B-F withdraws from Vinexpo

Wines & Vines, June, 2003

Brown-Forman, the Louisville-based wine and spirits giant, will not exhibit this year at Vinexpo. David Cox, the European head of Brown-Forman Wines, told Harpers, the Wine and Spirit Weekly, "We were about to spend in excess of $100,000 to be at Vinexpo, and I think there are better ways to use that money in the marketplace."

Cox insisted that the decision had "nothing whatsoever" to do with French opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq or fears for staff safety. Cox went on to say that he felt Vinexpo has become "irrelevant" as an international wine show. "Vinexpo does not represent the local market for our brands. What's the point of going to Bordeaux to see your distributors and the major buyers if you talk to them all the time anyway? It would be cheaper for me to fly my overseas agents to London and put them up at the Ritz than to take a stand at Vinexpo."

Joe Rollo, who heads up the international desk at Wine Institute in San Francisco, said that he was not hearing any anti-French reaction from California wineries. As usual, there will be a California pavilion with a California-theme restaurant.

The final numbers were not at hand as Wines & Vines went to press, but Rollo confirmed that the current Vinexpo exhibitor list includes 23 booths for wineries, plus three regional associations.

"Several of the individual booths are for brokers who are representing multiple brands. The regional booths will have winery principals pouring their wines. An estimated total number of wineries represented in the booth is 68. This total is fairly close to previous years," Rollo said.

The current economic situation, the SARS epidemic and the world situation in the wake of the U.S.-led war in Iraq could, however, lower attendance.

Recently, Vinexpo Asia and Vinexpo New York were not as successful as organizers had hoped and any drop in attendance this year would be a blow for the organization.