"SPORTSMEN AND SPORTSWOMEN CONSIDER WINE TO BE AN ALLY"

Juan Ignacio Gallardo, Assistant Director of the daily sports newspaper Marca and the Journalist Olga Viza will be in charge of moderating two encounters at FENAVIN that will be debating on the relationships between sports and wine

The relationships between wine and sports, two worlds that are apparently far away from each other, but that have ended up coming together because they share the same values, representing a complement within all that considered to be a healthy lifestyle, will be holding the starring roles at the two encounters that will take place at FENAVIN, the National Trade Fair on Wine that will be starting on May 10th. The sports journalist, Juan Ignacio Gallardo, Assistant Director of the daily sports newspaper Marca and the journalist Olga Viza, who enjoys a sound and lengthy trajectory in the world of sports, will be in charge of moderating these round tables in which prestigious personalities from the world of sports will be sharing their experiences and impressions on sports and wine.

One of the goals behind this initiative is to approach all that wine and sports have in common, the same based on an open perspective and from the point of view of its major figures: former high level sportsmen and sportswomen who will be chatting about their projects and experiences in that pertaining to wine. Juan Ignacio Gallardo, writer and journalist with more than twenty years experience working for the daily sports newspaper Marca, mentions that the idea behind this activity is to "demonstrate that sportsmen and sportswomen consider that wine is their ally. It is also an everyday element in the world of sports, as it forms part of the lives of these athletes in a very special way when they retire."

The current Assistant Director of the daily sports newspaper Marca will be in charge of moderating the first round table, 'Wine and Sports', which will be held on the upcoming May 10th at 1.00 p.m., counting with the participation of Alfonso Pérez, Manuel Sanchís and Rafael Martín Vázquez, all former football players, along with Pato Clavet, former tennis player. This round table will focus on the project that has been undertaken by Manuel Sanchís, former football player with Real Madrid, who once retired from football decided to upkeep the values of comradeship and friendship through the world of wine, the same by founding a winery in Ciudad Real and inviting his friends to participate in it. Bodegas Casalobos is located in the municipal term of the Ciudad Real town of Picón and it currently has three partners who are well-known sports figures, these being none other than Emilio Butragueño, Michel and Aitor Karanka.

However, Manolo Sanchís is not alone in this adventure, as there are other former athletes who have also decided to produce their own wine. The latest outstanding case is the star of the South Africa World Cup, Andrés Iniesta, who has just recently started to make wine with his own name, produced with grapes from vineyards that are located close to his home town of Fuentealbilla (Albacete).

This is not however the end to the relationship between sports and wine. According to the latest studies made in sports related dietetics, moderate consumption of wine can actually become an ally for the sportsman due to the beneficial properties of this product, in particular in those cases in which the human body is subjected to tremendous physical effort. Wine helps to regulate the digestive system, contributing to the absorption of proteins and with beneficial effects over the respiratory and circulatory systems. All these properties hold an important role in maintaining a healthy diet, this of course as long as wine is consumed in moderation and with responsibility. This is something in which both Juan Ignacio Gallardo and Olga Viza agree upon, with the latter underlining that thanks to her lengthy experience as a sports journalist, she has had the opportunity to see the moderation, responsibility and knowledge that the professionals of the world of sports have with regards to wine consumption.

The journalist Olga Viza, one of the most outstanding professionals in our country's sports media sector, will be in charge of moderating the second round table on 'Wine and Sports', which will take place on Wednesday, May 11th at 1.00 p.m. The starring roles in this second encounter will be held by different personalities from the world of sports, such as Gica Craioveanu, former Hispano-Rumanian football player, Rafael Sandoval, Sommelier for the restaurant Coque, Rafael Guerrero, former First Division football referee and Paolo Futre, former Portuguese football player.

This second round table will giving the floor to the same professionals from the world of sports who will be talking about their experiences within their different scopes, hence contributing to the participants becoming familiarized with the relationship between wine and sports, which is actually a much closer relationship than anyone could first expect. If we take into account the prestige that the world of sports enjoys in our country, the support of these personalities does indeed represent an important boost for Spain's wine industry.