Cool climate vision for Paris

A new international show for cool-climate wines will highlight this sector’s opportunities and trends next week. Db gets the highlights.

Next week sees the launch of VinoVision, an international wine trade show in Paris devoted to cool-climate wines, that will tap into a booming consumer trend and provide a platform to showcase the diversity of these wines.

“The name reflects that we want to present a new vision of wine,” the show’s manager, Brigitte Bouchayer, explains.

The show has been initiated by the trade associations of the Loire Valley (Interloire and CentreLoire), Burgundy (the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne), Champagne (the Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne), and Alsace (the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace), which wanted to find new markets, develop their exports and highlight the dynamism of cool-climate wines.

A report commissioned by the group found a huge opportunity for a wine show in Paris that could address the growing interest and consumption of wines from cooler-climate regions that are currently under-represented.

They have created the Association des Vignobles Septentrionaux (AVS) in order to launch VinoVision and Comexposium, the exhibition specialist whose portfolio includes Sial, the largest food-trade show in the world, has been chosen to organise the show.

“Historically, there is Vinisud, which caters for wine in the south and Vinexpo of course, but that is very Bordeaux-focused and broad so the visibility is not great for cool climate winegrowers,” Bouchayer explains. “And ProWein is becoming so huge that the visibility and specificity of cool-climate wines in particular is quite low.”

Bouchayer points to the steady volume sales of France’s cool-climate regions against the wider 1.4% drop in its wine exports. The first six months of 2016 saw “substantial success” in exports, particularly to the US and UK. Wine from the Loire Valley and Centre-Loire recorded their highest growth in the first half of 2016, up by 6%, with a 10% leap in exports to the US, while sales of Burgundy to the UK rose 17.7%, she says.

Paris is the ideal location for the show, Bouchayer adds, partly because it has long been a key market for wines from these regions and a hub for exports, but also because it is so easy to get to, both within France and internationally.

Key European Markets

In the first year, around 15% of the show’s visitors are expected to come from outside France, from key European markets, but this is expected to grow as the show becomes established.

This year will see nearly 400 French exhibitors representing the show’s partners, as well as the Jura, Beaujolais and Savoie, but the plan is to attract international producers next year from the UK, Oregon, New York, Washington State, New Zealand, Germany, and Hungary. “The idea is to showcase cool-climate wines from France and abroad, so there are lots of opportunities to grow,” Bouchayer say. “Next year it will be part of the development.”

One of the key partnerships is one between VinoVision and NellyRodi, an agency specialising in trend forecasting.

“We wanted to get away from doing the kind of surveys you often see at trade shows, and have a more prospective vision, giving information to the exhibitors and visitors about how wine consumption is changing and evolving,” Bouchayer explained.

It will present ‘Omni’, a trend book and forum within the show looking at the evolution of key moments when wine is consumed, and the millennial consumer. Aspects will be drawn out in the daily masterclass programme, which will be run in conjunction with each partnering trade associations.

“We want to give a platform as we really think that different types of consumption really correspond to the new trends and there is a lot of diversity that people haven’t finished discovering”.

Key Facts: 

> VinoVision Paris, the International cool-climate wine exhibition, takes on 12-14 February in Hall 4 of Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

The show has been organised by Comexposium in conjunction with the Association des Vignobles Septentrionaux – partners from the Loire Valley (Interloire and CentreLoire), Burgundy (Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne), Champagne ( Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne) and Alsace (Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace).

The show wants to present a new vision in trade shows, taking inspiration from the expectations of French and international buyers and providing answers about the evolution of consumption modes.

> Register: www.vinovisionparis.com