It’s official: No Vinitaly in 2021, as WineNews Rumors reported. It will be held in 2022

It’s official. Vinitaly will not be held in 2021, as WineNews Rumors reported yesterday. An official statement from Veronafiere confirmed that edition number 54 of Vinitaly will be held in 2022 in Verona, from April 10th to 13th. The tenth edition of OperaWine with Wine Spectator, however, has been confirmed, at least for now, and will take place on June 19th and 20th in Verona. There will also be a special event, strictly b2b, from October 16th to 18th. It was definitely a painful decision, but the entire supply chain shared it with Veronafiere, including:Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), Federvini, Assoenologi, Federdoc, Confagricoltura, Coldiretti, Cia/Agricoltori, Alleanza delle Cooperative and Copagri. “The permanent uncertainties on the national and international level, in addition to the extended bans, have induced us to definitively reschedule the 54th edition of the exhibition to 2022”, said Maurizio Danese, president of Veronafiere Spa, “although extremely painful, it is a choice based on responsibility. It is another forced arrest that deprives Italian wine of its reference event for national and international promotion. While waiting for the scenario to become favorable”, Danese concluded, “Vinitaly is continuing to work together with all the main players, including institutional players in the sector, starting with the Ministry of Agricultural Policies and the ICE-Agency as well as all the associations and categories, to continue to support Made in Italy wine competitiveness on the domestic market as well as in countries already projected towards recovery, like the USA, China and Russia, first of all”. Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of Veronafiere, continued along the same lines, "we have confirmed OperaWine, with the presence of Wine Spectator and the top companies in the sector as identified by the American magazine for the tenth anniversary of the initiative, which is still scheduled for next June 19th and 20th in Verona. The event is projected towards restarting the sector, thanks to the participation of the press and national and international experts”, commented Mantovani, “and will also act as a collector and driving force for all the wine companies that want to participate in a b2b calendar that Veronafiere is in the midst of preparing”. OperaWine will be preceded, again in June 2021, by the Vinitaly Design International Packaging Competition (June 11th) and by Vinitaly 5 Stars Wine-The book (June 16th -18th). The Vinitaly International Academy (June 21st -24th) will close the in person summer events.
One of the new events will be an exceptional promotional event that will have a strong push from the institutions, next October and it will direct the sector to the 54th edition of Vinitaly in 2022. Giovanni Mantovani continued, “this will be Vinitaly-Special Edition, a strictly b2b event that will signal the recovery of national and international commercial relations in person, from October 16th to 18th in Verona”.
"We want to keep attention on Italian wine high and focused, as it is one of the most significant Made in Italy ambassadors”, Carlo Ferro, president of the Italian trade agency, Agenzia ICE, “and this is the goal for the initiatives Veronafiere has implemented to maintain an open dialogue between Vinitaly 2019 and 2022, as the special edition of Vinitaly and other events that we will do together. In other words, continuing, notwithstanding the global pandemic, thanks to the use of new digital tools for commerce. I extend my best wishes to the entire Veronafiere team and to the wine producers and I truly believe that the events scheduled for 2021 will help support the excellence of our country”.
In the meantime, while waiting to resume physical events in our country, Vinitaly will continue to be present on International markets, starting in Russia, with stops in Moscow and St. Petersburg, scheduled from March 23rd to 25th. Then, the next stop will be Vinitaly Chengdu April 3rd to 6th and in June, Wine to Asia (Shenzhen, June 8th to 10th). China will again open Vinitaly’s autumn International calendar with its road show (September 13th -17th) before moving to Brazil for Wine South America (September 22nd -24th). Veronafiere has also made available its expertise to carry out additional promotional events for the sector on other target markets.
The organizations and associations of the wine and agricultural sector all shared the decision to postpone Vinitaly. “We have noted the decision to postpone the 54th edition of Vinitaly to 2022”, said Luca Rigotti, coordinator of the wine sector of Alleanza Agro-food Cooperatives, “it was certainly not an easy choice, but, in light of the current health situation, it is in line with what Alliance of Italian-Agro-food Cooperatives had hoped. We also wholly approve of the other promotional initiatives Veronafiere has proposed for the next few months. We are expecting to finally be able to enter a phase characterized by a higher level of safety and fewer ambiguities for the wine sector, which are the conditions necessary to re-launch, thanks to Veronafiere’s experience and expertise, the wine sector at the international level”.
Riccardo Cotarella, president of Assoenologi, oenologists association, “the decision Veronafiere has made to postpone the 54th edition of Vinitaly to 2022 is in line with the direction the wine supply chain had suggested, but above all it takes into account the persistence of a seriously difficult situation generated by the Pandemic emergency, which has not yet found a conclusive answer in vaccinations. We share their responsible choice wholeheartedly, just as we are ready to support the other initiatives Veronafiere has announced and scheduled for next June and next October. The wine world needs to be ready for the day the markets restart, and therefore, it is extremely important to keep attention high by having events that create national and International relations and interest in our sector. Support in favor of the entire agro-food sector from the Italian government and Europe will be even more fundamental, which after more than a year of Pandemic emergency, is feeling the full weight of the crisis, the same as the other sectors of the national economy”.
“We are right at Veronafiere’s side, continuing to support the sector, all the companies and the producers who every day contribute to making wine one of the Made in Italy excellences recognized all over the world”, said Dino Scanavino, president of the farmers confederation, CIA-Agricoltori Italiani. “The Pandemic is still stinging and forcing in person events to be postponed even further, but we are ready to work together with Vinitaly to support a valuable sector in agro-food, whose production is worth about 12 billion euros and has an unrivaled reputation”.
“Postponing Vinitaly was a necessary decision in order to allow foreign participation and support the success of the most exported Made in Italy agro-food product in the world. And, in fact, even though the Pandemic was in full force, wine registered a turnover of 6.3 billion euros in 2020”, stated Ettore Prandini, president of the farmers association, Coldiretti, underlining the relevance of Veronafiere’s program of upcoming events, starting with OperaWine.
“Veronafiere’s decision, though terribly painful, was the right one, commented Massimiliano Giansanti, president of Confagricoltura, “we particularly appreciate their resilience and the various proposals they are offering in such a challenging moment for the wine sector, capacity and varied offerings in a very difficult moment for the wine sector. Confagricoltura, confederation of famers, fully supports Veronafiere and the entire national agro-food trade fair sector. We are convinced that it is necessary to support the strength of the Italian system and to avoid dangerous openings to other International companies. We also believe that Verona Fair, its initiatives and Vinitaly, is a very valuable promotional and image tool for the entire Italian wine sector. We, therefore, hope to restart at full speed in 2022, in the meantime, will give ample emphasis to the initiatives scheduled from now until the next edition of Vinitaly, together with our companies that make Italian wine great in the world”.
Franco Verrascina, president of Copagri, agriculture producers, “the choice Veronafiere made, although painful, confirmed the seriousness of the Fair organization and the desire to totally support winemakers in this critical moment. We are available to collaborate and be side by side with Veronafiere in planning both the 54th edition of Vinitaly and the special event in October, to give a signal to the wine world of promoting and enriching great Italian wines”. “The announcement that the Fair has been postponed is a big disappointment, but the reality of the Pandemic leaves no room for alternative hypotheses. We are having difficulty planning trips and making contacts, it would be an enormous challenge to welcome guests at the stands”, said Sandro Boscaini, president of Federvini, “but this second rescheduling widens the void that Vinitaly leaves. We need International contacts, we need to present our products and keep in touch with the huge number of national and International experts who flocked to Verona. We are confident that Vinitaly’s experience and professionalism, with the help of Agenzia ICE, will be a great help to our companies, and together we’ll study formulas and proposals to be offered quickly”.
“We understand and share the reasons that led Veronafiere to postpone the reference event for Italian wine”, explained Ernesto Abbona, president of the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV). “We believe, however, that it is essential in this challenging moment to keep the promotion engine running, and therefore we support Vinitaly's intention to support the sector this year as well, through organizing targeted events in favor of business and the International image of Italian wine”.
“I can only heavily underline the regret of having to give up Vinitaly again this year, the main reference event of the Italian wine sector”, commented Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, president of DOC wines protection, Federdoc, “an event full of events, reviews, tastings and workshops aimed at meetings of exhibitors with national and international experts in the sector, which contributed to the success of Italian wine in the world, pointing out that the wine sector is one of Made in Italy’s pillars of success around the world. We are asking the Government to consider the great economic damage this decision entails and provide concrete aid to keep the International competitiveness of our exhibition sector high”.