At the midway point of Vinexpo Asia 2023, The Shout spoke to Vinexpo CEO, Rodolphe Lameyse, to hear his perspective of how the show was going, why Singapore is different and potential trends for the future.
“The first day was very busy,” Lameyse says.
“We are very excited about the turnout, especially for the launch of a new show in a new city. For us, it was expected, but it’s always better to see it in reality with your own eyes.”
And the show is more than a networking event, as Lameyse highlighted.
“I saw many, many business meetings happening on the exhibitor stands, which is a sign that people are not here just to walk in the aisles and just enjoy, but they are here to really make business.
“So the first day was very good, but the second day will be even better,” Lameyse commented.
2023 is the first year that Vinexpo Asia has been hosted in Singapore, where it will return every other year, alternating with Hong Kong. The Shout asked Lameyse how the event compared with previous occasions.
“It’s different – it’s different because every trade show somehow are very different. If you take the one we have in Paris, which is our largest. We have more people – it’s a different energy also because it’s in France, so very political in some ways for us.
“Here [Singapore], it’s a neutral place. Singapore doesn’t make wine, so that’s okay. But it’s a major business location, and as such, it’s very convenient for people coming to Singapore, you have an international crowd. It’s not specifically a Singaporean coming to buy, but every region, every country in Asia coming to Singapore.”
It’s for this reason that Lameyse believes Vinexpo 2023 contains unique potential for Australian exhibitors, given the prolonged period of closed borders for the nation.
“This is also a huge opportunity for Australia to be back on the market and show them. If you look at Australia here, it’s one of the largest pavilions, and it was packed. It was packed all day.
“And I think there is always this willingness to reconnect with the market on both sides. Buyers want to reconnect with producers, producers want to reconnect with buyers. And this is why we are having such a presence of Australia,” Lameyse said.
Finally, Lameyse predicted a change in wine packaging to be a growing trend at Vinexpo 2023, and in future years.
“I think the major business trend for me, is not about the wine itself, it’s more about the packaging of the wine.
“It has become more of a major concern for the whole industry on two aspects. One, the most common – environment, the weight of the bottle because of the glass is important.
“But also, the lack of available glass bottles, so a lot of people are investigating in different packaging, sealing… We saw some cans, we saw some boxes, so I think it would be interesting to see how it’s evolving in the future,” Lameyse concluded