Last week - from 12 to 15 February - the 25th BioFach took place in Nuremberg. Well over 2,000 exhibitors from more than 70 countries, including around 160 organic wine suppliers, were represented at the world's leading exhibition for organic food. According to the trade fair company, the number of wine suppliers is declining as well as the number of exhibitors in total, but the fair itself is still the largest of its kind - for organic food in general, mind you, not specifically for organic wine.
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The wine range at BioFach was integrated into the general exhibition activities. (Photo: NürnbergMesse / Frank Boxler)[/caption]
In terms of organic wine offerings, ProWein in Düsseldorf is already significantly larger (around 250 suppliers among some 4,700 exhibitors), and the world's leading organic wine fair is Millésime Bio in Montpellier (780 exhibitors offering organic wines exclusively). At BioFach, the wine exhibitors are also no longer grouped together in one area, but are spread throughout the exhibition halls. For someone who visits the fair specifically because of the wine, this is quite tedious, because he has to walk through all the halls and corridors to find the vintners. At least, however, one can specifically search for all wine suppliers on the fair's website, which makes the preparation much easier, and in hall 5, there was a "World of Wine Experience" with a tasting zone and a lecture program. However, according to the organizers, wine plays a rather minor role for BioFach visitors, so the decentralized arrangement makes sense - also for the exhibitors themselves - because this way the wines have the broadest attention and do not have a separate niche existence.
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Press conference of the eco associations on Media Day (Photo: NürnbergMesse / Thomas Geiger)[/caption]
I didn't taste much at the fair, but every year BioFach is the best opportunity to get the latest figures, data and facts about the international organic market. On Media Day all the relevant associations and organisations - including the German Federation of the Organic Food Industry (BÖLW), the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the German Association of Natural Food and Drink (BNN) - hold a press conference and present the developments of the past year in each case, and the publications of BÖLW and FiBL in particular are an indispensable source of information. However, it is very regrettable that the Federal Association of Organic Winegrowing (Ecovin) is not part of this. Ecovin is of course represented at the fair, but does not issue a special press release on BioFach as the other associations do. This is actually a pity - because this would be even more helpful for my work and would be another chance for organic viticulture to position itself in a way that is effective for the public.
Nevertheless: I have collected enough material for a two-part magazine article, and at least the first part will be published in the next few days.