“Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris”, France candidate to become the center of world wine business

One of the major events dedicated to the wine business, and first on the calendar of wine Fairs is “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” 2023. The event has just closed, confirming the choice to focus on the French capital to restore centrality to France in the panorama of International wine fairs. French wine, and more, in Porte de Versailles, has rediscovered its lost role at “Vinexpo” in Bordeaux. Up until 2019, every two years, the wine Fair brought the wine world together on the banks of the Gironde, but now it has been replaced by the “Week-end des Grands Crus” (June 9th to 11th), organized by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, and the “Bordeaux Wine Festival” (June 22nd to 25th), mainly for consumers.
In Paris (as we had written here) there was a lot of Italian wine, including many of the most famous producers, starting from the Langhe and its leading brands ,such as Michele Chiarlo. Stefano Chiarlo told WineNews that they attended “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” for many reasons. “First of all, Paris is a hub for the players in La Place de Bordeaux, which distributes our Barolo Cerequio on various markets around the world. It offers us the opportunity to meet buyers and importers also from faraway countries, especially Asians, though there were actually fewer than expected. And, “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” is a gateway to many markets in Northern Europe, from Belgium to Denmark. Of course, the dates on the calendar are a help, but the proximity to ProWein forces both importers and us producers to make a choice, because we must consider the costs associated with Fairs, especially for a company like ours, which is already commercially very structured, and used to presiding over markets that are already solid, rather than looking for new importers”, Stefano Chiarlo concluded. Giampiero Bertolini, CEO of the historic Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino brand, and of the Isole and Olena Chianti Classico brands, which are both in the EPI Group galaxy, enjoyed a privileged point of view and observation at the "Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” in the space dedicated to Champagne, where its Italian labels were alongside Charles Heidsiek and Piper-Heidsieck. “These were very intense days for us, in which we met importers from every corner of the world, especially from central and northern Europe. The feeling was that the Fair would like to become International, like ProWein, but continue to be very much centered on France. France dominated, in terms of attendance, although the International Pavilion was still somewhat inadequate. The intent to gnaw space and shares at ProWein appeared evident, but it is still a distant goal. However, there are points in favor, like the organizational skills of the French, the beauty of a city like Paris and the desire to open up to the world. The vast majority of professionals, moreover, were at the “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” for French wines, knowing full well that they will meet the rest of the wine world at ProWein. Ultimately, though, if the Paris Fair is able to Internationalize, many could possibly prefer it to the one in Düsseldorf”, Giampiero Bertolini concluded.
The top and dominant player was obviously business, that the Government totally supported. As a matter of fact, “Wine Paris - Vinexpo Paris” enjoys the patronage of Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic. Plus, Marc Fesneau, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, opened the Trade Fair, which Olivier Becht, Minister of Foreign Trade, also attended and emphasized the record numbers of the French wine & spirits supply chain in 2022, amounting to a trade surplus of 17 billion euros, as well as Olivia Grégoire, Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Commerce, Trades and Tourism. Minister Fesneau reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to support the wine supply chain, which is fundamental for the French economy, and is experiencing a complicated moment of transition, fraught with challenges and obstacles. “We must try to move on, as we already announced last week. Crisis distillation is the first in a series of measures that will be taken and will immediately see two tranches of 40 million euros each distributed, to be repeated. Following that, we will continue to work on measures that are part of European mechanisms. We will be uprooting vineyards to fight some vine diseases, partially with FMSE (Fonds National Agricole de Mutualation Sanitaire et Environnemental) for sanitary uprooting, and partially with FEADER (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) for agricultural reconversion, aiming also to know what will become of the territory. Secondly”, Fesneau continued, “we must project ourselves into the future, using all the existing export support measures. Thirdly, we need to understand how we can overcome climate change. Distillation, explants, support for the sector, conversion to exports are the paths to follow”.
The quality of Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium’s work has been, first of all, confirmed by the numbers at “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris”. There were 3.387 exhibitors (250 from Italy), 20% more exhibition space than in 2022 and 25% more International exhibitors, from 42 producing countries, who met with 36.334 visitors (+41%, which becomes +85%, taking into consideration only International visitors), of which 38% International from 149 countries, including a massive presence from Belgium, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There were many Masterclasses offered, which engaged 3.250 wine professionals, while the “Off” program brought “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” to the heart of the city, and over 180 venues, including cafés and restaurants. “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris 2023 proved to be a success in visitor participation, which showed exponential growth, and in the quality of the business meetings as well. This edition has shown that it is possible to plan a Fair that has an ever-broader program of events and products combining food and wine, business and atmosphere. And, this encourages us to push the limits even further and think even bigger, so that we can be worthy of the trust that has been placed in us. “Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris” is the meeting point of a world on the move, whose International dimension is constantly growing”, Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium, commented.
The dates of the 2024 edition will be February 12th to February 14th. Over the next few months, the Vinexposium calendar will fill up with dates around the world. The first is “Vinexpo Asia”, from May 23rd to May 25th at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, where hundreds of producers, wine companies and Consortiums will participate from all over the world, including Italy, from Tommasi to Velenosi, the Consorzio della Valpolicella, Piccini 1882, Tua Rita, Astoria Wines, Batasiolo, Tenuta del Buonamico, Caruso-Minini and Ponte 1948. The French contingent, as it is easy to assume, will be especially rich, and will include all the main wine regions of the Hexagon, represented by brands such as Nicolas Feuillatte, Georges Duboeuf, Maison Albert Bichot, Badet Clément, Plan des Moines, Paul Mas, Advini, Domaine de Cazaban, Vignoble Lorgeril, Duclot, Joanne, Ulysse Cazabonne, Castel, Borie Manoux, Ballande & Meneret, Barton & Guestier, Domaines Jean-Michel Cazes, Maison Descaves, Maison Ginestet, Maison Sichel and Nath Johnston. And then, from Argentina, Grupo Peñaflor, of the Zuccardi family, and Catena Zapata, from Spain there will be Vicente Gandia, Gonzalez Byass, Bodega Baron de Ley and Manzanos Wines, from Chile Montes Wines, from South Africa DGB, from Australia Casella Family Brands, from the United States Jackson Family Wines, and from New Zealand Booster Wine Group, just to name a few of the top most important companies.