Every year, more than 40,000 wine professionals gather in France for Wine Paris, Vinexposium's flagship event. And, according to Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium, it is here that decisions are made regarding the wines that end up on your supermarket shelf, favorite wine shop, your local restaurant wine list, and the many other locations where wine is sold.
“Though Vinexposium is a B2B event, where winery owners, distributors, retailers, and many other members of the wine and spirits trade convene each year, everything that happens here benefits the end consumer,” explained Lameyse, in a recent Zoom interview. “This is where the wine and spirits are selected. It starts here and ends up on a shelf somewhere in the world.”
Vinexposium's success has led to annual Vinexpo events in various countries. The main European event takes place in Paris (Feb. 2024). In the U.S., the next Vinexpo will be in New York on June 24-25, followed by Miami in 2025. In Asia, Vinexpo alternates between Hong Kong (most recently May 2024) and Singapore (May 2024). Vinexpo India, launched in 2021, will be held in Mumbai (Sept. 2024).
“We are truly an international organization, and have grown along with the global wine and spirits industry,” stated Lameyse.
During the course of our hour-long interview, Lameyse described not only how Vinexpo has evolved over the years (the name was changed to Vinexposium in 2021 when they merged with event company, Comexposium), but also how the global wine industry has changed so dramatically. He also shared fascinating insights in how consumer trends impact the wine trade, along with his vision for the future.
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Vinexpo Started Before Wine Ecommerce and Impacts Wine Trends
Established in 1981 in Bordeaux, the mission of Vinexpo is to facilitate the development of wine and spirits sales around the world.
“At that time, there was no ecommerce,” explained Lameyse. “But in 1982, Robert Parker started to release his wine notes, and there was excitement about the growth of the wine industry. Professionals would gather each year to share information, to taste wine, and to attend educational sessions.”
Today, the mission of Vinexposium has not changed, but the conversation has. “The beauty of Vinexpo is we witness what is relevant and trending in the global wine world. Recent conversations center around the impact of climate change on wine; the rise of new wine regions; changing wine consumption rates, and popular wine styles.”
Lameyse described how conversations between wine buyers and wineries can actually impact winemaking styles. “For example, a few years ago the Bordeaux wineries received feedback from buyers that their wines were too tannic, so they had to adapt their style to what the consumer wants.”
Educational sessions at Vinexpo events are also centered around what is topical and important to the global wine industry. “This year we had a master class entitled, ‘Is wine still cool?,’ and sessions on how reducing the weight of glass wine bottles can lower our carbon footprint,” reported Lameyse.
Changing regulations and political issues are also a hot networking topic. “Over the years we have witnessed political disputes, such as China’s sanctions against Australian wine, and the U.S. sanctions against French and Spanish wine,” stated Lameyse. “It used to be that the rise of crises used to be one crisis every ten years, but now it seems as if there are one or two new crises per year.”
The Global Expansion of Vinexposium
After the merger in 2021, the executive team of Vinexposium made the decision to relocate the large annual Vinexpo event from Bordeaux to Paris.
“It was a difficult decision, given that 60% of the attendees are from France, with many from Bordeaux,” explained Lameyse. “But we needed a neutral location, and Paris is only a 2 to 3 hour train ride from many French wine regions. We also decided to change the timing from June to February.“
And the decision paid off, because Vinexposium was able to double their revenues from 2020 to 2024, with 41,000 people attending Wine Paris this February. Given that 90% of their revenues are driven by renting booth space, the more trade show attendees, the better.
Vinexpo Hong Kong was started in 1998, but the decision to expand to Singapore on alternate years, came about due to Covid. “We understood after Covid that we needed a new southeast Asia location, and Singapore is an easy location for many people to reach,” he said.
Vinexpo New York was established in 2018 to better serve U.S. and South American wineries and wine buyers. The decision to establish Vinexpo India came about “due to our Pestle analysis in a strategy session,” Lameyse explained. The population growth in India, along with their growing interest in wine and spirits, makes it a perfect new location.”
Wine professionals from Africa and the Middle East usually attend the Paris event, but it is possible that some may now select India as well. Australia and New Zealand wine trade are well positioned to fly to Singapore or Hong Kong, as well as India.
So what is the future of Vinexposium? Given that they do have large competitors, such as ProWein in Germany, the London Trade Show, the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in California, and others, how do they remain relevant?
“We are building for the next generation,” stated Lameyse, “and continue to develop our footprint in Asia, America and Europe. The idea is to develop and diversify our community.”
He referred to the mission of Vinexposium as one of embracing and sharing the challenges of the wine and spirits industry, to help find solutions, and to assist in networking. “Wine is about sharing, so sharing a glass of wine and speaking to one another at the Vinexposium events around the world is important to unify our strengths,” he said.
And one of those strengths is the long 8,000 year history of wine. “Wine is history in a glass. When you think of how much work, how many days, go into a glass of wine, you realize it is not a simple sparkling water or Coca-Cola. Wine is a story in a glass,” Lameyse concluded.
