VINITALY WILL REPRESENT ITALIAN FOOD AND WINE EXCELLENCE AT THE 2015 SHANGHAI WINE & DINE FESTIVAL (SEPTEMBER 18 TO 20TH) AIMING TO BECOME THE ASIAN REFERENCE FOR WINE & FOOD

Vinitaly will represent Italian food and wine excellence in the first edition of the Shanghai Wine & Dine Festival to be held next September from the18th to 20th. It aims to become the b2c reference event in the East for wine & food and Vinitaly, the most important international exhibition organized by Veronafiere dedicated to wine and spirits, has been chosen as the leader pavilion to host Italian products, thanks to the efficient work Vinitaly International has done over the years.

The goal is to win over Chinese consumers, through tastings of the best Italian wines, accompanied with dishes by the most famous Italian chefs in Shanghai offering the best-known Made in Italy food & beverages in China.

France, Spain, the United States, Australia, Chile and Argentina, will also participate in the Festival that promoters presented this week in Shanghai: Shanghai Morning Post, Gewara, the largest online ticket service in China, Unionpay, the most famous credit card in China and the Bank of Communications.

“This is an exciting moment for Vinitaly and Italian wine”, said the CEO of Veronafiere, Giovanni Mantovani. “For the first time in the history of the Universal Expo, this year in Milan we created a pavilion dedicated to wine, which Chinese visitors greatly appreciated. Next year will be Vinitaly’s fiftieth anniversary in Verona and, with our know-how, we are ready to present a new type of consumer-oriented event in Shanghai, where food will play a key role in wine culture”.
Vinitaly International will work closely with Italian wine companies and importers at the Shanghai Wine & Dine Festival as it did for the Roadshow before Expo opened and the Fuorisalone in Chengdu.

During the presentation, The Italian consul general in Shanghai, Stefano Beltrame along with the managing director of Vinitaly International, Stevie Kim, reminded the audience once again of “the importance of acting together, to really accomplish that desired system-Italy that can turn into a concrete business for the Italian wine companies in the most difficult and promising market in the world, China”.
To emphasize the international value of the event in Shanghai, along with Vinitaly participants will include Sopexa China, Interpofessionel Conseil du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), Wine Australia, Wines of Chile, Rioja, Wines of Argentina and the Office of Foreign Trade United States.

The expectations of this new appointment are very high, as Yang Wei Zhong, editor in chief of the Shanghai Morning Post explained, “Shanghai has always been open to western lifestyles and in the last two years has seen wine consumers grow more and more. From this point of view, it is a metropolis and a reference point for the entire nation and it is where the new trends of the Chinese consumer are launched.