Vinexpo and IWSR

Published: 23 July, 2008

Vinexpo is fully booked and has been since November, according to chief executive, Robert Beynat.

Beynat was speaking at the unveiling of the research it commissioned the IWSR to do (see Harpers, 12 January) by way of raising the profile of the exhibition which takes place between 17 and 21 June in Bordeaux.

IWSR predicts that world wine consumption will grow by 4.8% between 2005 and 2010 to 238,825 million hectolitres

and the US will become the leading wine-drinking nation with the UK being the European number one. China and the Russian Federation will join the top 10 world wine markets and while all wine sales will grow, sales of higher priced wines will grow faster.

On the spirits front, consumption is predicted to grow by 1.39% as year. Vodka growth is expected to slow to 4.38% and world consumption of gin is declining by 2% per year on average. Scotch, rum and tequila are all expected to grow to 2010, according to IWSR.

Asked in the question-and-answer session about the decline in the consumption of French wines, both domestically and in the UK, former chairman of CVBG-Dourthe-Kressmanm current Vinexpo chairman Jean-Marie Chadronnier said: You have to remember that in France we used to drink 100 litres a year, per capita. It was the only beverage and it was treated like water.'

He said that the problem for the French wine industry is that as domestic consumption has diminished, the producers have failed to adapt to different tastes and the competition from the New World.

Up to 20 years ago, it was a case of wine tastes like this and Bordeaux supplied it without thinking about the consumer, said Chadronnier. Bordeaux was a reference in the minds of people. Then we started getting wines from the New World with a different taste and our wines seemed dry, thin, astringent - I'm exaggerating a little - but theirs were soft, sweet, supple and very charming.'

Chardonnier said that the French were fighting back and consumers were switching back. He said they had to make more modern wines without losing their soul' but France had the fantastic advantage of terroir'.

Asked about the potential of China, Beynat replied that to catapult their wine consumption, they needed some indigenous producers. He cited the Us saying that the Americans would not be drinking as much wine as they do if it were not for the dynamism of the likes of Ernest and Julio Gallo and Robert Mondavi. He quipped that if Chinese wine consumption moved to 25 litres per capita, far from a surplus, there would be a supply problem.

For more information on the exhibition visit: www.vinexpo.com

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