Lameyse told Drinks International at Vinexpo Bordeaux earlier this week that the once biggest wine exhibition in the world is scaling down to meet local demands and will now run every year rather than biennially.
“We’re going to reshape Bordeaux. The size of the show is getting smaller and smaller but there will always be an appetite to come to Bordeaux. We’re also going to revisit the dates of the show because this is the first time it has occurred in May so we will assess how successful it is.”
The entirety of this year’s show took place in one exhibition hall and there was no longer a section dedicated to spirits.
Lameyse insisted that the Gala Dinner will remain part of the show and that the exhibition wants to work more with local wine makers to keep it “relevant”.
“We want to keep Bordeaux the wine capital of the world,” he added. “But we want to keep the show relevant to everyone who attends and we will also make it every year too.”
Vinexpo Shanghai will also follow in similar footsteps, with the show running every year from 2020 rather than biennial.
“I think the Vinexpo teamed a great job launching new shows, it was very opportunistic. But I think we need to be a bit bolder. I think having a show every two years in Shanghai is good, but not good enough and it needs to be every year because in China the market will lose momentum.”
The other piece of big news form Vinexpo is that its Paris show will now run alongside Wine Paris in February 2020 to focus on national buyers working within the French wine and spirits industry.
The exhibitions will run together from 10-12 February next year at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, having had approval from the boards of Vinisud and Vinovision Paris, which previously combined forces to make up Wine Paris.
“We want to work together. Since I joined I’ve heard lots of complaints that there were two shows in Paris very close to each other with different targets.”
According to a statement released by Vinexpo, combining the shows will strengthen the international reputation of French wine while both exhibitions will retain their own “inherit characteristics”.
