What's a wine fair?

A wine fair is a wondrous affair: small or big, it essentially consists of stalls where winemakers exhibit and sample their wares to present and potential customers, either to confirm repeat orders or obtain new ones. Beyond that, it’s a riot of people and wines from all over the world — a fairyland of wines new and old, a virtual cornucopia of the fruit of the soil.

The difference between wine fairs and any other such event (well, spirit and beer fairs excepted) is that one is sampling an alcoholic product — and unless you spit out most of what you sip, you may end up under the table in short order!

All wine-making communities and countries hold annual wine fairs — these range from small local affairs up to gargantuan shows with several thousand exhibitors that are world-famous.

In the Northern Hemisphere (read Europe and North America), since grapes are harvested in autumn (September- October) the first wines would be ready only after six months — so the first big fair is Vinitaly, held in Verona (the setting for Shakespeare’s immortal

Romeo and Juliet) every April (April 2-6 this year). This is a massive affair: 2,000 exhibitors — not just for wine but also for olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wine-making machinery — and over 150,000 visitors.

Next comes the London International Wine Fair, being held this year from May 12-14. While not as big as Vinitaly, the LIWF has a broader representation from both wineries and distilleries worldwide: After all, the UK is the world’s largest importer of wine, with 150 million cases in 2008.

The most prestigious wine fair of them all is the Vinexpo, held in Bordeaux (the heart of the eponymous wine region of France) every two years — this year, it’s from June 21-25. What makes Vinexpo exceptional are the many wine dinners held in the surrounding chateaux — open air affairs, with torches and bands and fireworks and some of the most amazingly good (and expensive) wines in the world.

In contrast, the India International Wine Fair held recently (March 16-18) in Mumbai was a small affair:

70-odd exhibitors from 15 countries drew nearly 800 trade visitors to the Grand Hyatt. There were tastings of Bordeaux Grand Cru wines, wines from the south of France, and wines from California; a parallel conclave of speakers concluded that 2008-09 would be a difficult year and that taxes needed to be lowered (so what’s new?), and that Indian food went better with Rieslings rather than Cabernet Sauvignons (not rocket science, that).

Lord knows how much business would actually result from the IIWF, but the important thing to realise is that wine fairs in India are here to stay (another clone, the IFE, happened in December), that they provide an important forum for the industry to come together, and that they help propagate the “wine culture” I keep talking about (remember “low alcohol, farmer friendly and good for health”?)

We’ll say sante to that.

(al.chandra@gmail.com)