One of the largest wine events in the world, Vinexpo, has announced it will launch its first US edition, which will take place in New York on 5 and 6 March 2018.
The launch of Vinexpo New York 'reflects a new drive to capitalise on the Vinexpo Group’s expertise and skills', the organisers said, and follows a study that looked into the potential for building relationships between European wine suppliers and US clients.
"We were clear that we wanted to be a springboard for our clients to enter the buoyant US market, but we wouldn’t do it until we were sure of providing an effective platform that guarantees success," said Guillaume Deglise, Vinexpo’s CEO.
"The Vinexpo brand is attractive to the many American buyers who already come to Bordeaux, so we know the main US importers, distributors and retailers will attend. We’re also setting our sights well beyond the East Coast, since we’re targeting the states that, between them, account for 80% of wine imports by volume."
First held in 1981, Vinexpo takes place in Bordeaux in uneven years, and has spawned two Asian events, Vinexpo Hong Kong (formerly Vinexpo Asia-Pacific) and Vinexpo Tokyo.
The US market currently imports 1.1 billion bottles of wine per annum, with a recent IWSR study forecasting 6.9% growth by 2020.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
