FRANCE: Vinexpo eyes return to US

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 14 January 2009

The chairman of the world's largest wine exhibition, Vinexpo, has told just-drinks that organisers would consider an expansion into the US.

Vinexpo may one day return to the US in recognition of the country's importance to the wine world, Xavier de Eizaguirre told just-drinks in an interview today (14 January).

Vinexpo is held bi-annually in Bordeaux, where it was founded in 1981, but recent years have seen the show also set up in Asia, first in Japan and then Hong Kong.

Growing wine markets in different areas of the world mean that the Vinexpo brand must have a more global outlook, although Bordeaux will remain the main exhibition.

De Eizaguirre declined to put a timetable on a possible move into the US, but added: "The US is becoming the largest market in the world in terms of production and even consumption."

Vinexpo first tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 2002, when it organised a show in New York, but has not returned following criticism of the idea from exhibitors.

De Eizaguirre said that, while a return to the US was possible, there would be no expansion beyond that. "The problem is that people cannot do everything. You cannot ask big companies to become just exhibitors."

Sectors: Wine

Companies: Vinexpo