55th Vinitaly: business-only with 4,000 companies from 30 countries
Vinitialy is the international promotion platform for a sector leading Italy’s balance of trade figures, with a supply chain involving 530,000 companies, 870,000 employees and turnover of 31.3 billion euros: Vinitaly returns to Veronafiere (2-5 April) by confirming is function guiding the national wine-sector and beyond. An all-business show with more than 4,000 exhibitors from over 30 countries in the forefront for four days in 17 halls for a net show area of 100,000 square metres. Veronafiuere is consequently the top meeting place for the finest wines on offer to meet demand by professional operators from all over the world: more than 25,000 are expected from 130 countries.
As every year, Vinitaly is held alongside Sol&Agrifood, the quality agri-food show, and Enolitech, the international exhibition of technologies for wine, olive oil and beer production, bringing the total number of exhibitors in the exhibition centre to 4,400. In the meantime, the 55th Vinitaly immediately posted a new record: more than 1,000 top buyers from 68 countries travelling to Verona: super-buyers selected, invited and hosted in collaboration with ICE Trade Agency up by 43% compared to last year. And the 10,000 b2b appointments already scheduled even before the start of the exhibition is another record, thanks to the Vinitaly Plus and Taste and Buy online matching systems. The destination markets for Italian wine that will converge in Verona, alongside consolidated markets in the USA and Canada (more than 200 top importers), include 17 Asian countries led by China (130 top buyers), Japan and South Korea as well as Hong Kong and Singapore, 12 from Central and South America, with Brazil and Argentina in the forefront, 9 from African countries and a map of Europe with 26.
Vinitaly confirms its status as a strategic tool at the service of Made in Italy, turning Verona into the capital of the national wine system. A role highlighted by the impressive institutional attendance patrol expected at the Show: starting with the Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, accompanied by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and nine ministers of the Republic. A fully-fledged investiture by the Government that acknowledges Vinitaly as the venue bringing together all the subjects involved in the promoting Italian wine on emerging and mature international markets.
Federico Bricolo, president of Veronafiere
“We have seen a strong and positive signal of unity of purpose between Veronafiere-Vinitaly and the entire institutional system involved in the internationalisation of Made in Italy,” said Federico Bricolo, President of Veronafiere, during the inauguration. “Such an impressive and qualified attendance by the Government is a sign of high consideration, for which we are grateful – not the least on behalf of all our exhibitors. The goal now is to build together a permanent and coordinated promotional platform capable, on the one hand, of attracting investments in Italian products and, on the one, incoming visitors to Italy, its vocational territories and the exhibition that best represents it: Vinitaly».
Maurizio Danese, CEO of Veronafiere
“Facts and figures for the supply chain clearly show how – in more or less a single decade – wine has firmly become a strategic asset among Italian products,” said Maurizio Danese, Managing Director of Veronafiere. This is why we must now seek to intensify and accelerate a project to make Vinitaly an even more effective brand on the international scene for our wine, with the aim of increasing attendance by professional operators from abroad and our own permanent involvement on global markets. The next frontier for expanding the Veronafiere Group, after Brazil and China, are the United States in the West, Japan and South Korea in the Far East.”
All the main theme areas are confirmed for Vinitaly 2023: Vinitaly Bio International Wine Hall; Vinitaly Mixology; Micro Mega Wines with a focus on niche and limited edition wines; Taste and Buy – matching with operators selected from the exhibition network in collaboration with tutelage consortia; Tasting Express – with the most important international sector magazines. More than 80 tastings are scheduled, starting with the Vinitaly Grand Tastings through to the walk around tasting with the Tre Bicchieri 2023 guide by Gambero Rosso and the Orange Wine Festival, not to mention the Vinitaly Tasting – The DoctorWine Selection, specifically for buyers and horeca operators, and the Young to Young focus meetings, with three tasting sessions involving ten young producers.