Four wineries from Lanzarote are participating, with the support of the Government of the Canary Islands, in the first edition of WINEMAD, a professional fair aimed at promoting new business opportunities for the wine sector in international markets.
The event is being held at IFEMA Madrid from May 27 to 29, with an exhibition space of 48 square meters financed by the Canary Institute of Agri-food Quality (ICCA), in collaboration with Proexca, where the wines of the Archipelago will be promoted.
The participating wineries from Lanzarote are Los Bermejos, Casa Althay, Vulcano Lanzarote, and Erupción. Seven other wineries from the rest of the Canary Islands are participating: Tafuriaste, La Haya, Viña Gómez, El Lomo, and Piedra Fluida, from Tenerife; and Teneguía and Veganorte, from La Palma.
During the inauguration of the event, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, accompanied by the director of the ICCA, Luis Arráez Guadalupe, explained that this meeting brings together importers, distributors, and representatives from the HORECA channel and large retailers who are looking to discover new wineries and productions, strengthen commercial relationships, and access a carefully selected international offering.
Thus, he considers that "it represents a great opportunity for Canary Islands companies to showcase the quality and uniqueness of their productions in an international showcase and establish new contacts and business options in markets where Spanish wine has room for development, in the European, American - especially Canada, the United States, and Mexico - and Asian continents - with China and Japan as protagonists -.
“With the expectation of attracting more than 4,000 professional visitors and 200 international buyers, this forum presents itself as a space of interest to strengthen the external presence of Canary Islands wines,” he added.
In this context, the regional counselor referred to the data of exports of wine production from the Archipelago, which last year amounted to 177,443 liters, destined mostly (74%) for third countries (nations not belonging to the European Union). The main markets include the United States (with 80,774 liters), Canada (with 10,592), China (with 4,154), and Japan (with 2,066). Furthermore, among European destinations that are not part of the EU, the United Kingdom (12,767) and Switzerland (2,654) should be highlighted; and regarding EU member states, Germany (9,709), Belgium (7,269), France (5,714), and the Netherlands (4,281) are important.
Thus, the organization of WINEMAD confirms the presence at the event of economic operators from Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, China, Japan, and Singapore, and it has different spaces aimed at facilitating direct contact between wineries, professional buyers, distributors, and specialized agents in the sector.
A meeting on challenges and opportunities for wine
Within the fair's program, the Wine Madrid Summit stands out, a forum aimed at analyzing the main changes, challenges, and opportunities in the wine sector. The meeting addresses issues related to commercialization, management, sustainability, diversification of activity, and the search for new formulas to strengthen the competitiveness of wineries.
Within the framework of this initiative, the Canary Islands Wine Tourism Cluster, in collaboration with the public company of the Government of the Canary Islands, GMR Canarias, has coordinated the participation of several Canary Islands companies in this experience.
Thus, Daniela Reverón, from Bodegas Reverón, and Borja de Mesa, from Bodegas El Lomo, will participate in the panel “Wine Tourism as a strategic business, diversification, and profitability”; while Carlos Lozano, from Bodegas Llanovid SCL, and Víctor Lugo, from Bodegas Berrazales-Finca La Laja, will do so in the one on “Gastronomy, wine, and territory. Real alliances with restoration and local product”. In addition, Sofía Monshawer, from Bodegas Piedra Fluida, and Juan Escudero, from Bodega Finca Escudero, will participate in the space “Wine culture and society. How to reconnect wine with new audiences”.
In this regard, the counselor explained that this forum will allow “to deepen the lines of work that the Government of the Canary Islands has been developing in terms of wine tourism in coordination with the Canary Islands Wine Tourism Cluster and the Chair of Agrotourism and Wine Tourism of the ICCA and the ULL to favor the diversification of the primary sector and generate new economic opportunities around the territory, landscape, and wine culture”. Likewise, Quintero recalled that in January the Governing Council approved the classification of wine tourism as a regulated tourist activity, “which granted it institutional recognition and legal certainty, and contributes to professionalizing the offer and boosting the activity, reinforcing the link between production, territory, and tourist experience”.
The event also includes the Hosted Buyer program of WINEMAD (Madrid International Wine Fair), designed to directly connect wineries with international buyers who have real decision-making and distribution capacity, through a professional matching system that generates agendas of previously organized meetings, a parallel program with tastings, workshops, and immersive experiences conceived to connect wine with gastronomy, art, tourism, and culture, fostering an ecosystem of collaboration, promotion, and business generation.
Another of the interesting proposals of the event is "Share Experience", an initiative that includes interactive tastings, experiential pairing workshops, and shared experiences designed so that attendees not only taste the wine, but also interact directly with the producers, sommeliers, or other specialists or enthusiasts.
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