"Barcelona Wine Week generates a brutal business space and strengthens the entire wine sector"

A month and a half before the first lockdown, in the first week of February 2020, Barcelona Wine Week (BWW) was born, a fair inheriting from the old Salón Intervin, which used to be held within Alimentaria and had been losing weight in recent years. With great unanimity, the wine sector and Fira de Barcelona decided to reinvent the fair, and the new format proved to be very successful and adapted to the new times.

Annual in nature and with the aim of occupying the top spot in the international calendar of wine events, the pandemic prevented the organization of the second edition of BWW in 2021, and this year the virulence of the Omicron variant forced the fair to be postponed for two months, moving the event to April 4, 5, and 6. We spoke with the president of the show, Javier Pagés, about his expectations for this second edition.

--- What is the objective of Barcelona Wine Week?

--- We want to be the benchmark fair for the wine sector in Spain. The event that truly brings together the entire Spanish quality wine sector and represents it in all its geographical and varietal diversity. It is a fair with a clear international vocation that seeks to generate business for wineries and strengthen the image of the sector by showcasing its novelties, its dynamism, and how it improves year after year. We have great enthusiasm for this fair because it is very good for the sector. We must all support it; it will be very positive for Spanish wine.

--- Do you have good expectations for this second edition?

--- Yes, it will be a very good edition; we will have full occupancy, with the participation of more than 600 wineries. It will be the second edition of a fair model structured by designations of origin and which, by design, breathes wine everywhere, with a strong focus on tastings and a 100% professional approach. This fair is designed to do business and prioritizes efficiency, meaning there is a good return for all participating wineries. We are committed to simplicity, sustainability, and low-cost stands, which also have limited footage; we don't want BWW to become a race to see who has the biggest stand.

--- Will company participation be higher than in the first edition?

---Yes, yes, the 600 wineries we have already confirmed are more than those that came in 2020, but we maintain the same exhibition space at Fira de Barcelona's Montjuïc venue. This edition will feature major brands that were not present in the first one, such as Protos, Marqués del Atrio, Perelada, or the Freixenet group.

--- But there are still absences, right?

--- It is true that we have not yet fully achieved our great objective: for Barcelona Wine Week to truly be the fair for the Spanish wine sector and for no one who genuinely has something to say or is an undisputed part of the image of Spanish wine to be absent.

--- What does BWW need to truly establish itself as the great Spanish wine show? Could some think it is a fair more focused on Catalonia due to being held in Barcelona?

--- This fair is totally focused on Spanish wine; it is our specialty, our differentiation in the international market of wine fairs. We want to focus on the wine produced by all the appellations of origin in Spain, not just those in Catalonia. The fact that it is held in Barcelona is because it is a city of fairs, very attractive internationally, and also because it is a place surrounded by important wine-growing areas, but the fair's vocation is 100% Spanish wine, and that is why all appellations of origin and all large and small wineries must be present to provide a complete image of the diversity of Spanish wine to the buyer who comes from abroad.

--- Do all Spanish appellations of origin (DOs) participate in the fair?

--- Not all, but practically all, more than 60 appellations of origin, almost 90% of the total.

--- Rioja is not there.

--- The DO Rioja is represented at the fair through many of the participating wineries, but it is true that the Regulatory Council itself does not have a stand. By philosophy, the DO Rioja never participates in fairs, making an exception only with the German Prowine. However, I hope to convince them to be there in the future.

--- It is important, then, that this second edition is a success to ensure its consolidation in the future.

--- It will be. This fair aims to bring together the entire sector and creates a brutal business space in a very short time. We will increasingly see more companies that will not be able to afford not participating in the Barcelona Wine Week. I believe we should all have a greater sense of sector, because the wine sector is stronger, it strengthens, when we all bet on initiatives like this that create image and promote Spanish wine. I ask wineries, especially the large ones, for responsibility and sector leadership and that they themselves provoke the great success of this fair, since with their participation the Barcelona Wine Week grows even bigger.

--- As the objectives are achieved, the fair will have to grow a lot in footage, right?

--- Surely yes, but it is not the priority. The idea of the BWW is not to grow in meters for the sake of growing, the objective is quality and to achieve a good representation of the entire sector. We do not want to go for volume, but for value, and be a premium event.

--- How many visitors do you expect?

--- We expect more than 20,000 professionals.

--- Are you thinking of opening the fair to the general public?

--- No, this is a professional fair. An event that wants to represent everything that is happening in the world of wine, talk about its challenges and concerns and that is very focused on business and creating image. A fair open to the final consumer should have a different approach.

"We will increasingly see more companies that will not be able to afford not participating in the BWW. I believe we should all have a greater sense of sector, because the wine sector is stronger, it strengthens, when we all bet on initiatives like this that create image and promote Spanish wine"

--- From the BWW organization, we are committed to ensuring the presence of major international buyers, and we already have more than 350 confirmed from over 40 countries; but many more will come, these are just the ones we bring ourselves.

--- How might the war in Ukraine affect them?

--- For now, we do not expect a direct influence of the war conflict on the BWW; however, it is evident that the war affects the exports of Spanish wineries to the Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian markets. But this is independent of the fair. In any case, Ukraine represents a very small market for Spanish wine. Russia is a larger market, but not so much as to endanger a winery.

--- And what about the Russian buyers who were expected to come?

--- Russian buyers will not come to the BWW. The participation of the twelve buyers from that country who were invited by the Hosted buyers program has been canceled; they cannot attend due to the economic sanctions that the EU has imposed on Russia.

--- The last edition of Intervin was held in 2018. In retrospect, how do you evaluate the decision to end that exhibition within Alimentaria and create the BWW?

---The first edition received very favorable feedback, a very favorable general opinion; the change was very well received. Wineries told us that they had been able to do business and make many contacts and that they highly valued the new format. Exhibitors were very happy, and in this second edition, we will prove it again. Initially, we considered whether to hold the BWW every two years, but as a result of that good outcome, we decided to organize it annually, as the wine sector is very dynamic, and we believe this should happen every year.

--- The decision to leave Alimentaria, then, was correct.

--- Yes, it was correct, totally. The world of wine is particular within the world of food and has enough size and life of its own to have its own fair. I think it was very successful.

--- But this year, by postponing the February edition to April, the fair will again coincide in dates with Alimentaria. What effect might this have for the BWW?

--- We will be in Montjuïc, in a different exhibition center, but it is true that we can gain visitors, as some professionals who visit Alimentaria can also visit us; however, I believe the coincidence of dates will be quite neutral. We would have liked to celebrate it at the beginning of February, to avoid coinciding with other fairs and to be the first in the annual calendar, although Prowine has finally also postponed its dates and we are still ahead.

--- What is the challenge for Spanish wine in the competitive international market?

--- There is still a giant job to be done. Spanish wine, due to its quality and diversity, should occupy a number one position, or be among the number ones in the sector. In part, we already occupy this position, because we are the country with the most vineyards and that sells the most wine in volume, but we still do not occupy the place that corresponds to us in terms of image and perception by consumers when it comes to consuming higher value wines. The great work we have ahead of us is to raise the image and value of Spanish wine in the mind of the consumer and in all markets; we are still far, but there is an annual upward curve of improvement. It is a constant work that we must do and that requires time.

"Spanish wine still does not occupy the place it deserves in terms of image and perception by international consumers when it comes to consuming higher value wines"

--- Clearly, when our wines are tasted, everyone realizes the quality they have, and that is why we have the basis to take this step towards value. It is not a matter of product quality; we have the offer; it is a matter of building image and marketing channels. We have a lot of work left. And, for that reason, a fair like BWW helps a lot to achieve this challenge because in a couple of days you can see and taste and get a very clear idea of what Spanish wine is. The strong point of this fair is the specialization we have to understand and have access to the entire reality of Spanish wine, unlike other fairs like Prowine, where you must compete and share buyers' time with other countries.

--- Does the climate emergency question the future of Spanish wine?

--- I believe not; the wine sector adapts to climate change in a very diverse way in the agricultural, varietal, and winemaking fields. We are clearly moving towards much more respectful and sustainable agriculture and winemaking; the climate emergency is an issue that concerns the sector. That is why more and more emphasis is placed on promoting native varieties, the best known, as well as new emerging native varieties that allow us to differentiate ourselves and give our wine its own personality. These are varieties that are already adapted to our climate and can respond better to climate change. At BWW there will be a wine bar precisely to showcase these new varieties, the hidden grapes.

"We are clearly moving towards much more respectful and sustainable agriculture and winemaking; the climate emergency is an issue that concerns the sector"

--- The professionalization of the entire chain, from the vineyard to marketing, is faced as a continuous challenge. Digitalization is a very important issue for the world of wine, as is wine tourism, because wineries see in this area the perfect way to make their wines known and create a unique experience linked to their wineries. From a territorial point of view, it is also crucial. Wine tourism is a source of wealth for everyone.

---The wine market has evolved very positively this 2021.

--- Spain has experienced very significant growth internationally because the pandemic left markets unsupplied and this year the increase in consumption is added to the need to refill channels. Sales are growing in double digits for that reason, but it is true that wine consumption is doing very well. More than 60% of our exports are concentrated in Europe and the United States, Canada, Mexico, the whole of Latin America, Japan and China, which is a great future market, are gaining more and more prominence.