Vinitaly ups global footprint

Vinitaly has launched a promotional plan across 15 strategic markets in order to drive global exports of Italian wine.

Vinitaly, owned and organised by Veronafiere, is the only international event in Italy specifically dedicated to wine and spirits.

It is scheduled in April every year at the Verona Exhibition Centre and involves a net show area of more than 100,000 square metres across seventeen permanent and tensile show facilities.

The exhibition supports the internationalisation of Italian wines through visitors from different countries around the world. More than 4100 Italian and international exhibitors from 32 countries were at the trade show in 2023, as well as 93,000 professional operators in attendance (32% from 143 countries).

The top five countries of origin for buyers at the last edition in April this year saw the US confirm its market leadership, up 45% in attendance compared to 2022, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Canada.

The wine industry in Italy is worth 31.3 billion euros, with 530,000 companies and around 870,000 employees. Vinitaly has also organised an international tour in order to build relationships with export markets.

It has set its sights on 15 carefully selected key countries representing 78% of the value of overall Italian wine exports, with a programme of events lined up by Veronafiere starting in September this year through to March 2024.

Following the Vinitaly China Roadshow (Beijing, Changsha and Hangzhou 11-15 September) and Wine South America (12-14 September) in Bento Gonçalves, Brazil, Vinitaly makes its debut 22-23 October in Chicago at the International Wine Expo (IWE), the trade fair format organised by Italian Expo in partnership with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Chicago and the ICE Trade Agency specifically for wine and food professionals in the US Midwest.

It is then the turn of Wine Vision by Open Balkan in Belgrade, Serbia, 16-19 November, where Vinitaly will accompany group attendance by 50 Italian winemakers.

Vinitaly also plans to target the countries identified as priorities by Vinitaly exhibitors, including Switzerland, Germany and Denmark.

The Vinitaly tour resumes in January 2024 in Japan (Tokyo, 15 January) and South Korea (Seoul, 12 January) before returning to Sweden (Stockholm, 23 January) and Austria (Rust, 25 January) in Europe.

Vinitaly set course once again towards Northern Europe in the UK (London, 6 February) and Belgium (Bruxelles, 19-20 March).

The US will be at the heart of this promotional effort in the opening months of 2024 with two more Vinitaly preview events, while the American roadshow will then resume between June and July in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Finally, May sees Veronafiere in the forefront once again in China for Wine to Asia (Shenzhen, 9-11 May 2024) and in Brazil for “I love Italian Wine” (Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro).