Vinexpo news and insights

We wish that everyone who loves wine, gets to walk the red carpet at Vinexpo in Bordeaux, at least once in their life. It is pretty amazing to glide to a stop on the glass tram then step out on to - what 500 m or so?- of floating pontoon/red carpet, and to arrive in the massive convention space. This was our third Vinexpo and it was still exciting to meet suppliers and try new vintages and look at new products.

The Vinexpo stats are pretty impressive.

• about 2350 exhibitors from 42 countries- a conspicuous absence of oz producers one would have to say.
• close to 50,000 visitors- down a little on 2013 but exhibitors commented on a higher "quality" of visitors and more deals done and more optimism generally compared to 2013. Foreigners made up 36% of visitors with China, USA, Spain and Italy leading the way.
• some new innovations including Digizone where digital/social marketing innovations were a focus, there was a Vinexpo mobile app and One2Wine- a digital meeting booking system. 
• Many of the innovations were aimed at keeping up with Prowein which exhibitors praised for bigger size, more international focus, lower costs, more efficiency and better timing in vintage/buying cycle (March). Fair enough but hey Dusseldorf is not Bordeaux right!

Winners

• rosé: sales continue to climb, and there is an emerging differentiation between premium rosé (such as our Domaine de la Croix) and "vin de soif" (scoffing wines). There are now second labels of premium rosé and just about every European appellation seems to be making one, not just Provence and Bordeaux and certainly not just France. 
• grower champagne: buyers seem to be turning away from the perpetually discounted brands and looking for authentic artisanal products. Grower champagne has hit the mainstream says Jancis Robinson and there seemed to be plenty of evidence of that. Our own Achille Princier has been exceptionally well recieved and the Mansard Family are now struggling with demand.
• "garagiste" or "vinarchiste " or "super" wines. Call them what you will but producers in  Bordeaux, Loire, Languedoc, Rhone and even Burgundy are breaking the appellation rules and happily calling their wines Vin de France or IGP wines especially so for the export market. They are making modern, clean, varietal driven wines still authentic and expressive and usually under screw cap! Anarchy! Watch this space! We have some new lines to launch in Oz later this year.
• biodynamic/organic wines are ready for prime time. Currently 8% of French wines are certified as organic but it seems like the number under conversion is vast. Certainly in the price points/quality levels we were looking at, it felt like the majority of producers are organic or in conversion.The poster below from Producteurs Plaimont, the biggest producer in Madiran and St Mont is a sign of the times with an increasing proportion of their vineyards converting to organic. 
• the "small" appellations of Bordeaux: Bourg, Canon-Fronsac, St Emilion satellites, Graves, Listrac-Médoc etc where there has been great strides made in quality of production in recent years.
• Bordeaux the city. Is it possible to be in love with a city? I hope so because we sure are! It just seems to be getting better at every visit. And it is about to go up a notch with the arrival of the super fast train from Paris and the International City of Wine (Wine Museum) both possibly in time for Vinexpo 2017. The new museum alone is expected to attract more than one million visitors per year.

Losers

• Sauternes- lots of talk about the resistance in the market to "sticky" wines but the increased attention on wines such as Jurançon with high acidity/dryer finish. We expect to see falling Sauternes prices esp outside of the top brands and more and more dry Sauternes which are wonderful Graves/White Bordeaux and well received in the market
• vintage 2013: a very difficult wet vintage in many parts of France. Some wines are OK where the wines were not "over-made" and meticulous vineyard methods and section practices were followed. One of our producers lost his entire vintage due to rot in the vineyard (organic producer). Many of our producers were happy to let us pass over the 2013's and go straight to the 2014 wines which are generously fabulous. This was worth the price of the trip alone.
• homogeneous Bordeaux: There are lots of excellent wines out there but there was a "sameness" to many of the Bordeaux we tasted (perhaps reflecting modern wine-making methods across the regions) so we have concentrated on some authentic small producers and wines with some distinct character or a good story. It was a case of finding some outstanding gems amongst the very good pack so (as before) we end up with well curated lists.

At DiscoverVin we firmly believe there is a growing market for good value Bordeaux and wines across southern France especially the south west appellations, Rhone and Provence. We work with mostly small independent producers that are working on renewed vineyards/wineries. Many are at the forefront of the movement towards organic and biodynamic production. All are making authentic, terroir driven delicious and good value wines. Our trip to Bordeaux affirmed the importance of the types of wines we are looking for.

And now a final word on Vinexpo, commercialisation and product placement....."Don't lose a drop of it" !

Bordeaux Wine Festival 2012

The team from DiscoverVin were lucky enough to be in Bordeaux for the 2012 Fete le Vin. Held every 2 years - this year between the 28th of June and 1st July 2012 - it was a massive wine event. 

Temporary marquees were constructed on the renovated quays next to the Garonne River in central Bordeaux. With a backdrop of the architectural splendour of this UNESCO world heritage city, it was a spectacular space to hold a festival.

Entry was free to wander around, but in order to taste one had to buy a "tasting pass" which consisted of a booklet with a series of coupons (cost 18 euros or about $21 at the time we bought tickets). With these tickets we could get a taste of wine from each marquee, plus there were a couple of spares to enable us to get some extra tastes at our favourite stands. Each marquee showed the wines from a group of appellations e.g Médoc/Haut Médoc or Saint Émilion/Pomerol.

You could come and go as you pleased over 4 days. This meant, for example,  you could spend your day wandering or shopping in the maze of streets and squares of old Bordeaux, and then pop down to the festival, or go to the oyster market for Sunday brunch and then over to the festival, or a quick taste at the festival before heading out to dinner, or even going down to the quays after dinner for a taste and to watch the the fireworks!

As well as the wine stands there was a wine school giving structured tastings (you could queue at certain times to get in which seemed easy enough to do) some trade displays, food stalls, temporary restaurants, a wine library, tall ships docked at the quays, ferries to catch, and art displays. In the neighbouring Place des Quinconces were a series of concerts for an additional cost - classical, jazz and rock all given air time.

Here is a video recently released by Bordeaux Wine:

Discover the magic of the Bordeaux Wine Festival ! from Bordeaux Wine on Vimeo.

Our only criticisms were that several of the servers seemed less than knowledgeable about the wines they were serving (they looked perplexed if technical questions were asked and no - it wasn't our French. A question about which grape variety was used was greeted with an embarrassed  looking "mmm ..... not sure" or a shrug of the shoulders on more than one occasion). And at peak times it was exceptionally busy - the stands could have been enlarged easily it seemed. Lastly, perhaps some more expensive wines could be served even if we had to pay more for the opportunity ($21 for all this was very cheap!).

In all the crowds were happy, convivial and calm. We saw no evidence of drunkenness or misbehaviour which apparently was reported as a problem in 2010 and was a concern of the organisers prior to this year's festival (and as a result the  sizes of each wine pour had been reduced in 2012).

As an introduction to the architectural and cultural wonders of Bordeaux the city and to Bordeaux wines, this would make a fabulous few days in late June 2014!

One of the highlights each night was a massive fireworks display and amazing sound and light show projected onto the stunning buildings in Place de la Bourse. More on that in our next blog and video.

Transformation in Bordeaux

When we lived in Bordeaux in 2009, it was easy to fall in love with the city. It is a city made for strolling and enjoying in its own right- along the broad walkway by the banks of the Garonne, which emphasises the handsome curve of buildings mostly of exquisite 18th century architecture, past the renovated facades, down the maze of small pedestrianised streets in the centre of the city linking a series of small squares filled with cafés. If not strolling, one could jump on and off the handsome glass and steel trams that almost seem to float along the streets. 3 tram lines criss-cross the city enabling easy commuting between the mains sites. Trams filled with the rich, the poor, the young and old but what was obvious was the number of university students, (Bordeaux is home to some 50,000 students), often laughing and talking loudly in impenetrable slang (what was that they were saying "schaypas"? .... Oh "je ne sais pas!"  "dunno" vs "I don't know" for example)

It was hard to believe that only a few years before Bordeaux had a more sombre feel, its buildings darkened by centuries of soot, its roads clogged by cars, its docks abandoned, its riverbank largely under utilised. Led by Mayor Alain Juppé, money was invested in cleaning up the facades, opening up the squares and allowing more outdoor eating. In July 2004 the first tram was put in service amid much controversy. Many shopkeepers feared loss of business if traffic was taken out of their street but in fact the exact opposite was true- the centre of town was liberated by removing cars and improving access by tram, bike or by foot. It seems the capital cities of Australia might have a lot to learn by this transformation by focusing on public transport and reducing cars from our inner cities.

In 2007 the city was world heritage listed by UNESCO and now Bordeaux has become one of the most rapidly growing tourist destinations in France. Wine tourism in the surrounding wine regions has taken off- more on that in another blog. The very fast train from Paris is coming in 2016 (it will become a 2 hour trip to Paris and one hour to Barcelona). The city it seems has a bright future.

It was easy to fall in love with the city and to fall in love with the wine of Bordeaux and the wine of this south west corner of France. Enough for us to start DiscoverVin and to by an apartment in Bordeaux.The city has been transformed and in turn it transformed us!