About the Festival
As the first comprehensive wine and spirit festival named after the organizing city in China, "Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival" has been successfully held for eight times up to now. It is hosted jointly by Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce and the Government of Hongkou District and co-organized by Wine and Spirit Monopoly Bureau of Shanghai and Hongkou District Commission of Commerce.
Taking wine and spirit as the carrier, the festival upholds the spirit of promoting wine culture. As the platform to show and promote wine culture, it has attracted well-known producers and suppliers of five major kinds of wine and spirits in over 40 countries from four continents and millions of visitors.
The scale of the event has become larger and larger with richer content and higher quality since the first one held in 2006. The events in previous years have witnessed the growth of wine industry in Hongkou and the development trace of an industrial functional area.
The Ninth (2013) Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival
Taking "Wine of the World, World of the Wine--Enjoying Wonderful Life with Fine Brew from Around the World" as the theme, the Ninth (2013) Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival will kick off at Hall 2 of Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center from November 6 to 8 in 2013. As the platform to show and promote wine culture, the festival with an exhibition area of 130,000 square meters attracted over 5000 kinds of products of more than 500 well-known producers and suppliers of five major kinds of wine and spirits from over 50 countries. It is unprecedented in the history of the festival. The exhibition areas include: wine functional area, areas for liquor, wine, rice wine, beer and foreign spirits, anti-fake and traceability area, wine making equipment area, and area of other derivative products. For the first time, the festival expands its function from providing a platform to link production and marketing to the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, highlighting the technical, communicational, and commercial function of professional exhibition. During the events, the first China Summit on Retroactive Anti-counterfeiting of Wine and Liquor, 2013 China Wine and Spirits Investment Forum, and related activities like Sommeliers Classroom, National (Regional) Themed Wine and Spirits Culture Promotion Day, Famous Brand Tasting Evening, New Products Release, and so on, will be organized.
Review on the previous festivals
The Eighth Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: Taking "Wine from the World for Wonderful Life" as the theme, the event was organized at Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium from September 19 to October 2 in 2012. As the most important event of Shanghai Shopping Festival 2012, the opening ceremony broke through the traditional pattern by integrating the culture from the world with the charm of the district of Hongkou with international elements and new science and technology based on the experience of the previous sessions.
The Seventh Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: Taking "Gathering classic and new products from China and abroad throughout history" as the theme, the event was organized at 1933 Shanghai from September 26th to October 2nd in 2011. More than 2000 varieties of products from 120 famous wine and spirits enterprises on the five continents in the world appeared collectively. As an important part of Shanghai Shopping Festival 2011, the event demonstrated two highlights: one is the complementary pattern between the international halls and the outdoor special display area. International Hall No.1 was divided into different zones according to the origin of the products, gathering the famous wine and spirits products from Medoc Classification in 1855 First Growth in France, German, Spain, countries and regions speaking Portuguese, as well as Argentina and South Africa and International Hall No.2 took the International Imported Wine Association FSPA (Bacardi, VSOP Remy Martin VSOP, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Hennessy, Jack Daniels Brewery, etc.) as the theme, while the outdoor special display area emphasized on domestic liquor products including Maotai, Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, Blue Classics, Langjiu, Xifeng, Fenjiu, etc., and other products like Jinfeng rice wine, Budweiser beer, and so on. The second was the great variety of activities related to wine and spirits culture, including the 2nd China National Sommelier Competition, China Bartending Performance Contest, International Imported Wine Dealers Forum, Summit of China Liquor Industry, Theme National Wine and Spirit Culture Promotion Day, Brand Wine Tasting Meeting, New Products Release Activity, Photo Contest on the Seventh Shanghai Wine & Spirit Festival, and so on. In recent years, taking serve for promoting the prosperity of the regional economy, enhancing the consumption quality, and building a good environment for regional economic development as its goal and driving with innovation for transitional development as the principle, Hongkou District has focused on building the innovative festival brand of its own – “Shanghai Festival” to exhibit fine products and recommend new products through the creation of wine and spirits culture demonstration and public service platform. By focusing on the development trend of wine industry, creating good atmosphere for the construction of regional theme and business functional area, and taking the organization of wine festival as the key method for the construction of the platform and element market, it has gathered famous merchants and enterprises at home and abroad to the area and promoted the construction of “Shanghai International Wine Business Functional Zone”.
The Sixth Shanghai Wine Festival: It was organized at North Sichuan Road Park from September 27 to the mid-October in 2010. Focusing on the theme of the World Expo, special pavilion sections were established along North Sichuan Road. With pavilions of distinctive features, well known producers of wine, spirit, and beer from all around the world, such as Moutai, Wuliangye, Yanghe (Classic Blue), Hongloumeng, Jinfeng Wine (Shikumen), Budweiser, and so on, and the general agent of the five major wine producers in the world, the C&D Group, fully demonstrated their corporate culture and exhibited their new products and fine products.
The Fifth Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: It was held from September 28 to October 6. The theme of the festival was "The World of Wine, the Wine of the World". The main venue of the festival was at North Sichuan Road Park, and it was the first time for the festival to set up foreign wine savoring activity at 1933 Shanghai. There were 20 theme pavilions and 25 standard booths. Through novel external feature, strong national characteristics, and vivid interpretation of wine and spirit culture, the festival revealed the wine and spirit culture and the world expo culture with wine and spirits as the media. One of the highlights of the festival was the outdoor bar of Budweiser, Qingdao, and Reeb beer. Many citizens and tourists showed their wish that this mode of sales could be kept even after the festival.
The Fourth Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: With "Harmonious Life Mellow Commitment "as the theme, the fourth Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival was held in North Sichuan Road Park (No. 1468 North Sichuan Road, near Hengshui Road) during September 28--October 6. It was an important event to show the service level and good image of Shanghai as an international Metropolis before the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and a new highlight of North Sichuan Road. The major activities included Salon for Savoring Fine Wine and Spirits, Lecture of Experts in the Industry, Theme Performance of Wine and Spirit Culture, Knowledge Contest, Photography Contest, and so on. Ji Keliang, Chairman of Kweichow Moutai Winery Group, and Fu Zukang, Chairman of Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine Company presented at the forum of the festival.
The Third Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: Taking "Drink Fine Wine, Savor World Culture" as the theme, the third Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival was held at North Sichuan Road Park during September 22-- October 7 in 2007. As an important part of "Shanghai Shopping Festival", the third Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival took tasting wine and spirits as the core and carried out a series of activities, like Savoring Party, Drinking PK Competition, and so on, to stimulate the consumption on North Sichuan Road during disseminating brand culture. It showed the profound cultural deposit along North Sichuan Road. The eye-opening event attracted over 100 enterprises of 6 categories of wine and spirits from about 20 countries of 4 continents.
The Second Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: Taking "Quality Wine for Spring Festival, Harmonious Relation for Better Life" as the theme, the second Shanghai Wine and Spirits festival was held during February 2---11, in 2007. More than 30 "Savoring Room" was set along the wine culture corridor of over 100 meters long on North Sichuan Road. The festival gathered hundreds of famous wine and spirit brands at home and abroad, such as Tarapaca of Chile, Royal Salute Whiskey of Scotland, Great Wall Wine of China, Martell of France, Ice Wine of Canada, and so on.
During the festival, the organizing committee set a theme for every day to introduce a kind of typical wine or spirit of a country. The festival also combined "tasting" with "rating". Apart from teaching citizens the knowledge of tasting and evaluating wine and spirit and the harm of excessive drinking, the festival organized the rating of famous wine and spirits in over 100 hotels and restaurants by consumers to improve their taste for them.
The First Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival: Taking "Enjoying famous wine and delicious dishes on Sichuan Road" as the theme, the first Shanghai Wine and Spirits Festival was held during the golden week of national holiday from September 28 to October 6 in 2006. Through exhibition, demonstration, illustration, and promotion, the festival enriched the connotation of wine and spirit culture. A variety of performances were staged on the main venue and the branch venues focused on exhibition. While shopping and entertaining, consumers can taste noted wine and spirit from all around the world and understand the profound culture and etiquette behind them.
