At Vinexpo, visitors and exhibitors can meet journalists, sommeliers, buyers and also attend some wine tastings. Five days of meetings, findings, discussions, dinners in chateaux but also 5 days of rumors. Here is a quick tour of the rumors heard this year at Vinexpo 2011:
Skalli acquired by Castel: Castel Group – leader of the beer market in several African countries, market leader for spring water in France with the Cristaline brand and leader of the segment of branded wines in the French market – would be about to acquire Skalli “The flagship Family of southern French wines”. This rumor makes some sense if you consider the strategy of Pierre Castel, the man who said: “Tomorrow brands will take the place of the appellations”. Hypermarkets, retail chains, branded wines and international development … so many synergies between these two groups that could transform this rumor into reality. “Misuse of company assets” for Jean Jacques Frey: Published in the Champagne Ardenne newspaper “Union”, the information has rapidly spread throughout Vinexpo: Jean-Jacques Frey and his daughter are summoned to respond to ” misuse of company assets ” for a sum that would reach 500,000 euros. “Yakuti International”, a company incorporated in Panama, which holds a minority share of BEH (Billecart Expansion Holding Sa) – a subsidiary of the “Montebello Domaines” holding – said that Frey would have “misappropriated” some profits of the Champagne Billecart Salmon house to the benefit of another company “Paul Jaboulet France”, also a subsidiary of the “Montebello Domaines” holding. At the announcement of this news, people were wondering if it could cause any trouble to the Rhone Valley Wine Estate Paul Jaboulet Ainé. (Read the article) Red Revolution enters a new phase in China: Out of some 48,000 visitors registered, 35% came from outside France and one in three of those from Asia. This year’s show attracted more visitors from Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and India than in previous years, but China was the leading foreign participant in the event. But the Red Revolution (chinese first jumped into the market of the red wines) seems to enter a new phase with the increasing interest of chinese buyers for white wines and champagne. At Vinexpo 2011, many exhibitors were surprised to see an increasing flow of chinese buyers who were more and more interested in this category of wines. Guess what will be the next breakdown at Vinexpo 2013 ? Every 15 minutes, we were hearing someone complaining about Internet access on Vinexpo. Exhibitors, journalists … they did not understand how it was still possible in 2011 to organize a global event like Vinexpo without ensuring full Internet access. The organization of a conference on “The use of Internet to sell more wine” was the icing on the cake. After the air conditioning breakdown in 2003, this internet access problem gave some exhibitors the idea for a new game: Guess what will be the next breakdown at Vinexpo 2013… (You can reach the writer at info@vitabella.fr)
Jaboulet, Castel, Skalli, Champagne Billecart Salmon…Rumors @ Vinexpo 2011
