GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Wine Promotion (SWP), the national marketing board, and Presence Switzerland (PS) have signed a two-year agreement that should provide a significant boost to the country’s wine exports.

It kicks in immediately, 22 September, with SWP’s involvement in the Roman part of the Giro del Gusto, a food and wine tour of Italy by Presence Switzerland during 2014 that is a lead-up to the 2105 Expo Milano (May to October), with its theme of Feeding the Planet/Energy for Life.

The Giro del Gusto is making three stops in 2014: Milan in May, Rome in September and Torino in October.

Expo Milano 2015, a universal exposition; it will give the two groups a chance to develop tools and experience that will benefit Swiss wines at other other major events, including the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Paolo Basso, the world’s 2013 Sommelier of the Year, will be working with the two groups as part of the agreement.

Focusing on the neighbours to make Swiss wines known

The 2015 exposition is a major part of PS’s three-year (2012-2015) plan and budget, and its diminishing towers promise to attract a good deal of attention. A PS priority is Switzerland’s image in neighbouring countries. SWP is also targeting the neighbours, to build recognition for Swiss wines. The two groups did not mention budgets or any financial aspects to the agreement in their press release.

Less than 2% of Swiss wine is exported, and, in a vicious circle, one of the main difficulties in pushing this to a targeted 5% is that recognition of Swiss wines is low outside the country, Nicolas Schorderet, director of the Swiss Wine Exporters Association, told me last week that the only solution to this is communication and more communication. And this takes money.

Presence Switzerland has responsibility for the image of Switzerland abroad, as a unit within the Federal Foreign Affairs Department. It also implements the strategy of the Federal Council for Switzerland’s communication abroad.

The new agreement puts SWP in charge of selecting wines used by Presence Switzerland, including wines for Swiss embassies; the organization, based in Geneva, is charged with ensuring that the wines correspond to a set of criteria for each country and that Switzerland’s six wine regions are well represented. The wines must promote the image that Switzerland sets out to show, with quality high on the list.

Gilles Besse, president of the wine marketing body, says he is pleased that the new agreement will “improve recognition of our wines abroad,” with a framework that goes well beyond serving Swiss wine at Swiss embassies, a decision made by the Federal Council in 2010, thanks to pressure from parliament and the exporters’ association, a move that was widely saluted by the wine industry.

Nicolas Bideau, ambassador and head of Presence Switzerland, says the stronger collaboration between the two groups gives them access to top quality products and, in addition, “we can also take advantage of stories whose strength is that they share the image of a Switzerland that is proud of its traditions and innovative – in a position to respond to changing tastes in the marketplace.”