INVITATION BY THE PRESIDENT
The Construction of Wine
To combine the two words “Wine” and “Construction” may seem surprising at first glance.While the word “Wine” is well known to the OIV and has occupied our attention for over 85 years, the word “Construction” refers us immediately to notions of architecture, geometry and mathematics. But “construction” is also “the operation that consists of assembling and laying out the materials or components to form a complex whole”; it is also “the action of composing a work to an ordered plan”.
It is this combination of science, knowledge and art that our Portuguese friends have called “conspiracy” that leads us to Vines and Wine. The 34th World Vine and Wine Conference will attempt to foil the secrets of this conspiracy by examining the construction of a wine, the constructions for wine, the construction of wine towns and the construction of wine markets. In other words, oenology, architecture, the environment and the economy will be at the centre of our concerns with regard to the Wine for the 3rd Millennium that we are in the process of constructing.
Portugal will be the host for an international OIV event for the 6th time. After Lisbon, which has already hosted the 5th Conference en 1938, the 31st Assembly in 1951, the 11th Conference in 1965 and the 23rd Conference in 1998, it is now the turn of Porto, which hosted the 64th Assembly in 1984, to receive the 34th World Vine and Wine Conference from 20 to 27 June 2011.
I am sure that the worldwide reputation of Porto and its wines, the Portuguese people’s sense of hospitality and the originality of the proposed theme will convince a very large number of participants to contribute towards the “construction” of a new event that is essential to the world of vines and wine.
Yves Bénard
President of the OIV