Wine fairs: Vinitaly is a sure thing for Italians, but they have to choose between WineParis and Prowein

The historic magazine, “Civiltà del Bere”, directed by Alessandro Torcoli, has conducted an interesting survey, which has been presented at “VinoVIP al Forte”, in Forte dei Marmi, in Versilia. This summer event is like the winter event in Cortina, and represents a small “work break”, bringing together the “VIPs” of Italian wine; that is, over 50 of the most important Italian wineries, to analyze trends and markets together as well as reflect on the future of the sector. The survey revealed that even though the top Wine Fairs are constantly under discussion, as many people consider their formulas “obsolete” and in general they need to evolve towards higher professionalism and targeting, they still remain an important tool for business, in Italy and around the world. The overall feeling is that Vinexpo Wine Paris, Prowein in Dusseldorf and Vinitaly are too many wine fairs all concentrated in the first part of the year. In the meantime, the London Wine Fair is somewhat in the background, as it takes place in May, in London, and very few Italian producers participate. The vast majority of wineries do not challenge Vinitaly, in Verona, although length of time and high costs are critical issues that need to be dealt with. Of the two major international competitors, the Dusseldorf Fair to date has had more participants than Paris. However, the German event, somewhat surprisingly, recently seems to be on a decline as well as being considered the wine fair that Italian producers might “abandon”, because of the deteriorated infrastructure, high costs and low participation of the wine trade. The French event, instead, would seem to have the wind in its sails, in terms of positioning (it is the first major Wine Fair, scheduled in February), International appeal, infrastructure of the city, and costs. This is the sentiment that has been going around the sector for some time, for those who are in daily contact with many wine companies.
The survey examined responses from 207 Italian wineries, a sample representing roughly 5% of the 4.000 exhibitors at Vinitaly 2023. In terms of participation, data showed that 78.7% of companies participated at Vinitaly, 53.6% at ProWein (and the Italian-German fairs are currently the most popular combination), while only 11.6% of the sample went to Paris, 5.8% to London, while 13% did not take part in any fair, and 14% also participated in other smaller events such as VinNatur and RawWine, Millesime Bio, Merano Wine Festival, Mercato Fivi, Slow Wine Fair, Golosaria, Simply the Best Milan, and so on. As far as the level of satisfaction, instead, it would seem that Vinitaly has been rewarded by focusing more and more on the business factor. This year the approval rating of the Verona fair was very high, except for two recurring criticisms. First of all, costs and, secondly, it is too long (from April 2 to 5 is 4 full days, plus OperaWine, which means a total of 5 days). However, on a scale from 0 to 5 for participation in the event, 87.9% of the responses were between 3 and 5 for Vinitaly; i.e., from satisfied to completely satisfied, 80.7% for Paris and 72.9% for Dusseldorf.
The production world, and therefore exhibitors, have requested that Wine Fairs take into account timing and intervals between one fair and another. 2023 was a really challenging year, as the dates of all the fairs were very close to each other (first, Wine Paris, from February 13 to 15; ProWein, from March 19 to 21; Vinitaly, from April 2 to 4). However, 2024 will be a good sounding board as the Fairs have been scheduled leaving almost a month between one fair and another. Vinitaly will be held from April 14th to 17th, two weeks after Easter, ProWein from March 10th to 12th (two weeks before Easter), Vinexpo Paris, will start the wine fairs, from February 12th to 14th.
What will the future bring? As far as participation is concerned, 76% will definitely take part in Vinitaly, while 12% are undecided and 12% will not participate at all (especially small companies, due to cost issues). 59% have “guaranteed” their participation at Prowein, but 24% are undecided, while Vinexpo Paris shows 46.7% sure of returning and 40% who are thinking about it, but inclined to participate. The London Fair, which is held in May, when the trade fairs are for the most part over, will definitely be missing 78.2% of the sample.