Analysis | HK Vinexpo 2016: All about wine… this time truly for what is in the bottle!

As the name indicates, Vinexpo is all about wine and now surely one of the major exhibitions in the world for wine and spirit professionals.
It is in many respects still highly connected to the city of Bordeaux, its birthplace, where it has been held every other year since 1981 with a growing success. During its latest French edition, in June 2015, 2,350 exhibitors from 42 countries welcomed a staggering 48,500 visitors.
But the expo has also become a highly anticipated ‘rendez-vous’ in our sister city of Hong Kong: after a first “test-the-market” foray back in 1998, Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, now Vinexpo Hong Kong, has been organized regularly along the same biennale pace, but on even years, since 2006.
For the organizers of the event, the first intuition proved to be the right one and if numbers are smaller compared to France, Vinexpo Hong Kong managed to host for its 7th edition on May 24-26th some 1,311 exhibitors from 33 countries and let in more than 17,000 visitors.
As a sign of the time, the entrance fee had been raised by a significant 20 percent compared to two years ago, and a strict “invitation only policy” for professionals enforced vigorously. But then, as one of the spokesperson for the Expo explained: “it is a trade fair, not a consumer fair,” and thus “wine tourists” are not the target for such an event.
And rightly so, according to a European participant who wishes to remain anonymous: “If you allow me to make a comparison, Vinexpo is far more professional than the Winefair I participated in last November.”
Though it might not be entirely impartial towards the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair organized by the HKTDC on a yearly basis since 2008, it is an indication of the prowess of Vinexpo as an innovative private entity.

Vinexpo Hong Kong is firstly about business, no doubt. Professional associations from all over the world — old and new, in the wine speech — encourage and subsidize producers to come and showcase their products at the doorstep of the fastest growing market for wine consumption: China, including Hong Kong, is today the world’s 5th largest wine-consuming country, and the 8th in terms of production. Industry heavyweights who sell millions of bottles a year are shoulder to shoulder with boutique winemakers whose properties do not exceed a few hectares. Some are there to please their distributor; others are simply looking for one with the (no-so-distant) dream to “conquer” the Celestial Empire market. A very concrete aspiration for the Italian pavilion, the guest of honor for this year’s edition, and also for the dominant Sopexa run French Pavilion(s) whose motto “Made in France, Made with Love” is to be seen on most of the Expo communication material.
The sheer size of the event is meant to dream big: the bulk of Halls 1 and 3 of the gigantic Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre that dominates the dramatic Victoria harbor is filled with booths of all sizes and hues over more than 30,000 sq. meters! And this is without counting the concourses and foyers where wine academies and connected events are being held.
Actually, beyond business, education seems to be the key to Vinexpo’s success, and even more so considering that Chinese consumers and buyers have grown in awareness and knowledge regarding what they pour in their glass — for actual consumption — and not only what they store as liquid assets in their wine coolers.
If the “must attend” master classes sponsored by Decanter, the reference magazine for wine aficionados, are pretty telling of this new demand (from “Chianti Classico Gran Selezione: The best that Chianti Classico has to offer” to Li Demei’s “Discover China’s wine regions” or “Shiraz/ Syrah-International expressions of a noble grape”), organizers will rejoice at this gain in maturity. For Guillaume Deglise, the CEO of Vinexpo, now “it is [all about] real consumption, which means that it’s not only about classified crus of Bordeaux, for example, but people consume wine from a variety of regions and at a whole range of prices.”
Participants at both ends, exhibitors and buyers alike, seem to be telling the same story: Eugenia Torelli from Fidora, the first property (since 1974) and seemingly biggest organic only producer from Veneto with 80 hectares of vineyards, is explaining in Mandarin to a sophisticated Chinese connoisseur the ins and outs of her estate’s interpretation of Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, Valpolicella Ripasso DOC and Valpolicella DOC… even though Fidora is not yet distributed in China and actually still looking for the right local partner!
For Igor Solomon, the CEO of Clos Dady (Sauternes), Château de Bastard (Sauternes) and Clos Les Remparts (Graves), the search for a Hong Kong distributor has been over for already a few years despite looking after only 6 hectares of vineyards, but Vinexpo is a must-come and a key stop on his Asian tour — he will then go to Guangzhou, Beijing and Tokyo — to introduce his boutique wines, although he admits that few producers from Graves actually make that effort at internationalization.
Ultimately, the idea that the so-called “Bordeaux bust” of the year past could explain the fast-
growing interest for entry-level wines as consumers spend less is only partially true.
Why bring the Best Sommelier of the World 2016, Jon Arvid Rosengren, otherwise?
Why introduce a new “Vinexpo feat. bettane+desseauve” series of tastings and master classes dedicated to unique and exceptional well-established or fast-rising winegrowers?
Why have for the first time ever a mock-up of the just concluded “Féminalise”, the only wine-tasting competition whose judges are exclusively women, over almost a whole day? In the words of Ludivine Griveau, the honorary president of Féminalise and first-ever woman manager of the famed Hospices de Beaune (60 hectares for 23 winemakers): “wine is after all a world of pleasure and passion, and women certainly know something about that. Being less judgmental, and more appreciative of diversity and complexity obviously brings an added value.” A pretty persuasive point if not yet a trend, both in Europe and China!