Go to Vinitaly 2026 to understand how much we are connected to and care about wine world

If there are a thousand and more reasons not to miss Vinitaly 2026 in Verona (April 12th - 15th), the world leading wine event signed by Veronafiere and the only “walk-around tasting” dedicated exclusively to Italy (a sort of “festivity” of Italian wine, to clarify), it is because wine is part of our culture and, through its businesses, creates economy and integration; it is the custodian of territories of which it is the very essence; it ensures biodiversity in the landscape; and it is the most faithful companion of the table and conviviality. And WineNews will not only narrate “day by day” ideas and projects of producers, productions and territories, from our “observatory” in the heart of the fair -  hosted by the Marche, the only Italian region with a plural name - and from our newsroom in the heart of Tuscany, but will also dedicate five small special editions of the daily newsletter “La Prima di WineNews” to Vinitaly 2026, to be released over the Easter “long weekend” (April 4th, 5th and 6th), in anticipation of edition no. 58, on April 11th, in the prologue whose highlight will be “OperaWine”, the tasting by “Wine Spectator” featuring 150 iconic Italian wineries, and on April 12th at the opening of the fair. And we will do so, as we do every day and have done for over a quarter of a century, on the web, to tell the story that going to Vinitaly and meeting all of Italy wine world at once means understanding just how deeply we are connected to, and care about, the world of wine.

But that is not all. To recall how wine arose with humankind and has accompanied the journey of humanity, thanks to Artificial Intelligence we have brought back to life, in two original and distinctive videos, the greatest geniuses of all time who authored thoughts on this “cultural beverage” which has always inspired intellect, the arts and imagination, starting with Dionysus, the “benevolent god”, kind and civilizing (here is a “taste” of it): because even if times move fast, certain truths remain forever actual, and wine needs no other ambassadors than these great and true intellectuals. This will be something of our 2026 “mantra”, at a time when the sector is going through a complex period, to ensure that more and more people become passionate about wine as a “medium” for telling the story of Italy beauty, for the ties it has with its territories, history, nature, culture and communities. And, talking about “learned quotations” (which you will also find in our two videos, from Dante Alighieri to Galileo Galilei, from Giacomo Leopardi to Ernest Hemingway, from Charles Baudelaire to Johann Wolfgang Goethe, just to name a few), as Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian genius par excellence, claimed: “… I believe that much happiness comes to those men who are born where good wines are found …”.

Returning to the fair, the first reason not to miss Vinitaly 2026 in Verona is the opportunity to meet the 4,000 wineries present, get to know producers in person, taste their wines together and discover their territories, but also to see how they present their products, with what design and through which communication ideas (I will be among the members of the jury of “Vinitaly Design Awards”, chaired by Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the “giants” of contemporary art, on April 11th at Teatro Ristori), and to engage in discussions on the most topical issues in the sector in Italy and worldwide: a wonderful experience with one of the most beloved symbols of made in Italy.

The Veronafiere event confirms itself as the largest “walk-around tasting” of Italian wine, with unique, original and high-quality products, ranging from the most famous wines to fine wines or niche labels from small wineries of absolute excellence, featured in countless tastings guided by experts (it is impossible to mention them all, but while ““Eccellenza d’Italia, un viaggio delle grandi annate e delle cantine storiche” - Eccellenza d’Italia, a journey through great vintages and historic wineries” is the now traditional tasting headed by Riccardo Cotarella, president of Assoenologi, and Luciano Ferraro, deputy editor of “Corriere della Sera”, the “Micro Mega Wines” are the wines selected by Ian D’Agata, one of the world foremost communicators of Italian wine, which are “micro” because they are small productions and “mega” for their quality, among others). And again, the many handmade, organic and certified biodynamic wines gathered in Vinitaly Bio. But also the new developments and latest trends in Italian beverages that the fair has chosen to showcase, such as the world of spirits and mixology with the debut of “Excellent Spirits”, which have a long, very long, entirely Italian history and are particularly appreciated by younger consumers. Or the interest in no- and low-alcohol wines, with zero or low alcohol content, which, regardless of differing opinions, represent a growing production segment and beverage market worldwide, to which the “NoLo - Vinitaly Experience” is dedicated. Not to forget wine tourism, now a permanent feature of the fair with Vinitaly Tourism, because it is no longer just an ancillary activity for Italian wineries, but a true competitive asset with a business-oriented project approach and, today more than ever, a reason why so many people approach wine and why even more will do so in the future.

And everything begins with an exceptional prologue such as “OperaWine” (April 11th, Mercatali Galleries), the only international tasting signed by “Wine Spectator” (which, in a tradition renewed for several years now, has dedicated the cover of its April issue to Italy, precisely when Vinitaly takes place), featuring the 150 best wineries from Italy top territories according to the U.S. magazine - from Barolo to Chianti Classico, from Franciacorta to Brunello di Montalcino, from Trentodoc to Etna, from Prosecco of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene to Bolgheri, from Sagrantino di Montefalco to Alto Adige, from Collio to Valtellina, from Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and Matelica to Sicily, from Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to Barbera, and so on - celebrating Italian wine as the quintessential “wine dream” for Americans and wine lovers around the world. The U.S. remains the leading export market, confirming a passion that complex global geopolitical scenarios may slow down but certainly can’t undermine, and which evidently also involves wine criticism.

For wine lovers, instead, leaving business and trade to the fair, experiencing Verona during Vinitaly days, among the beauties of the Unesco World Heritage city, capital of Valpolicella and Italian wine, glass in hand, is a unique experience made possible by the cultural events of the popular “out of fair” program “Vinitaly and the City”, in a great shared collective tasting. What unfolds, thanks to Vinitaly and Verona, is a narrative of Italian wine as a symbol of the Italian art of living, loved worldwide and this year strengthened even more by the recognition of Italian cuisine as Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage, which will be celebrated at the fair by starred and non-starred chefs, invited by wineries and consortia to create perfect pairings between wines and products from their territories. Because without wine on the table, there is no celebration.

A WineNews survey  - carried out on a sample of 30 wine companies with a total turnover of over 2.5 billion euros - tells us that 2025 was a year under pressure for Italian wine: most companies broke even compared to 2024, many recorded losses, even if small ones, and 4 out of 10 expect a recovery in 2026. Because wine companies nonetheless continue to believe in the strength of this great product tied to history, present and future (as also recalled by Italian historian and sociologist Gianni Moriani), beyond any “indictment”, even in the relationship between alcohol and health - as the Renaissance physician Paracelsus wrote, “everything is poison: nothing exists that is not poisonous. Only the dose makes the poison” - in the name of an “Italian style” of alcohol consumption, recognized also by scientific studies as “The Italian Way”. Studies which show how, over the past 20 years in Italy (one of the countries with the highest life expectancy in Europe: 84.1 years, above the EU average), as it is known, consumption has decreased, also thanks to greater attention to quality and context, less occasional and more conscious, linked to conviviality and meals, considering that 80% of wine is consumed at the table, including among young people.

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Focus - Key figures of Italian wine
- 670,000 hectares of vineyards
- 530,000 companies
- 44.4 million hectoliters (2025 production)
- 15 billion euros in wine turnover at production level
- Italian wine confirms itself as one of the strongest-performing sectors of made in Italy, with a positive trade balance of 7.2 billion euros per year and exports worth around 8 billion euros
- the sector employs 870,000 people
- vineyard asset value of 57 billion euros
- wine accounts for 1.1% of Italy GDP