Vinexpo Asia is returning to Hong Kong next week. The three-day event is one of the leading international wine and spirits industry trade shows. It is back at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Wan Chai, from May 28 to 30.
In 1998, the French organisers chose Hong Kong as their base for Asian expansion with the first regional Vinexpo conference. Since then it has been a biennial affair, and draws thousands of exhibitors and visitors. In a 2022 story for trade publication The Drinks Business, Rodolphe Lameyse, the chief executive of Vinexpo Asia organiser Vinexposium, was quoted as saying: “Hong Kong is not where we want to be in the future [.
..] so we are putting all our means to make Vinexpo successful in Asia using Singapore as a hub.
” Basically, it packed up, moved out and shacked up with Hong Kong’s worst frenemy. To add insult to injury, it essentially told Hong Kong: “It’s not me. It’s you.
” Admittedly, the 2022 conference would have been a waste of time, as travel to Hong Kong was still a headache and masks would have prevented all on-site tasting. But the Singapore relocation was presented as a permanent move. The funny thing is, less than a year later Vinexpo has come crawling back.
I can almost see the organisers begging: “Take us back, baby. I was wrong. We’re better together.
I cannot live without you.” Then again, maybe it was Hong Kong’s administration that did the grovelling. Who knows? Vinexpo Asia “enjoys the active sup.