No less than 11 premium romanian wine producers will represent the domestic wine industry in New York, on March 8 and 9, at Vinexpo, one of the most important wine events in the USA, part of a circuit of exhibitions that has grown steadily in recent years years. Started in 1981 from Bordeaux, this circuit today includes the Americas, Paris, Shanghai, Asia-Pacific, India editions, as well as an event dedicated to bulk wine, in Amsterdam, along with the Meetings and Explorer industry events.
At this year’s New York edition, Romania-dedicated booth 230 will host some of the most important producers of premium wines: Alira, Aurelia Visinescu, Averesti Estates, Prince Matei Estates, Mosia Galicea Mare, French-Romanian Domain (DFR), Via Viticola Sarica Niculitel, Gramofon Wine, Corcova Roy & Damboviceanu, Petro Vaselo and Girboiu Winery. Separately, at booths 133-134, visitors will be able to taste wines from Budureasca and Vinarte.
Unlike other profile exhibitions, Vinexpo is a "trade-only" event, where all participants are connected to the wine market, most of them working either in the hospitality market, or in retail or distribution.
What should we expect?
The 2023 edition is the second edition in which spirits and ready-to-drink beverages will be presented separately, within the Drinks America exhibition. This means a slightly reduced flow of visitors, but a much more concentrated one– visitors come for the wine, not for other products.
During the pandemic, online sales increased from 2 to almost 70% for some producers (but also some specialized wine stores), a large part of the sales being made directly to end customers, not to distributors. It is a new dynamic, the experience of new partners in online sales now becoming a critical attribute in establishing new partnerships.
Another characteristic of the sales in recent years has been the rapid growth of the bio / eco wine segment, which has also seen developments of +40% per year – a demand that Romania would find difficult to honor, this field being still in its infancy.
A chance and a starting point
If the structure of participation in the exhibition will be similar to last year’s, Romanian wines have the chance to be more easily discovered – in 2022 there were very few exhibitors from Italy, none from Portugal, while the presence of the main countries considered to be direct competition (Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia) was more discreet than in the pre-pandemic editions.
As in recent years, the public’s appetite for exotic wines, for the discovery of new regions and grape varieties, continues to grow, but this alone is not enough to gain a significant presence on the US market.
Wines of Romania will participate in the exhibition, supporting the producers and partners of the www.winesofromania.com platform. "This is the reason why Wines of Romania exists: together, we take the Romanian wine to the world. There are a number of circumstances that confirm that the USA is a market with a great potential for Romanian wines, which was also confirmed by the event organized by Carrefour in December 2021," said Marinela Ardelean, founder of the Wines of Romania platform.
