February 26, 2025 (Bethesda, MD) — Abridge™ – a comprehensive online resource for alcohol beverage companies trading products internationally – is delighted to announce that its sixth annual Wine & Spirits Competition will be held in Dijon, France, on 04-05 March 2025.
“Our competition helps students understand the role that regulatory compliance can play in the alcohol beverage trade. Labeling norms, international trade agreement rules, tariffs, and taxation can make or break a business,” Abridge’s President Bennett Caplan noted. “We are enormously grateful to Edouard Mognetti of the Burgundy School of Business and Theodore Georgopoulos of the University of Reims for hosting this competition.”
Abridge’s Vice President of Operations Laurel Parker designs the case studies and organizes the competitions each year. She will run the competition this year together with Nathalie Grzeskowiak, Coordinator of academic activities at the Burgundy School of Business, and Liz Bohner of FIVS. “We are delighted to provide an excellent hands-on opportunity for these students, allowing them to encounter real-world challenges in the alcohol beverage industry, while developing critical skills in marketing, branding, and product evaluation,” Ms. Parker said. “The competition also provides networking opportunities with experts from the field.”
During the competition, a jury of international experts will judge the export strategies of students from the BSB Burgundy School of Wine & Spirits Business and the Georges Chappaz Institute of Vine and Wine in Champagne at the University of Reims. This year’s panel of judges will include:
- Alinne Bernd – Federal Agricultural Tax Auditor, Ministry of Agriculture (Brazil)
- Dwayne Bershaw – Senior Lecturer – Enology, Cornell University (United States)
- Bennett Caplan – President, Abridge (United States)
- Juliette Dionisi – Attorney at Law – Intellectual Property, CASALONGA (France)
- Damien Griffante – Director – Strategy and International Affairs, Australian Grape & Wine (Australia)
- Vincent Guionet – Director of Sales, Maison Albert Bichot (France)
- Julie Hesketh-Laird – Chief Executive, FIVS (Scotland)
- Kelly Moss – Associate Director of Compliance & Regulation, WSTA (United Kingdom)
- Josephine Murray-Golden – New Product Development Manager, Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard (Ireland)
- Adriaan Oelofse – Research, Development and Innovation Manager – Oenology, South Africa Wine (South Africa)
- Naomi Verdonk – Market Access Manager, Wine Australia (Australia)
- Paul Wagner – Instructor – Viticulture and Winery Technology Department, Napa Valley College (United States)
This year, four teams of students – who come from Belarus, France, India, Luxembourg, Turkey, and the United States – will present arguments regarding whether a fictitious wine and spirits company – facing declining sales and other challenges – should export its wine and spirit products to the European Union or the United States. The students will make use of Abridge’s database as they navigate labeling, taxation, and trade regulations for wine, distilled spirits, and “other alcohol beverages” such as seltzers and no/low alcohol beverages for the two markets.
The Abridge™ database provides its subscribers with the latest regulatory norms and compliance information, as well as relevant international agreements, for 54 markets, representing 110+ countries around the world. The database addresses the categories of certification, composition, definitions, labeling, production, tariffs, and taxation for wine, spirits, and other alcohol beverages. Anyone interested in seeing a demonstration of the Abridge database should feel free to contact Bennett Caplan at bcaplan@abridgebev.com or 202.486.1390.
