When I attend wine roadshows in Beijing, I find them heavy with “regulars”—event chasers who are at a different tasting every day but help make a room look full—and consumers seeking to indulge. They tend to be light on the trade people many vendors most want to meet.

One thing I noticed at the Vinitaly China Roadshow in Beijing last week was a high number of bar and restaurant people in attendance. In fact, I finally met numerous people who I only knew online or by reputation.

What’s the difference?

This Vinitaly roadshow is paired with Italian Wine Week, which helps attract people from bars and restaurants, who, in turn, connect with consumers.

Over 40 venues joined Italian Wine Week signed in Beijing this year, with more than 60 signing up for the other roadshow stops, Wuhan and Chengdu. (I also participated by helping to organize an Italian wine and Grana Padano cheese tasting at CHEERS.)

Organizing such things is no easy feat.

Two weeks ago, I met Simone Incontro—the China head of Veronafiere, which backs these projects—for a late-morning coffee in Beijing. When he said he planned to visit some bars and restaurants, I decided to tag along.

That turned into a 15,000-step tour covering 15 venues, with Incontro dashing off at times to drop Vinitaly Roadshow invitations at alcohol shops along the way.

Incontro does this regularly, with a level of enthusiasm and commitment that is rare, but that helps to attract the kind of people who can drive Italian wine sales. But if the top guy is constantly doing that much footwork, it suggests more resources are needed.

In any case, this year’s roadshow—the last Beijing stop was 2023—was done well, including:

• Knowledgeable and friendly winery reps. (I was recently at a show where some people didn’t even know the grape variety or region for the wines they were serving, even though that info was on the back of the bottles.) Plus, a wide range of wines, from mainstream styles to niche ones, such as skin-contact and natural wines. Plus, lots of bubbly.
  
• Some “beyond wine” stands, including for Grana Padano cheese, for truffle oils and spreads and for and coffee. Touches like this give texture to roadshows. And if someone claims that a wine has “notes of truffle”, one can quickly check it against the real thing!)
  
• A spacious environment. I’m not a fan of events in hotel, but the Rosewood with its soaring ceilings, intricate wall art, vast ballroom and convenient location on the Third Ring Road is an exception.
  
• And music. It’s not something many organizers consider but given so many of these tastings drag into the late afternoon when a lot of people’s energy is low, having upbeat and fun tunes music does make a difference.

In any case,

Grape Wall has no sponsors of advertisers: if you find the content and projects like World Marselan Day worthwhile, please help cover the costs via PayPal, WeChat or Alipay.

Sign up for the free Grape Wall newsletter here. Follow Grape Wall on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And contact Grape Wall via grapewallofchina (at) gmail.com.