Vinitaly: world buyers (with €3 million investment) at the court of Italian wine

Vinitaly, the prince event of Italian wine, is approaching in stride, and once again, from April 14 to 17, at VeronaFiere (with the preview of “Opera Wine”, on April 13, this year dedicated to opera that has become a Unesco Heritage Site, with 131 top wineries from the Belpaese, presented at “Wine2Wine”), will unite “all the made in Italy wine from all the Italian regions and from over 30 countries”, in edition no. 56. Where more and more will be the operators from around the world, thanks to a major investment in incoming, for 3 million euros, between Veronafiere and Ice Agency. Thus a note from Veronafiere, which explains how, as of today, “the exhibition center of over 180,000 net square meters is ready to become the international agora of wine business for 4,000 wineries already confirmed. A consolidated exhibition participation that confirms the centrality of the International Wine and Spirits Exhibition, increasingly targeted on the needs of businesses and on the promotion of the sector in Italy and on foreign, historical and emerging markets”. Also going in this direction is the new Strategic Plan by Veronafiere “One 2024-2026”, which contemplates a further strengthening of Vinitaly’s mission aimed at amplifying the brand’s promotional platform to ensure, at the same time, incoming investments on the event and on Italian products in the most strategic export markets, thanks to an even more capillary rooting of Veronafiere in those very areas.
It continues, too, the path of qualitative selection of operators launched for the 2023 edition, with an extraordinary recruiting program that brought to Verona 29,600 international operators from 143 nations (out of a total of 93,000 attendees), including more than 1,000 top buyers chosen and hosted by Veronafiere and Ice-Agenzia. While 11,000 appointments were planned between exhibitors and buyers on the Vinitaly Plus platform, in addition to those set directly between companies and operators. Meanwhile, the calendar of Vinitaly-Veronafiere-branded international events, in collaboration with Ice-Agenzia, restarted in September 2023 to retain and intercept operators, distributors, top buyers and foreign media and to promote Italian wine in a systemic way, will end on March 19 in Brussels.
A 17-stage world tour of trade fairs, previews and roadshows from North America to Europe, from the Far East to the Balkans and Brazil, for a Veronafiere-Ice Agenzia investment of 3 million euros. Leading the way for the wine trade fair brand’s project to enhance the value of tricolor wine was the Vinitaly China Roadshow in Beijing, Changsha and Hangzhou followed by Wine South America (September 2023), Vinitaly Chicago (first edition, October 2023), the event dedicated to wine&food professionals in the Midwest, and Wine Vision by Open Balkan, the second edition of the largest wine fair in Southeast Europe (November 2023). In March, the Vinitaly Roadshow format will again land in the U.S., in Houston and New York (March 4 and 7). For the Vinitaly Previews, i.e., the promotional actions in a “buyer hunting” key signed by Veronafiere in cooperation with the chamber system abroad and the Embassies, the relay has involved operators, buyers and specialized press from Switzerland (September 2023), Germany (November), Denmark (December), South Korea, Japan, Sweden and Austria (all in January 2024) and London (February). The last event, in fact, is set for March 19 in Brussels.
Vinitaly 2024 will also be, at the same time, with Sol, International olive oil trade show; Xcellent Beers; and Enolitech, International wine, oil and beer technology show. With the three shows, the number of companies at the fair rises to nearly 4,300. Confirmed Vinitaly & the city, an off-site show for wine enthusiasts, scheduled in the center of the Verona city, a Unesco heritage site, from April 12 to 15, 2024 (in 2023, there were more than 45,000 tastings by winelovers).