Hi Sachar,
I think Europe is the best compromise for people on most parts of the world. It has direct flights from almost everywhere (are there any New Zeland/Australia/Antartica Wine developers? I'm also not sure about South America).
I think there was pretty clear agreement on this point earlier; in fact, I had the sense that either France or Germany were the logical places, as we have a fairly significant number of wine hackers in those two countries, and they graciously traipsed over to San Diego last year.
On a side note - I'm not sure I will be able to afford a conference in the Americas.
The thing I was trying to say, however, is that with August approaching, if we want a conference around that time, someone had better start organizing it. I don't mind being that someone, but then you will get a conference in Tel Aviv. Personally, I think most Wine members should be more worried about the weather in Tel Aviv in August than about anything else (hot and humid. Not New York grade bad, but not very far either), but somehow I (sadly) suspect not many will arrive anyways. As such, maybe it's best if someone else organized it.
If people are REALLY worried about Tel Aviv, I can offer Jerusalem, where it isn't so humid (plus the city itself is beutiful, and you are only an 1.5h drive away from all those wonderful places you got to hear about in the news).
You've hit the nub of it. Someone needs to step up and organize it; I think that person then gets a big chunk of the vote on exactly where it is. (Of course, holding it in, say, Liberia, would likely reduce attendance a bit...)
Holding it somewhere near one of the Bay Area, Switzerland, Minnesota, or some exotic place Alexandre wants to travel to will increase the likelihood that he will be there.
Cheers,
Jeremy