Vinitaly preview

Vinitaly 2017 is set to be bigger and better than ever before, as organisers increase the size of the exhibition space to accommodate more Italian and international winemakers, writes Rupert Millar.

MORE SPACE and an increased focus on internationalisation will be the hallmarks of this year’s Vinitaly event. Held in Verona in April, the 2017 edition of the show will cover 100,000m², with a new hall being added to the event area. Several halls have recently been upgraded to accommodate the ever-growing number of trade visitors – 50,000 of whom flocked to the four-day event in 2016.

Major overall changes mean there will be an increased presence from Piedmont this year, thanks to the restructuring of Hall 10. Hall 8 has also been opened to the fair, and will accommodate Sardinia’s producers, as well as several small specialist shows including: Vinitalybio, Winegrowers and Terroirs and Fivi (set up by the Italian Federation of Independent Wine-Growers).

Meanwhile, international exhibitors at VinInternational will now be sharing their hall with Tuscany, thanks to the creation of a 4,000m² area that replaces two smaller structures that originally occupied the site.

The Tuscans will enjoy a new expanded area covering 1,600m², while the rest of the space will host exhibitors from Australia, France, Hungary, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the US, and others.

Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of Veronafiere, says: “To enhance our appeal for exhibitors, in recent years we have implemented new services and ensured progressive upgrading of our exhibition halls which – well in time for the 2017 show – will provide even more space, allowing us to increase the number of wine cellars as well overall improvements to the layout of the exhibition centre.

In addition, Veronafiere’s business plan for the next four years envisages €72 million out of the total €94m for improvements to exhibition centre infrastructures, digital transformation and construction of parking facilities for more than 3,000 cars.”

EXPANDED HORIZONS The past few years have seen Vinitaly working hard to boost not only foreign visitor numbers but exhibitors too, and the signs from last year were extremely encouraging.

In 2016, of the 50,000 trade visitors to the show, 28,000 were international buyers from the wholesale and distribution network. Furthermore, they came from 140 countries, with significant growth in visitor numbers from Canada, China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US.

Maurizio Danese, president of Veronafiere, said in a statement last year: “In 2016, we distinctly separated the business-to-business (B2B) from the business-to-consumer (B2C) events, expanded services and multiplied opportunities for meetings between exhibitors and international buyers during the show, while at the same time moving all consumer-related aspects to the Vinitaly and the City off-show event held in the city centre.

“The next step is to broaden the number of companies attending from abroad in order to open new business channels.”

Non-Italian buyers will also profit from a free badge service and can take advantage of specially-tailored B2B meetings through the Taste & Buy initiative, which grows every year as more Italian companies take the opportunity to sit down with international buyers. The show’s organisers are keen to stress the many other events that take place in the run-up to and during Vinitaly in Verona Away from the main fair, and around the world throughout the rest of the year.

The most notable of these is the OperaWine gala tasting event the day before the fair, when US publication Wine Spectator presents a number of Italian wines from 100 specially chosen producers from Italy.

Vinitaly International not only organises the B2B meetings at the show but has a similar programme that tours the world, stopping off in Canada, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Russia throughout the year. It also organises a B2C event at the Shanghai Wine and Dine festival, the largest food-and-wine festival held in mainland China.

In conjunction with these events are the Vinitaly International Academy, which provides seminars and masterclasses on Italian wine and its diversity, and the ‘wine2wine’ programme that allows Italian producers and other wine professionals to be introduced to the latest viticultural practices, marketing tools, regulations and market insights.

The Vinitaly Academy (now three years old) also has a programme to make certified ambassadors who can continue to teach others in their home markets about Italian wine even when the Academy is out of town.

Vinitaly International’s managing director, Stevie Kim, stresses how rigourous the exams are saying they are intended to be a “gold standard for Italian wine teaching.” Some 50 or so candidates will sit the examinations this year, the average pass rate so far is just 50%. Kim continued: “After two editions we still have only a few ambassadors in China and the US (12 in each).

They in turn will teach in their own territory and we want to be more aggressive in both the US and China. Eventually we want to have an additional 50 ambassadors in each market. The US because it’s the biggest export market and China because it’s such an important potential market.

“It’s ambitious but we think we’ve come to a point where we can organise this. “With producer and governmental support I think we can start to make a substantial impact with a serious, fullblown roll out including a teaching programme and student/teaching guide.”

Finally, Vinitaly 2017 will see the launch of a new initiative called ‘wine2digital’. Housed in what will be a permanent space next to the showground, during the fair it will be something of a ‘super VIP lounge’ where a number of events will take place, but its role more generally is to help encourage Italian producers to engage digitally with the overseas trade.

The digital initiative adds one more weapon in the arsenal of Vinitaly, which exists to promote and provide education surrounding Italian wine to the rest of the world.