Vinitaly: Premier Wine Event. A Must For All Industry Insiders and Wine Enthusiasts

If you have never been to Vinitaly, ask advice on what to wear and how to navigate the huge fair from those in the know before you go. Vinitaly is Italy’s enormous wine fair, held in Verona every year in April. It lasts for four days, two of which are open to the public and the other two are exclusively for the “trade.” The trade in this case can be restaurateurs, wine stores, wine importers and wine journalists, essentially everyone who works in the business in one fashion or another.  

Vinitaly is tremendously successful and expands every year. This pattern is expected to continue and 2009 showed an increase 12% over 2008 in terms of the number of participants from the United States. The fair is impressive with its 12 pavilions and an additional building floor of the main Verona Fiera building. In 2009, there were 4213 exhibitors from all continents. The fair sees more than 151,000 visitors, 45,000 coming from 100 different countries, a 9% increase from the previous year.. 


 

Vinitaly is so successful that is has taken to the road. This past October was the 7^th annual Vinitaly US Tour. This year, the tour went to Chicago, San Francisco and New York. In February, Vinitaly went to Miami and Palm Beach as well. 

 

Vinitaly is reaching out to US consumers at a crucial moment in the wine industry. There has never been so much wine available to consumers as there is today. Competition comes from all corners whether it is South America (Chile, Argentina), Africa (South Africa), Australia, New Zealand or other old world countries like Spain and Portugal. Despite all of this increased competition, Italian wine seems to be holding its own in terms of market share. Italian wine took first place as the most imported wine for the first time this year. That lead had been in French hands for the past decade. 

 

 

Part of the reason that Italian wines do so well in the United States is that there are many Italian restaurants and the wines match perfectly with the food. Another reason that the wines continue to do so well is the varied nature of the offering. There are over 3000 well known Italian grape varieties and more than 15,000 varieties if you include all of the small and little known ones. This gives fodder to people’s insatiable thirst to drink new wines all the time. Italy has everything: sparkling, dry, sweet, semi sweet, dessert wines, late harvest wines. You name, some indigenous grape variety will be able to quench your thirst. 

Next year’s edition will be held April 8-12. It will be the 44^th edition of this trade show. In addition to Vinitaly’s tours of the United States, Vinitaly has embarked on a World Tour traveling to China, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, and Russia. Starting in 2010, Brazil will be added to the Vinitaly World Tour. 


  Vinitaly will be back in February to New York as part of an important Italian Wine Week which runs from Februrary 2 to February 6. Veronafiere, ICE and Buonitalia are all working together to make that week a huge success. This will be the second edition of Italian Wine Week in New York.  

 

“We are quite pleased with this October tour and with the success of Italian producers who have been able to meet the needs of consumers during this time of crisis, offering good products at the right price without sacrificing quality,’Giovanni Mantovani, Director of Veronafiere noted.” 

 

Mantovani also expressed his delight that American consumers have become so knowledgeable about Italian wines. He said he found consumers all of the country to be enthralled with Italian wine.  


 

Looking ahead, Mantovani said he imagines that one day there will two huge events in addition to all of the Vinitaly tours, one in the United States and one in Asia. He also seemed unconcerned about competition from other wine fairs such as Germany’s Prowein which takes place in a similar time period.  

 

“They have a different target and it really has not been an issue for us at all,” Mantovani said. He noted that visitors from the Northern countries continue to come to Vinitaly and said he expected that trend to continue.

The fair is really an experience that shouldn’t be missed if one is either in the business or an enthusiast. Remember to wear comfortable shoes, bring water, a bag for brochures and your palate.