Vinexpo 2009 ~ For The Trade Only

Ladies and Gentlemen…
I will again hold off on the post of the other types of sparkling wine because I have a much more ‘bubbly’ topic to present to you! VINEXPO !!! Ok, may not be as excited as I am because you drew a blank right after I caps-typed VINEXPO!!! It’s okay, by the end of this entry you will be just as excited as I am! (maybe a bit jealous, like me, that we were not in attendance)

SO, what is Vinexpo? It is essentially the world’s biggest wine and spirits fair. But unlike smaller wine fairs, this one is not open to the general public. No, it is strictly for those in the trade and media. So unless you are in the business of wine/spirits or in a business that is directly connected to wine (i.e. glasses, shipping, e-commerce, wine marketing, professional wine buyer/critics/writer/blogger/wine school, etc.) you don’t get in. Well unless you happen to know someone who knows someone…

Aside from being the world biggest wine fair, a lot more goes on than just wine tasting. This event is a 5 day extravaganza! Vinexpo organizes and carries out studies, symposia, and conferences on key issues concerning the trade such as: wine trends, trends in different countries, new wine hot spots, scientific sides of wine, marketing sides, financing sides, presentations given by vineyard owners from across the globe, wine tastings from different wine regions of the world, you name it…there is probably a lecture on it. You can attend the lectures that interest you, or you can skip out and go on to the giant exhibition floor, equal to the size of 15 american football fields, and visit the 2,396 exhibitors from 45 countries, but you have to fight the crowd of 50,433 professional visitors from 154 countries and 1,346 journalists and writers. Sounds like a blast right !?!?!

Vinexpo was created in 1981 by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce. On odd numbered years this exhibition is held in Bordeaux. Even numbered years smaller Vinexpo’s are held in places like Hong Kong and New York and they are more centered around certain wine market’s like the Asian-Pacific and North, Central & South American markets. The major Vinexpo in Bordeaux brings in about 16 million euros in revenue and the city of Bordeaux makes a cool 80 million euros from the resulting business and tourism from the exhibition. Not bad eh?

One of the great works besides the event itself is the addition of the “Passerelle” built at the 2007 Vinexpo. It is “a floating bridge between the two banks of the lake that stimulated traffic between the Palais des Congrès (Convention Centre) and the Parc des Expositions (Exhibition Centre). This 430-metre long floating bridge made it easier for pedestrians to attend conferences. It also enabled a new entrance to the exhibition, which eased flow around the site. The “Passerelle” is a masterpiece of innovative and technical expertise, displays remarkable strength and stability. It sets a new world record in length for a bridge of its type.” (Vinexpo website) Below are photos of this floating bridge system at this years Vinexpo.

Pretty cool!! I am loving the Veuve Cliquot orange!!

The following are photos from this years Vinexpo from their website:

I’m assuming the check-in point

Even Miss Bordeaux was invited!

If you are interested in learning more and also what the symposia, studies or conferences were about this year and also in past years, I encourage you to go to their site. It is in both english and french. You can also google new search Vinexpo for some pretty neat articles about this years extravaganza!