The question of how to meet the challenges of the corona crisis and the resulting strong trend towards “home office” and “home delivery” and how to gain something positive using the new technological possibilities also arises in the wine industry. Currently, the students of the Bachelor’s degree programme “International Wine Business” at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems are staying dutifully at home, in Austria or in their countries of origin throughout Europe, and are taught via “distance learning”. This usually works very well. But how can we deal with mandatory courses such as wine sensory analysis, for which physical tasting is an elementary component? The answer is the “Remote Tasting Lab”.
The “Remote Tasting Lab”, an innovative cooperation between the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Bründlmayer Winery with Master of Wine Andreas Wickhoff and Weinabo Abothek
The “Remote Tasting Lab” is a live video lecture by Andreas Wickhoff, Master of Wine and Managing Director of the Bründlmayer Winery. To ensure that this is not just a dry run, Weinabo Abothek sends a box of wines tailored to the contents of the course to the students, with wines from the Abothek’s monthly wine subscription programme and from the Bründlmayer Winery. This way, they can follow the lecture from home: not only virtually, but physically with precisely those wines in the glass that Andreas Wickhoff is talking about at that very moment. The “Remote Tasting Lab” thus brings together theoretical background information and the essential physical taste experience, creating lasting wine knowledge in an entertaining way. And because it is so convenient and effective, there are plans to open this format in one form or another to external wine enthusiasts in the future.
International Wine Business at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems
The Bachelor’s degree programme “International Wine Business” is a well-founded education that includes business management as well as legal, viticultural and oenological aspects. After six semesters, graduates are well prepared for all business management activities in the wine and beverage industry – on an international level, because the language of instruction is English. The application deadline is 30 June, 2020.
The Bründlmayer Winery and Master of Wine Andreas Wickhoff
The vineyards of the Bründlmayer family are situated on the hills around the wine town of Langenlois in the Kamptal valley. The Grüner Veltliner ranges from the drinkable “light & dry” to the single site wines. For generations, the large Kamptal site “Zöbinger Heiligenstein” has been inseparably linked with Bründlmayer. Wines from Burgundy varieties and the celebrated “Bründlmayer Brut” complete the range. Willi Bründlmayer runs the family winery together with his wife Edwige, Sales Manager Thomas Klinger and Managing Director and Master of Wine (2012) Andreas Wickhoff, who, after many years on the international wine markets, has been in charge of the operative management of the renowned winery in Langenlois since 2016.
Abothek: fine wine coming home – best plans for quarantine
Abothek provides the most uncomplicated access to the beautiful but sometimes quite complicated world of wine: every month, for a low fixed price of 33 euros per month (incl. shipping), three specially curated wines from all over Europe are sent to subscribers in a box designed by artists together with a “instruction leaflet”, also designed by artists, with an entertaining explanation of the most important facts about the wines, winegrowers and regions. Thus, they can embark on an exciting wine discovery trip in a relaxed manner and, if necessary, comfortably re-order the individual bottles in the Abothek shop, true to the motto “Fine wine coming home”.
