Vinisud trade fair goes annual

Vinisud, the trade fair dedicated to wines from the Mediterranean, has announced that from January 2017 it will now take place annually, rather than every other year.

The 2017 edition of Vinisud will take place from 29 to 31 January in Montpellier, France.

“Our decision to make Vinisud an annual event reflects the importance of our wines and growth of markets internationally,” said its president, Fabrice Rieu.

“It’s a new era. Furthermore, buyers need to taste the new vintage each year and Vinisud can offer a preview of the wines at the beginning of the year. This is particularly important given the increasing percentage of rosé wines from Mediterranean regions ‒ it’s difficult to imagine any importer or distributor buying rosé without having tasted it.”

The exhibition is expected to attract 20,000 visitors, including 6,000 international visitors from 70 different countries, with wines on show from countries inside and outside the EU including Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Israel and Lebanon.

Ahead of its January 2017 edition, set to take place from 29 to 31 January at the Parc des Expositions in Montpellier, France, organisers have released the results of two studies analysing the global marketplace and consumption habits among young wine drinkers in London and New York.

Carried out in partnership with Wine Intelligence, The International Observatory of Mediterranean Wine is the first study of its kind to give an overview of the production and markets of 17 countries inside and outside the EU and Mediterranean wines throughout the world.

Overall, Mediterranean countries produced 77 million hectolitres of wine in 2014, accounting for 28.4% of total world wine production. The South of France meanwhile represented 52% of total French wine production at 19.2 million hectolitres in 2014.

Germany is still the largest marked for Mediterranean wines, however the UK, USA and Chine showed the most growth. China’s consumption of Mediterranean wines grew by 46%, albeit from a small base, while the more established markets of the UK and US grew at 9% and 8% respectively, faster than Germany.

Overall, the UK is the third largest market for Mediterranean still wines. In 2015 the UK imported 14 million hectolitres of still wine (+8.1% vs 2013) of which 4.6 million hectolitres were Mediterranean wines (+9% vs 2013). The UK was also confirmed as the largest importer for sparkling wine produced in the Mediterranean, driven largely by the popularity of Prosecco.

Vinisud, in collaboration with the SOWINE agency and SSI, also published a survey analysing the drinking habits of millennial consumers (aged 21-35) in London compared with New York.

The survey revealed red wine to be the preference for men and women in both cities, followed by white, then rosé, with 44% of young New Yorkers and 34% of young Londoners drinking rosé several times a week. Surprisingly, men said they were far bigger consumers of rosé than women (56% vs 34% in London and 45% vs 24% in New York). Men were also shown to be bigger consumers of sparkling wine (excluding Champagne) on a regular basis, than women (54% men vs 27% females in New York and 34% vs 22% in London).

The final part of the survey, which looks specifically at millennial attitudes to Mediterranean wines, will be presented at Vinisud in January.