July 16: The leading global wine show Vinexpo spreads its wings and joins SIAL India to bring the all-important Show to India for the first time, on an annual basis, in collaboration with Inter Ads Exhibitions with years of experience of successfully organising over 100 trade shows including wine shows in the Capital, writes Cavaliere Subhash Arora who feels this would be the defining moment for the wine shows in India with the humongous Show totally backing the Show and will attract exhibitors and participants from pan- India
Both the Shows- SIAL India and Vinexpo India will run concurrently at Pragati Maidan, strictly following Covid-19 norms existing at that time. The Show is jointly organised by Comexposium which owns and conducts several wine and spirits shows in France and throughout the world including Vinexpo, Vinisud, World Bulk Wine Exhibition and Wine Paris. This show is also expected to include spirits, with space for around 20-30 international wine producers alongside Indian producers, culminating in a show floor with around 50 producers in total during the inaugural year, according to Rajan Sharma, CEO of the Indian partner, InterAds Exhibitions.
The stands of the Exhibitors will run alongside a programme of masterclasses and tastings just like in other Vinexpo shows. It will provide a unique opportunity to the existing producers and importers including the potential ones to come together under one umbrella for business. The hospitality industry, wine professionals and journalists are expected to gain immensely from their presence at the Show.
Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium which owns the biennial show Vinexpo, says, “In the current international scenario, a gap of 2 years between the two shows is a lot. We want to expand Vinexpo and bring it to untouched continents like India. Being a leader in the market is not following others but opening new paths and new territories. With the Team Vinexposium and our Indian partners, we make a new beginning with the presence of India-the new big Stakeholder.”
The show is expected to get a lot of synergy from the food show SIAL which is a big constraint for most international wine shows. Ms. Adeline Vancauwelaert, Event Director of the world-famous food show, SIAL Paris, stresses, “I am glad that SIAL & Vinexpo are joining hands in India. This partnership will enlarge our international footprint within India and better serve our communities. Having Food & Wine together will provide a larger offer to all the buyers.”
Rajan Sharma, MD of Inter Ads Exhibition says “This is the first time that SIAL brings Vinexpo’ s live show format to the country. After the success of SIAL we Believe this is the right time to add a new flavour to the show. After a year of uncertainty in 2020, we are excited to announce this new international exhibition in India.”
Inter Ads has successfully organised over 100 trade shows and conferences covering 30 industries- including wine- with 17 Joint venture partners, 16 of which have been from Europe and the US. In fact, his family company started organising shows with East European countries in the 1960’s. Always wanting to relate only to the top brands, Rajan says that SIAL India is an excellent collaboration to which Vinexpo India is being added.
Talking of the synergies these two concurrent events can bring, Rajan tells delWine, ‘at SIAL India we host buyer- seller meets, tasting events and master chef cooking classes to name a few. The synergy is similar for Vinexpo where we shall have wine tasting, wine competition, master classes amongst many sub- activities. Firstly, it has Vinexpo co-located, which would make it a stand out event. Vinexpo being one of the largest exhibitions for wine in the world would play a huge role in the F&B sector. For SIAL 2021 we already have 40 country participation confirmed as on today. The show has already grown by 30-40% in size. We are confident that this edition will be one of the best and will break its own records.
Rajan is not a fan of virtual exhibitions, especially for food and wine where tastings are very important. They cannot replace the traditional face-to-face format. He is hopeful that the Covid issue would be a thing of the past, or at least it can be handled with careful planning.
Stemming from the merger of Vinovision and Vinisud, Wine Paris gained further traction in 2020 through its alliance with Vinexpo, the driving force behind international wine and spirits events. They have gone from being three entities with complementary expertise and a shared passion for wine to a single unit driven by a collaborative spirit. Now, individual skill sets have transcended to serve the interests of the wine industry. Vinexposium is the world's leading organiser of wine and spirits trade events with a portfolio of over 78,000 visitors and 5,900 exhibitors annually.
Watch this space for details of registration and participation, as an exhibitor or a visitor.
Subhash Arora
If you Like this article please click on the Like button