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The Dentist Behind World's First Undersea Wine Cellar
(2006-11-02 17:23:02)| 分类： 软文 |
http://www.grandhotels.com.cn/eWebEditor_V280_Free_sp1/UploadFile/2006112115132262.jpgDentist
Grand
Hotels’ Exclusive Interview With Dr. Ron Georgiou, Australia’s
13th Master of Wine
Interview: Cherry
Li Story: Kong Yan Photo: Li
Yang
Venue: One East On Third, Hilton Beijing
Venue: One East On Third, Hilton Beijing
“If you can
have fun with work, play as hard as you can.”
“Attention to detail and passion to life is one of the things I am bringing to Hilton Beijing.”
“Attention to detail and passion to life is one of the things I am bringing to Hilton Beijing.”
Dr. Ron Georgiou
MW leads a hectic, diversified life. The 45-year-old dentist in
practice runs concurrently a successful business specializing in
creating, designing and delivering cutting-edge wine concepts for
clients all over the world. A graduate of dentistry with honors, he
manages to sustain a great passion for wine, crafting a successful
career path in both areas as diverse as heaven and
earth.
Grand Hotels
caught up the dentist/wine specialist during his brief stay in
Beijing in early September for supervising a unique wine program
designed particularly for Hilton Beijing, and both parties had an
interesting dialogue filled with wit and humor.
“You’re a
dentist who runs a family practice 4 days a week, a Master of Wine
and trainer, a businessman and CEO of a private consulting firm; we
wonder what you are in a real sense? ”In reply, Ron assured us
with a hearty laughter that he was nobody but a passionate
Australian who loves life dearly. He looks to create as many new
opportunities and experiences as possible in a limited life span
without being restricted to a particular discipline/industry. He
practices a great crossover, and enjoys switching roles in work.
“Arrange life professionally is to reflect in the mirror what I am
personally.”
Ron started
enjoying wine at the age of 17 or 18, under the influence of a
relative who has a great passion for wine. He naturally took some
basic courses in Australia, and the hunger for more information was
building when a friend with a wine auction business, a Master of
Wine, encouraged Ron to seek further education in wine outside the
country, to experience and develop an international
perspective.
As a result, he
contacted the Office of the Master of Wine Program in London, and
was luckily admitted in 1996 by the program despite his comparative
weak background. The program―requiring 30 hours of intensive study
each week and threatening with a 90% failure rate―was tough, but
Ron survived and graduated in 2000, the year Sydney hosting the
Olympic Games. This kicked off a multifaceted career.
The cooperative
tie with Hilton was built in 2001, when the General Manager of
Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa at the time invited Ron to help
work out an unconventional wine concept, one that nobody had ever
experienced in the past. The idea popped up over the breakfast
table on an April morning, and the result was the world’s first
undersea wine cellar (with a selection of 300 fine wines), a solid
structure―converted from a 20’ freight container―with a roof
atop, anchored securely by loads of sand to somewhere six feet
under the sea.
Contract with
Hilton brought Ron Georgiou to Beijing this time. Hilton targets a
specific property in a specific market, and Hilton Beijing has
given Ron the “flexibility to create thrilling new concepts never
before seen in hotels anywhere in the world”.
The event,
scheduled the day following our interview, was going to be a formal
wine dinner which delivers Ron’s refined wine theory through an
amalgamation of various elements－wine and presentation, music,
arrangement of table, chair and glassware and all that is related,
working together to elevate the whole experience in an
exceptionally creative manner.
An individual
program designed carefully to suit the clientele, the culture and
the city, the Hilton wine event is meant to take guests aback in a
way which they have never thought of would touch them. Attendees
are encouraged to indulge in food and wines, to engross themselves
in the music, to feast their eyes on the fantastic imagery and all
the high-tech tricks－images projected on the oversize screen, that
is－which would add spice to the atmosphere.
To ensure the
effect and maximize the experience for the client, Ron checked out
the site in advance, visiting in person all the restaurants in
Hilton Beijing―all outlets are going to promote his wine-list
during the period―and conducting intimate contact with the Chefs
as well as with the food to be served at the event. This is an
attempt to ensure that wines in the list are not going to overwhelm
the food, nor food wines.
Hilton Beijing
program is Ron’s first practice of his creative wine concepts in
Beijing. The Master of Wine has included China’s Capital City in
his business plan, with the vision of introducing more wines to
Beijing market, wines locals seldom have the chance to taste in the
mainland, rather than resting on the existing
brands/blends.
Although an
Australian wine specialist, Ron aims to create international wine
lists, for which purpose he has traveled extensively around the
globe, tasting wines of various origins. “Normally 400 wines a
month,” states Ron, beaming with evident pride. Each wine that he
put in the list is tasted by himself to guarantee the
distinctiveness.
Ron’s wine
philosophy is polished and sophisticated. “My guiding vision is to
make wine a multi-sensory experience that moves us beyond taste and
smell to one’s heart, spirit and mind,” he says. Wine, as he
mentioned with emphasis more than once during the conversation, is
an essential link to culture, history, music, art…It is more a way
of life. Tasting and appreciation of a particular wine is sure to
awaken the memory associated with certain culture, history, music
and art.
Dedicated to the
dual life of a dentist in practice and a wine specialist, Ron
Georgiou runs an extremely tight schedule. Why not give one up,
say, dentistry? The answer was swift and negative, without a second
thought. He loves being a dentist, a family practice in which he
has involved for 17 years, seeing kids grow up, families come and
go. His surgery is a great appeal to little patients, restoring the
scene of lush rain forests abound with tropical wildlife as well as
ones not that tropical, a Teddy Bear for example.
Besides, who
says one cannot develop two careers at a time, and harvest success
in both? “Life is like a blank sheet of paper, on which I can draw
as freely as I like,” he says. “The key is to get time organized,
and love what you’re doing.” To secure more time with
family－consisting of a beautiful Columbian wife and a gorgeous son
who just turned one－and patients, Ron has kept his overseas trips
short and intense, and each one is fruitful. After all, a solid
personal life helps one to be successful professionally, and vice
versa.
Ron
Georgiou feels great being able to share other people’s lives, and
letting others share his. Fortunately, his both careers provide
sufficient opportunities for such interaction. The lucky guy enjoys
wine immensely. With the passion, he is destined to develop further
in the path of wine training, consulting, concept designing and
event presenting, without necessarily abandoning dentistry. Grand
Hotels is looking forward to more of his exceptional wine
concepts.
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