Vinisud reveals plans to form half of global cool and warm climate hub

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 19 February, 2018

Vinisud has revealed ambitious plans to establish itself as one part of a global hub for international buyers looking for both cool and warm climate wines, as the fair plans to move to Paris next year.

Organisers of the Mediterranean fair, which is currently underway at its usual home at the Parc des Expositions in Montpellier, are now looking ahead to this time next year when it will run concurrently with cool climate expo Vinovision as part of a new Wine Week in the French capital.

The move to consolidate the Vinisud and Vinovision is part of a bold move by new owners Comexpoisum to establish a one-stop buying shop in France for buyers to discover both warm climate wines from across the Med and cool climate wines from France - with plans to increase this remit to include wines from the world’s other famous cool climate regions in the near future.

“Wine Week is part of a move by wine committees all across France who wanted to have one week where they could speak with one voice to global buyers,” show boss Pascale Ferranti told Harpers this morning.

“This includes wines of the Mediterranean and there is room to expand Vinovison to include the great cool climate wines of Argentina and Australia for example, because buyers want to be able to see the largest collection of wines as possible. But it was also important for us not to be a general wine fair. It is new, but buyers are searching for cool climate and warm climate wines. By consolidating into a single Wine Week, we are increasing our visibility,” he said.

Wine Week will also include the World Wine Meetings’ global event in Paris in February, having organised B2B meetings in Singapore, Chicago and San Francisco throughout the year.

These are key markets for the growth of Mediterranean wines, said Ferranti, which currently account for 28.7% of total world wine production.

At this years’ Vinisud fair, expanded areas for both rosé and sparkling highlight the growing demand for these categories, - including Limoux, which is celebrating it 80th anniversary this week, making it as one of the oldest appellations in France.

“Italy and Spain have the volume with Prosecco and Cava, while value is better in France, but across the board, these are very strong products which are being searched for by a lot by buyers,” said Ferranti.

For the first time, the fair is also highlighting producers’ efforts in the areas of sustainable and vegan, natural, organic and biodynamic wines, in line with research commissioned by Vinisud, which showed conscientious wine buying trends are growing alongside sales of organic food.

“These kinds of initiatives are important because they show efforts to improve quality but also a new way of consumption where consumers are very conscientious about the sustainability of the products they buy, especially millennial consumers, even if it costs a little more,” said Ferranti.

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