will be bringing a wealth of experience to the ELEVATE stage. Liz devised a service program for Chef Rick Bayless’s Topolobampo in Chicago, resulting in a James Beard nomination for outstanding service in 2011. Liz’s wine program at Detroit’s steakhouse Prime+Proper made Wine Enthusiast magazine's Top 100 Wine Lists in the US two years in a row.
Marco Boldrini ⫸
Promoter, Advisor and International Trainer in Restaurant & Oenology
Marco has opened up and managed restaurants in Italy, UK and Australia, at Sidney and Melbourne. Marco is the talented scion of a dynasty of hoteliers and restauranteurs and therefore it is no coincidence that his great passions are food, wine and hospitality. He grew up in the “Lillotatini” family restaurant in Panicale (one of the most prestigious restaurants of Umbria), where he carefully followed the advice of his mother Patrizia and subsequently became a sommelier. Marco will be speaking at ELEVATE on the importance to meet people that work in the vineyard, in the cellar, behind the bottles that arrive in our tables in order to share their passion, wine as a multisensorial experience, and small v. big wine producers.
Erik Segelbaum ⫸
Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 & Advanced Sommelier
Erik Segelbaum was Food & Wine’s Somm of the Year 2019. He is Founder & Chief Vinnovation Officer at SOMLYAY LLC hospitality consulting, an Advanced Sommelier, Consultant, and Wine Educator. With nearly 3 decades of experience, Erik has created a highly profitable, award winning and operationally efficient beverage programs, effective staff and management training, revenue generating strategies, operational improvements, profitability maximization and more.
Session Two: Get Paid to Wine, Dine, & Travel
BLOGGERS, WEBSITE GURUS, & WINE WRITERS
Tips, rituals, and practices of powerful wine-tasters and industry leaders.
PANEL TOPICS:
Running a Successful Digital Media Company
Taking Your Love of Wine From a Hobby to a Serious Business
How to Tackle SEO and Get Millions of Website Hits
How to Make a Career in Wine
How to Get Wine For Free
The Future of Wine and Viticulture
How Fine Wine Can Become More Accessible
Growing your Online Brand, Business, Following, and Clout in the Industry
Mary Cressler ⫸
Wine, Food, & Travel Writer
Mary is a Certified Sommelier, mom of twins, former vegetarian turned BBQ fanatic, runner, and founder of Vindulge and author of Fire + Wine cookbook. You’ll find her cooking up new recipes every month on AM Northwest, the local ABC affiliate morning TV show in Portland, Oregon. Mary will be speaking on the business of running a successful digital media company (the kind where your husband leaves his corporate job to help you!), taking your love of wine from a hobby to a serious business, and how she gets over 1 million views a month on her website.
Jamie Goode ⫸
Author & Wine Blogger
Jamie Goode runs the wildly successful Wine Blog WineAnOrak.com and has his work published in magazines, newspapers (he even has had a weekly column in The Sunday Express since 2005), and books (Flawless, I Taste Red, Wine Science, The Science of Wine, and Authentic Wine (which have all won awards for excellence). Jamie will be speaking on How to Make a Career in Wine, How to Get Wine For Free, The Future of Wine and Viticulture, and go into “The New Fine Wine,” and how it can be more accessible.
Session Three: Industry Secrets
WINERY OWNERS, TOUR GUIDES, & HOSPITALITY GENIUSES
Tips, rituals, and practices of seasoned industry professionals.
PANEL TOPICS:
Selling Wine to Millennials
How to Run a Wine Business & Farm
How Podcasting Can Excel Your Business Growth
Expert Pitching Tips for Working with Brands, Hotels, & Wineries
How to Run an International Business
Sam Coturri ⫸
Owner of Sonoma’s Winery Sixteen600
Sam Coturri was born a fourth generation San Franciscan, but raised in the hills above Sonoma Valley, where grandparents bought land on Sonoma Mountain and planted a vineyard in the early 1960s. His father started his farming company in 1979 and together together, they formed the winery Sixteen 600 in 2007. Sam has the requisite skills to run the winery, with a wide range of experiences from political campaigns to corporate lobbying to event management, which prepared him for the job of selling wine and navigating family business. Sam will be speaking on today’s biggest complexes in the industry; i.e. selling wine to millennials, how to run the wine business and farm, how podcasting (and speaking directly to the consumers) has excelled their winery’s growth.
Anthony Campopiano
Private Italian Travel Guide
Anthony Campopiano runs Italy with Bella, a private wine tour company. Anthony is an Italian citizen, with ancestors from the province of Caserta, Italy but currently resides in Nashville, TN.
Chelsea Erica Smith
Event Coordinator // CEO The Wine Shutter
Elevate the Way You Tackle the Wine & Travel Business.
