Changes: Gaja proposes Alliance between Vinitaly and Vinexpo

Not only is the climate threatening to change the wine world, he says. The biennial global wine show Vinexpo Bordeaux has been the wine fair par excellence for a long time. Born in 1981 and occurring every two years, it has grown little by little, attracting exhibitors and visitors from all around the world. For many people however, Bordeaux was not big enough to welcome them all and it was suffering from moments of great discomfort.

As a consequence, an increasing number of Bordeaux producers equipped themselves to receive the most qualified guests in their chateaux at the same time, offering them the chance to take part in the prestigious events they organized, individually or collectively. In this way, they triggered a competition with events at the Show, which was not beneficial for the quality of Vinexpo Bordeaux. It led to dissatisfaction for many exhibitors.

Comes Vinexpo Paris

In January 2020, VINEXPO PARIS will be held for the first time in the French capital city. It will be held every two years alternating with VINEXPO BORDEAUX. This means that in odd years like 2019 it will be held in Bordeaux while in even years like 2020, it will take place in Paris. If there are no major hurdles Paris will host the most prestigious international wine fair in Europe in future.

On the other hand, European wine producers will have to seek new customers on the Asian and African soils. More than attracting them to our country, it will become important to be able to interact with them in their homeland. VINEXPO, VINITALY and PROWEIN are already competing with one another to reach this goal: they are organizing repetitive and recurring  events in the Asian markets like Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. This puts a lot of strain on wineries, exposing them to the threat of wasting resources and time.

Alliance between VINEXPO and VINITALY

Angelo Gaja has put forward a possible novel solution to help alleviate this problem. He suggests an alliance between VINEXPO and VINITALY to plan a unique gathering, capable of Welcoming visitors and exhibitors alike and becoming an expression of the European wine promotion on international markets. The interest is mutual and producers would be thankful.

Gaja gives the example of the prestigious and influential American magazine Wine Advocate which was founded by the renowned Robert Parker in 1978. A few years ago it was bought by a Hong Kong entrepreneur, who then handed over 40% of the stakes to the Michelin Guide. Rumours have it that the Michelin Guide would be interested in buying out the remaining 60% too. So, in addition of being recognized for the stars assigned to the restaurant business, it would also become a guide to the most prestigious French wines- and not only! A strategic move, that.

Gaja seldom participates in the Shows directly though his wine and Riedel glass distribution company Gaja Distribuzione is ever present in Vinitaly and in Vinexpo he participates through a Distributor. He is always seen in Prowein too. In fact, this year he was named the 2019 recipient of the Winemakers’ Winemaker award, at a ceremony during ProWein on March 18 where I was present too.

Given annually by the Institute of Masters of Wine and the Drinks Business magazine since 2011, the award recognises outstanding achievement in the field of winemaking and is chosen by a panel of winemaking peers that comprise all Masters of Wine who are winemakers, and the past winners of this Award.   

Gaja is not afraid of taking bold and unconventional decisions. He is known to have walked out of the Barbaresco appellation years ago with his top iconic single vineyard wines like Sorì Tildin, Sorì San Lorenzo and Costa Russi as he chose to add 5-15% of the Barbera grapes prohibited by the appellation. He was unruffled by the criticism and charged ahead with his idea and ended up getting a premium of more than 2-3 times of the price of Barbaresco (this practice was changed back to 100% Nebbiolo by his daughters Gaia and Rossana and son Giovanni as they were given the charge of day-to-day running of the business from 2013 vintage.

You can bet Angelo Gaja will be present at Vinexpo Paris 2020 and hopefully also Vinexpo Bordeaux 2019 that is being held on May 13-16 next month. Vinitaly is about to open in Verona in a couple of days on 7-10 April.  

Paris seems to be getting a popular city for wine shows with Wine Paris having been organised by Vinisud and VinoVision in February this year, giving jitters to producers but giving an opportunity to consumers/buyers visit a global fair once every month within Europe.

For a related Article, please visit:

ProWein 2019: Spate of International Wine Shows to visit every Month from Jan-May

Gaja Back to Barbaresco Roots  

Subhash Arora

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