Liberty Wines latest agent to skip LIWF

Published: 01 March, 2013

Liberty Wines has confirmed it will not be exhibiting at the London International Wine Fair for the first time in the company's history.

Liberty Wines, headed by David Gleave MW, had been present at the fair for every year since it was founded in 1997.

"After much internal debate, we have decided that we are going to take a break from the London International Wine Fair this year. We remain committed to the idea of a London Wine Trade Fair that focuses on quality wine and is held in a more central venue. If such an event returns, then we will consider returning. This is the first time in 25 years that a company with which David Gleave is associated will not be exhibiting at the fair, so it was not an easy decision for us to take," a spokeswoman said.

The distributor plans to ramp up its own activities over coming months instead and hold more tastings at its new premises in Clapham. It has also seen 550 customers at recent portfolio tastings in Bristol, Edinburgh, Dublin and Manchester.

Liberty Wines is not the first agent to have pulled out of LIWF this year, Enotria, Bibendum and several generic bodies will also be giving the fair a miss.

Last month Ross Carter, the new LIWF exhibition director told Harpers his team was listening to the show's fiercest critics to ensure the show has a future. "The fact people are being critical shows they care about the fair, which is a positive. The people who are not coming in 2013 have all said they will look at it again in 2014," he said.

Printer friendly version