Ross Carter steps down from London Wine Fair

Having described this year’s fair as “the most challenging” of his career, Ross Carter has announced that he is to step down from his role as director of the London Wine Fair.

Carter confirmed to db that he will leave his role at London Wine Fair organiser Brintex after this year’s show on 22-24 May, having first been appointed to run the show in 2013 when the event moved from ExCel in east London to Olympia in West Kensington.

Ross’ successor is due to be announced today. He dismissed rumours that the show will be moving to Battersea as “rubbish”.

“The Wine Fair isn’t moving venue, that isn’t on the cards,” he told db.

Rising costs to exhibit at Olympia have led to notable absentees this year, including Enotria, Mentzendorff and Pol Roger Ltd.

“Brexit has created challenges for everybody. It’s been a challenging year this year but we’re still riding high on a diverse set of importers and breadth of products,” Carter said.

Speaking to db last month, Carter described the 2017 fair as “certainly the most challenging of (my) career”, citing the turbulent political and economic climate and unfavourable exchange rates as the main reason for the difficulties.

“There is a sense of unease, and there are challenges for the UK importer-distributors because of exchange rates,” he said at the time.

“But these are not going to be ongoing problems; there will be a bounce back,” he added.