During the third and last day at Wine Paris – Vinexpo – the French exhibition dedicated entirely to the wine and spirits world, which took place in Paris from February the 13th to the 15th – we interviewed Rodolphe Lameyse – General Manager of Vinexposium, the society which organizes the Paris exhibition.

In a few hours, this Wine Paris fourth edition will come to an end, can you make an evaluation?

We are very satisfied and after the great success registered in the 2022 edition, which I underline has been the first international wine exhibition after two years of pandemic, I would say that this year we registered other increases both regarding exhibitors and visitors (3.100 exhibitors and 30.000 visitors, editor’s note), and, in particular, international buyers. Speaking of which, this year we saw a great presence of international buyers, an important element for us because Wine Paris was born to be an international exhibition and not a mere display of exclusively French wines. The feedback I gathered from the exhibitors, the international buyers, the press and the producers is truly positive.

What do the wines from Italy represent in your exhibition?

Italy, with its almost 300 companies present in this event is, after France, the main exhibition country and, for us, it is so relevant that we wanted to dedicate them an entire stand. But, Italy’s presence has not “only” a numerical value, but it is also important from a qualitative point of view and this guarantees a great appeal towards buyers from all over the world.

Regarding Italy’s expository space, what are the suggestions you feel like to give to our producing companies?

I think Italian wines represent the best ambassador of the binomial food and wine, food and gastronomy. For this reason, I think it would be great for the 2024 edition to imagine the presence of an “Italian restaurant” inside the Italian area, to be able to exalt best the so-called “food pairing”. It would be an extraordinary attraction for the whole manifestation and Italy is surely the most authoritative country in this front. In general, anyway, I think that even in the next Wine Paris editions, the collaboration with Italian wine producers and their institutions, such as Regions and Consortiums, might increase even more.

Which are the news that you have in store for the 2024 Wine Paris/Vinexpo edition?

First of all, we confirm the dates in February, in order to be the first international exhibition in the calendar of the exhibitions dedicated to wine and spirits. The dates next year will be from February 12th to the 14th, which confirms one more time the coincidence with San Valentine’s Day which I think has a great relationship with wine.

We will surely have an increase of international stands because many producers who came this year in patrolling mode, verified the exhibition’s worth and are already asking to participate to the next edition.
Although, given the tourist and international nature of Paris, the exhibition might also broaden to the so-called “outside show”. with events to organize also in other numerous locations such as restaurants, bistro, wine bar which are an added value to our capital.

For this reason, I like to think that Wine Paris should be considered more of an “enlarged” rendezvous for the wine world which is not exhausted within the exhibition’s stands. And this could inevitably bring an ulterior authoritative presence increase during next years.