In 2024, Drinks+ & Wine Travel Awards continues its fruitful and active cooperation with Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris. This partnership is deepening as Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris is a Wine Travel Awards nominee in the Enogastronomic Events / Event of the Year category.
From 12 to 14 February 2024, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles will be the stage for Vinexposium’s flagship exhibition that mirrors the political and economic trends within the wine and spirits industry – Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris. The event will gather 4,026 exhibitors, welcome 40,000 trade visitors from across the globe and host an extensive programme of 122 conferences, debates, panel discussions and masterclasses.
For three days, Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris’ boundless energy promises to scale new heights. The ON! programme, which has been broadened to get conversations going and fuel reflection within the industry, will be at the very core of this buzz. Details of the 122 sessions available at the exhibition can now be viewed online.
For the fifth time, Europe’s leading trade fair will become one of the most important events in the industry’s business calendar and the first major international event of the year. In 2023, the event was attended by more than 36,000 visitors from all continents from 42 countries. Looking to the future, the organizers predict an expansion of horizons, namely +72% of visitors compared to 2023.
Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris Events
With its sights set squarely on the trends and movements that drive the wine and spirits industry, the ON! programme will be curated by international experts. Drawing on extensive, long-standing knowledge of the sector, their mission will be to decipher and deliver information on innovative projects that help understand markets and their development.
The exhibition will feature numerous special events, such as tasting areas, forums, and conferences.
A taste for discovery
The ON! will provide an enhanced programme of world-class tastings and masterclasses offering a taste of the quintessential features of regions, appellations, products, brands and wineries from around the world, or alternatively fulfilling a desire for discovery:
- Masterclasses featuring regions such as Alsace, Bourgogne, Champagne, Languedoc, Beaujolais, Cognac, Auvergne, Bordeaux, the Loire, and the Rhone Valley, alongside Friuli, Tuscany, Vinho Verde and the State of Virginia, or grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, or Grüner Veltliner; or a specific terroir, like vineyard sites for volcanic wines, CentreLoire or Cognac.
- Masterclasses focusing on Italian wines – Prosecco, Chianti and Pinot Grigio – or iconic Australian wines by Penfolds or from Coonawarra, the finest Cabernets from the Napa Valley, enterprising wines from New York or wines from the ancient vineyards of Türkiye, ranging from the great classics to new styles of wine.
- A series of conferences hosted by the California Wine Institute, New York Wines and Oregon Wine.
- The Vinexpo Challenge, the traditional blind tasting challenge organized by the International Sommelier Association (ASI) and Vinexposium, hosted by Raimonds Tomsons (Latvia), 2023 Best Sommelier of the World, and Valeria Gamper (Argentina), 2022 Best Sommelier of the Americas.
The growth of no/low drinks
Salient trends to watch out for this year at Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris include the no/low category which will be the topic of conferences and masterclasses, among them:
- Can sobriety become jolly? by Antoine Besse and Caroline Noirbuisson.
- How to implement an inclusive choice of no/low drinks by Jérôme Cuny and Christine Parkinson.
- The taste of the future: alcohol-free Grands Crus? – a masterclass exploring the future of superpremium alcohol-free wine, hosted by Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger, CEO of French Bloom.
- Secrets of a Sobrelier: alcohol-free craft drinks with Benoit d’Onofrio.
- The Battle of the Sommeliers will address The role of alcohol-free drinks, by Marc Almert, 2019 Best Sommelier of the World.
- Chef Sommelier at Baur au Lac (Zurich) with Dominique Laporte, 2004 Best Sommelier of France and leading critic Robert Joseph.
Robert Joseph also is a member of the WTA Jury in 2024.
Sustainability, from the vineyard to the packaging
Sustainability has become a major challenge for the beverage alcohol industry and will be a part of the ON! programme with:
- A Vinexposium panel discussion addressing ways of raising awareness about sustainability.
- Conferences featuring biodynamics, a vector of excellence and winegrowing of the future, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of biodynamics, hosted by Gérard Bertrand; the impact of a changing climate on terroir-driven wines, with François Gilbert.
- Masterclasses, including Sustainable tasting: exploring climate solutions, with Marta Mendoca for the Porto Protocol and Jamie Goode.
- Tastings by a number of wineries and regions revolving around research into the contribution of stems in winemaking, a versatile response to climate issues, hosted by Jérémy Cukierman and Frédéric Massie.
Industry developments
With many conferences, panel discussions and debates on the future of wines internationally:
- The conference Wine by colors: what are the global trends? on changing consumer and production patterns will be presented by John Barker, director of the International Vine & Wine Organisation (OIV) and Giorgio Delgrosso.
- Who will win in tomorrow’s global wine market? hosted by the Hopscotch Sopexa agency will reveal the findings of the 10th Wine Trade Monitor, its forward-looking research conducted in 2023 in 9 key markets.
- Looking for opportunities to win in challenging times, a conference hosted by the IWSR which will examine the impact of the economic landscape on the global beverage alcohol market.
- Taste shift: 2024 prospects for French consumers, hosted by Bernard Burtschy, Julia Markowski and Sarah Multigner.
- Doing business within the context of Brexit in 2024. Faced with the challenges thrown up by new laws that aim to change the very definition of wine, should wine producers continue to invest time and effort in the United Kingdom? with Miles Beale (WSTA), Justin Liddle, Nadine Maccallion, Chuck Cramer and Andrew Catchpole.
Innovation
This topic will bring together experts in technology, research and trend analysis, digital communications and e-commerce. The WineTech Perspectives, an area dedicated to industry innovation and digitalisation created in conjunction with the Wine Tech and Vinocamp, will host a series of 26 hard hitting presentations in dynamic, participatory formats on the following 3 themes:
- Tech for Good/Sustainable, featuring a panel discussion on Re-use: is the wine industry ready to take the leap? and a keynote interview with Laurent David, chairman of LWT.
- Data, A.I. and Web 3.0 will be addressed at a panel discussion on Wine labels: different perspectives on innovation and regulations and a keynote interview with Heini Zachariensen, Vivino CEO.
- Consumption & Retail, with a panel discussion on sharing the culture of wine: the potential for new communication formats, with Marion Château, Sylvain Dadé, Diane Souquière, Gilles Raison and a keynote interview of Michel Chapoutier.
The exhibition will end with an after-show cocktail party Rhone in white.
Check the website to find out more information.
