Wine Vision by Open Balkan Sends a Powerful Image to the World: A Region of Wine, Cooperation, and Creativity

The second regional wine, food, and tourism fair "Wine Vision by Open Balkan" exceeded all expectations in terms of the number of exhibitors, professional buyers, business meetings of businessmen, as well as visitors, and wine lovers who flocked to the domes of the Belgrade Fair from Friday to Sunday to try and buy favorite and new types of wine.

During the event from November 16th to 19th, Belgrade sent a beautiful picture and a message that the Western Balkans is a region of cooperation, understanding, creativity, and innovation, but also the future of world wine. The "Wine Vision by Open Balkan" in just two years, the numbers confirm, ranked among the leading European and world winemakers' fairs.
"This regional fair is a perfect opportunity for wineries and distilleries to present themselves to numerous domestic and foreign visitors and secure a ticket to new markets." The Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS) organized the arrival at the fair of the most important professional buyers of wine and spirits from all over the world, from distributors and importers, through large retailers to specialized retail chains, the HORECA sector and Masters of Wine," points out Aleksandar Radovanović, the head of the Center for regional cooperation of the CCIS.
The special quality of this year's fair, in his words, is the ample program of B2B meetings with the value of concluded deals to be measured in millions of euros. The wineries of the Open Balkan region have shown and proven the quality of wine that can be compared with the best European wines, a recognition given by professional buyers from all over the world.
The director of the Association of Winemakers and Vinegrowers of Serbia, Stevan Rajta, does not hide his satisfaction and assesses that this year's Wine, Food, and Tourism Fair exceeded expectations, as well as that exceptionally high-quality wines from Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia were presented.
"Out of 800 labels that were in the competition, we singled out 545. This shows that the wines of the Balkans are of top quality and will be in high demand. We showed that in the Balkans, and especially in Serbia, we have wines for big events. The winners were Erdevik from Serbia, Tikveš from Macedonia, and Duka from Albania. The whole region is progressing in terms of quality and many vineyards are being planted," points out Rajta.
The fair gathered around 600 exhibitors and more than 450 professional buyers from all over the world, from all continents, a record number of bilateral meetings were held, and the first analyses show that most winemakers did a good job.
The biggest European and world buyers, such as the Norwegian Vinmonopolet, the British Novel Wines, then the United Stars Corporation Group from Canada, Merit Importadora from Brazil, and others were at the "Wine Vision by Open Balkan".
At the fair there were also the biggest names in the world when it comes to wine evaluation, such as the famous specialized magazine dedicated to wine and a kind of rating agency "Falstaff", then sommeliers, while the accompanying program was made of food and spice exhibitions, gastronomic competitions and the presentation of tourist potentials.

Brandy producers also presented their products at the fair, and they also had good business meetings and contacts.
The second international wine, food, and tourism fair "Wine Vision by Open Balkan" was organized under the auspices of the governments of Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania, and closed with a ceremonial awarding of the Food Vision festival awards to the best chefs.