Italian wine is restarting in Verona: Opera Wine (June 19), Vinitaly Preview (June 20), and more

June will be the month, according to many people, that we will finally be able to kick out Covid-19. Without a doubt, though, it is the month that the most important wine events will be restarting, thanks to its leader trade fair player, Vinitaly by Veronafiere, in Verona.
It will be a marathon of events, kicking off with Vinitaly Design International Packaging Competition on June 11th, and tastings of 5StarWines - The Book & Wine Without Walls on June 16-18th. Then, we get into the heart of the matter with the major events, “Opera Wine” by “Wine Spectator”, on June 19th, that is, 200 iconic Italian wineries that have participated at least once in the prestigious tasting event of the most famous US magazine, to then arrive at the Vinitaly Preview on June 20th (so far, participating wineries include Zaccagnini, Zymè, Santadi, Cantina Vignaioli del Morellino di Scansano, Lungarotti, Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, Ruggeri, Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Valentina Cubi, Villa Sandi, Ruggeri, Roberto Voerzio, among others). Next, there is the preview of “Vinitaly Special Edition”, which will take place from October 17th to 19th in Verona (awaiting the return of the “real” Vinitaly in 2022, April 10th to 13th). Further, in June, the Vinitaly International Academy courses will be held by Professor Attilio Scienza (University of Milan, and one of the most esteemed scholars of Italian viticulture), from June 20th to 23rd.
The month will be full of events that will of course respect all the limitations the Covid-19 health emergency has imposed. However, they will be in person and safe, and will be the definitive restarting, in style, of wine events.

Focus - Veronafiere: the official note...

Italian wine has decided to restart by blocking off the month of June with a marathon of in person events, organized by Vinitaly. The 25th Vinitaly Design International Packaging Competition, scheduled on Friday June 11th at Veronafiere, will open the National calendar of wine events. More than 180 wines will take part in the competition. The jury will be headed by Gianni Arnaudo, an architect whose works, in the field of design as well, distinguish him as one of the International players who have portrayed the most significant turning points in the artistic field in the Twentieth century.
The 5StarWines - the Book & Wine Without Walls event debuts in an extraordinary summer edition, from June 16 to 18th. The three-day wine selection event organized by Veronafiere will be the prologue to Operawine this year. There will be a blind tasting of five categories of wines by an in person International jury: still, fizzy, sparkling, sweet and fortified, a subdivision acceptable both for the traditional version of the edition (5StarWines), and for the green version of Wine Without Walls, dedicated to certified organic or biodynamic wines or linked to specific product sustainability protocols. Only wines that achieve a score equal to or greater than 90/100 will be reviewed and included in the book published by Vinitaly, and thereby benefiting from constant national and International promotional support.
June 19th is Italian wine’s “restart day” and it is also the city of Verona’s reopening. Vinitaly OperaWine will start at Gallerie Mercatali (in front of the exhibition center), while in the evening the inauguration of the 98th Arena Opera Festival will be held. In the ten-year anthology of the Grand Tasting of the International event organized by Vinitaly, in collaboration with Wine Spectator, the 186 producers from all the Regions (in addition to the 100 traditionally chosen, and the all timers), selected by the American magazine, will meet over 300 professionals and national (120) and foreign buyers from 13 European and non-European countries, thanks to the Veronafiere-Ice Agency hospitality campaign. This will be the first important International business contingent to return to our country following the last 15 months of lockdowns, reviving in person commercial relations, in view of the Vinitaly Special edition, confirmed October 17 to 19th at Veronafiere. Further, on June 20th Vinitaly Preview will take place (at the Mercatali Galleries). The event is intended for the first delegation of Italian wineries engaged in a walk-around tasting precisely for the demand of target markets that will be in Verona.
The Vinitaly International Academy courses to be held by Attilio Scienza (who has trained over 190 Italian wine ambassadors in the world, of which 14 are Italian wine experts, the highest level of accreditation), scheduled at Veronafiere from June 20th to 23rd, will close the ten days of Italian wine events, organized by Vinitaly to re-launch the sector.