Vinexposium has announced that it will be expanding its bulk wine offering beyond the World Bulk Wine Exhibition (WBWE), which was acquired by the organiser last year. 

At the WBWE exhibition on Monday (24 November), Grace Ghazale, overseas events director at Vinexposium, said the business has plans to apply its Vinexpo Explorer model to bulk wine, starting in Mendoza, Argentina. 

Running in addition to the WBWE – which Ghazale said would remain in Amsterdam – the Explorer programme will be a series of more intimate events, centring around a specific country each time. 

“The Explorer is a dedicated format for a region, where we at Vinexposium bring the buyers to meet the local producers. Buyers can discover one region and visit all the different wineries. That way, they can try the wine but also know the story,” Ghazale said. 

On why Vinexposium picked Argentina for its first location, Ghazale added: “The [producers] were really high in terms of bulk volumes exported before Covid, and that has dropped now. They have potential but aren’t developed, so we’re giving them a push.” 

Describing the new initiative as a spin-off of the WBWE, Ghazale said Vinexposium would attract buyers from a mixture of established and emerging import countries, pointing to Africa as an example of the latter. 

At present, according to figures provided at the WBWE, the top five countries importing bulk wine in volume are Germany, the UK, France, the US and Italy. 

Meanwhile, the top five countries exporting bulk wine are Spain, Australia, Italy, Chile and South Africa. According to 2024 figures, Argentina sits at 14th on the list. 

However, with wine consumption growing in countries including Georgia, South Korea, Mexico, Colombia and Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa, there are opportunities beyond the present top contenders. 

On the ratio of traditional to emerging buyers, Ghazale said Vinexposium would aim for a mix of “50% who are used to importing and 50% who are less mature”. 

On Vinexposium’s acquisition of the WBWE more generally, Ghazale was keen to emphasise there were no plans to merge the show with Wine Paris, also owned by the organiser. 

“If at any point we feel that one show can be absorbed by another, I think that we have missed out,” she said. 

Instead, the focus of Vinexposium is to improve the quality of the existing event. Ghazale said this is being done via the addition of a tool that makes booking meetings easier and the introduction of a dedicated team that takes care of top buyers. 

According to the organiser, the WBWE draws in 240 exhibitors from 25 countries. It brings together 80% of the world’s bulk wine trade.