BORDEAUX, FRANCE – June 19, 2015 – When Vinexpo 2015 closed its doors yesterday after five days of intense work in Bordeaux, France, 2,350 exhibitors from 42 countries had taken advantage of the world’s leading international wine and spirits fair to meet buyers, sign contracts, learn about important trends and meet their commercial networks.
While the final figures for the number of visitors will be announced next week, two strong trends are clear. One is the quality of visitors, a fact remarked upon by exhibitors. The other is the international scope of the show with wine and spirit professionals arriving from 151 countries – a new record. Vinexpo is without doubt the world’s foremost meeting place for professionals from the wine and spirits sectors.
Initial ranking of visitors from outside France – they accounted for 36 percent of the total – saw China reinforcing its position at number one. The attraction of Vinexpo Bordeaux for Chinese visitors continues to grow with an increase of 14 percent compared with 2013.
The United States, designated Country of Honor this year, took second place with an increase of 14.5 percent in the number of buyers.
A strong presence from Spain (third place) and Italy (fourth) underlines the fact that Vinexpo is a major business meeting place for professionals from the South of Europe.
Overall, the number of visitors was on a par with 2013. The number of French visitors showed a slight drop, compensated for by an increase of 2 percent in international visitors.
Vinexpo is, therefore, clearly positioned as the incontestable hub for international wine and spirits business.
Cecilia Muzzi, export manager for Italian winery Cecchi, said, “We go to other exhibitions, but for us Vinexpo is not only the place to meet international players from Asia, the USA and Latin America, but also niche markets like French Guiana, the Maldives, or Africa.”
Vinexpo is the Venue for Business
Visitors and exhibitors welcomed warmly the numerous innovations at Vinexpo 2015:
Rosé, sparkling and sweet wines were showcased in the new Flights tasting spaces, where visitors could pre-select and discover these wines before visiting the stands. This new system of sampling was hailed as a real time-saver.
The personalized meeting service, One2Wine meetings, proved very effective and enabled the setting up of more than 1,000 business meetings. This service was particularly appreciated by Chinese and American buyers and the One2Wine meetings service will be repeated.
The conferences organized by Vinexpo proved the keys to a detailed understanding of many international markets. Attendees at the presentation, “Inside the U.S. Market,” organized in collaboration with Wine Spectator, were enthusiastic about the quality of the presenters, the subjects addressed and the analyses revealed. The conference on “Africa, the future destination for wines and spirits” unveiled the opportunities of this potentially strong market.
Not least, the Spiritual bar area, organized by The Spirits Business, with the participation of mixologists from the United States Bartenders’ Guild and Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, put a new emphasis on spirits from many countries.
Gastronomy is an Integral Part of the Wine and Spirits Sectors
The new layout of the exhibition, featuring a gastronomic promenade turned towards the lake, delighted visitors. The quality and variety of menus proposed by the restaurants, the snack booths and food trucks were vastly popular.
The food and wine workshops set up in partnership with Gault & Millau and led by top chefs enthused both visitors and exhibitors.
Digital Commerce is the New Reality
For the first time the #DigiZone welcomed bloggers and web communicators to exchange views about digital technology as well as wine discoveries. At the same time, Vinexpo put in place a virtual digital strategy via its twitter feed, Facebook and online videos showing the dynamic nature of the exhibition.
Digital communication is a reality of the wine economy which merits its special place at Vinexpo. The organization’s app was a great success and was downloaded 5,000 times.
“The DigiZone was an amazing initiative and a great place to meet other bloggers,” said Wendy Narby of the blog www.insidertasting.com/blog.
Smooth Traffic Flow
The extension of tram line C to the Parc des Expositions, which enabled visitors to get from Bordeaux’s city center to the show in 20 minutes, visibly improved traffic flow around the exhibition.
Upcoming Vinexpo Exhibitions
During a press briefing on June 17, Xavier de Eizaguirre, Chairman of Vinexpo, and Guillaume Deglise, CEO of Vinexpo, announced a new format for the exhibition: in 2017 Vinexpo Bordeaux will take place over four days from Monday to Thursday.
They also announced the dates of the next two Asian exhibitions. Vinexpo Hong Kong will take place May 24-26, 2016, while Vinexpo Tokyo will take place from November 15-16, 2016.
About Vinexpo
Founded in 1981, Vinexpo has evolved into the world’s leading show for wine and spirits professionals and a partner for the wine and spirits industry worldwide. Vinexpo is held in Bordeaux in odd-numbered years; since 2006, Vinexpo Asia-Pacific has taken place in Hong Kong in even-numbered years and has become the key exhibition of the industry in Asia. 2016 will welcome Vinexpo Hong Kong and Vinexpo Tokyo. Before each exhibition, Vinexpo commissions studies on industry-specific issues and presents the findings in conferences around the world. Since 1999, it has produced a world market study with a five-year outlook, as well as a variety of trend reports. For more information, visit www.vinexpo.com.
I am not sure about that the majority of stallholders and attendees would entirely agree with this. Most exhibitors openly spoke about the high cost and the lack of amenities. The halls were not well air-conditioned so meetings were often uncomfortable and wines not optimally served. The new innovations were most welcomed and we love coming to Bordeaux but it seems that Vinexpo can no longer claim to be number one- the other international wine show not mentioned in the article- Prowein- is already number one. Vinexpo needs to work harder to win back the title. We hope it can do so!