World wine sales brisk, but French producers hungover
Monday, 25 June 2007
BORDEAUX, France, June 24 (AFP): If visitor numbers to trade shows are an indicator of an industry's health, then the turnout for this year's Vinexpo, the world's biggest wine and spirits fair, confirms the sector is doing nicely, if not booming.
Organisers estimate more than 50,000 people attended this year's show, a two-yearly event in Bordeaux, a three per cent rise on 2005.
And a recent study conducted for Vinexpo by the London-based International Wine and Spirit Record (IWSR) showed global consumption up by 4.15 per cent between 2001 and 2005, with a forecast further increase of 4.8 per cent between 2005 and 2010.
But ironically the world's top producer, France, remains the only country, "not invited to the banquet," as Vinexpo chairman Jean-Marie Chadronnier put it at the close of the show Thursday.
Organisers estimate more than 50,000 people attended this year's show, a two-yearly event in Bordeaux, a three per cent rise on 2005.
And a recent study conducted for Vinexpo by the London-based International Wine and Spirit Record (IWSR) showed global consumption up by 4.15 per cent between 2001 and 2005, with a forecast further increase of 4.8 per cent between 2005 and 2010.
But ironically the world's top producer, France, remains the only country, "not invited to the banquet," as Vinexpo chairman Jean-Marie Chadronnier put it at the close of the show Thursday.