Millesime Bio 2013 Celebrates 20 Years Showcasing Organic Wine

Top Quote In 2013, Millésime Bio, the organic-wine trade show, will celebrate its 20th anniversary. From 28 to 30 January, the trade fair will take place at the Exhibition Centre in Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon (southern France), France's leading region for organic-winegrowing. The trade show will have 700 exhibitors and is expected to attract 3,500 visitors. End Quote
  • (1888PressRelease) October 27, 2012 - Millésime Bio 2013 will welcome 700 exhibitors from all wine-producing countries and regions, along with an expected 3,500 visitors, highlighting the growing enthusiasm surrounding organic wines. The trade show will take place at the Exhibition Centre in Montpellier, at the heart of France's largest organic-winegrowing region, i.e. Languedoc-Roussillon, in southern France.

    Originally founded by a handful of Languedoc-Roussillon winegrowers, Millésime Bio now gathers the main buyers in the wine market each year: the trade fair attracts wholesale merchants, brokers, retail wine merchants, sommeliers, hospitality-industry professionals, and importers from across five continents.

    The 20th anniversary of this major international event will take place early next year, between 28 and 30 January, bringing together participants from across the sector, including certified organic-wine producers from 11 countries in Europe, Africa, as well as North and South America.

    To give but a few examples, Millésime Bio 2013 will host producers from a Chilean bodega located in the Maipo region of central Chile, as well as five Portuguese and six Austrian producers that did not attend the trade show in 2012. There will also be a number of returning exhibitors, including Lazanou and Waverley Hills from South Africa; Humbel from Switzerland; Egybev from Egypt; Frey Vineyards, which is America's first organic winery, based in California; and, finally, a range of producers from France, Italy and Spain.

    With approximately 900 samples from numerous wine-producing regions from across the globe, the Challenge Millésime Bio 2013 continues to assert its standing as a major international wine competition. This year, the tastings by a jury of wine professionals will take place on 27 November 2012.

    During the trade fair, in January 2013, visitors and exhibitors to Millésime Bio 2013 will be invited to a cocktail party, which will take place at 7.00pm in Hall 7, where the prizes for the competition will be awarded. (Exact date of the party to be confirmed.) Thierry Julien, Chairman of Sudvinbio, the trade show's organisers, and Michael Apstein, President of the Challenge Millésime Bio 2013 jury, will award the gold medals at the party.

    There will be a host of significant events happening during the trade show that will foster dialogue in relation to key issues affecting the sector. These events include a round table organised by Agence Bio, France's Agency for Organic Agriculture, on the subject of European winemaking and new European regulations. There will also be the International Business Convention organised by the Wine Department of Sud de France Export, the regional development agency for the region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

    In 2012, Millésime Bio welcomed 588 exhibitors from 13 countries and over 3,300 trade visitors, 22% of whom were from outside France. The trade show's main visitors remained professionals from the Benelux countries (which made up 16.7% of non-French visitors), Germany (13%), North America (12.5%), and Scandinavia (11.5%).

    France, which ranks second after Spain, is a key player in the worldwide organic-winegrowing market. Additionally, one in three people in France drinks organic wine on a regular or occasional basis (according to a survey conducted by polling organisation Ipsos), and France's organic-wine market amounts to €359 million in value.

    In 2011, there were over 61,000 hectares of land dedicated to organic-wine production in France, against 50,270 hectares in 2010. France's organic-wine-producing vineyards have, therefore, increased their acreage by 21%, year on year. Since 2009, surfaces devoted to organic-wine production have increased almost threefold: the number of organic-winegrowing estates in France rose from 3,945 in 2010 to 4,692 in 2011.

    Leading the industry, three French regions stand out: Languedoc-Roussillon (with 19,900 hectares, up 21% year on year since 2010), followed by Provence-Côte d'Azur in the south-east of the country (13,790 hectares, up 23%) and Aquitaine in the south-west (9,500 hectares, up 23%).

    About Millésime Bio

    The Millésime Bio trade show was launched in 1993 by a small number of Languedoc-Roussillon winegrowers who organised it to stimulate interest in, and to encourage a constructive dialogue around, organic wine.

    The trade fair is organised by Sudvinbio, the trade association for organic-wine producers in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.

    The 20th Millésime Bio organic-wine trade fair will take place from 28 to 30 January 2013 at the Exhibition Centre, in Montpellier (Languedoc-Roussillon).

    For further information, please go to: www.millesime-bio.com

    For further information, please contact :

    Quote ref. : FTPB3785
    Ms Katherine WOODS - Press Officer
    UBIFRANCE Press Office in London
    Tel: +44 (0) 207 024 3640
    katherine.woods ( @ ) ubifrance dot fr
    View other press releases at :
    http://www.ubifrance.com/uk/

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