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Vinexpo unveils ‘huge’ organic focus and refutes going ‘head-to-head’ with Prowein

Published:  03 December, 2019

Vinexpo has ramped up its focus on organic wine for its 2020 Paris event and has refuted that it is going ‘head-to-head’ with Prowein as it gears up for its first show in the French capital alongside Wine Paris.

Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexpo, said Vinexpo’s World of Organic Wine (WOW) show-within-a-show would be “huge” at Vinexpo Paris, building on the concept first introduced at at Vinexpo Bordeaux 2017.

“The number of exhibitors at WOW gets bigger every year - which reflects this commonality of purpose in the industry.

“Today, we simply can’t overlook the demand for organic wines and spirits! We need more than ever a clearly-defined organic offer to meet the needs of this booming market. And this is exactly the purpose of our dedicated WOW area where we are expecting 120 producers,” he told Harpers.

Although the producers would mainly be coming from France, Vinexpo Paris would also be welcoming other world wine regions such as Chile, Lebanon, South Africa and South Europe, he added.

Lameyse also took the opportunity to refute the combined Vinexpo and Wine Paris event next year was an attempt at going ‘head-to-head’ with Prowein, insisting that there is “room for both shows”.

“What I want to emphasise is that Prowein and Vinexpo need to both be there to offer an alternative to the market. I don’t want to kill Prowein because I think it would be a sin as it’s an opportunity for both brands to really find their space. I need my friends from Prowein and ask me if I consider Prowein my competitor, I will tell you no,” he said.

Vinexpo, he added, is more focused on the premium brands but “we lacked this deepened portfolio of clients that we are able to have with Wine Paris. Probably Wine Paris and Prowein are more competitors for each other. Prowein and Vinexpo talk to the same clients but it doesn’t mean we are in competition”.

Lameyse, who was appointed CEO in April this year, also revealed how he plans to breathe a new lease of life into Vinexpo Bordeaux, which he said had “reached the end of its life in its current form”.

Changes planned for Vinexpo Bordeaux 2021 include moving the event from the Congres et Expositions de Bordeaux, where it has been held since the 1980s, with the 2021 event set to be “scattered around the city” across several venues including the city hall, the Palais de la Bourse and the Grand Theatre.

The event would “not be a trade fair as you know it”, he promised, but somewhere between an exposition universelle and a fashion wine week”, he said.



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