3W of Vinitaly + 5 stars

“The largest event dedicated to the world of wine: business, internationalization and training” - so it is told to be Vinitaly by its own organizers on the website’s event, and so it is, at least for Italy.

In 2016, Vinitaly celebrates its 50th edition, and Italy celebrates this goal with a dedicated stamp, meaning that this fair is not for wine lovers only.

Wine, indeed, plays a pivotal role in Italy’s agricultural economy, and promoting quality wine production and consolidating reputation of Italian wines is something Italy must bet on.

When it Started

The exhibition first took place in 1967, but was quite different from the fair we see nowadays.

At the beginning it just consisted of a series of conferences, and we had to wait until 1969 for the first 130 winemakers to exhibit their wines.

In 1978 Vinitaly becomes “international” and exhibitors from outside of Italy started to take part in it.

During the Eighties and the Nineties the fair takes its present shapes: collateral, smaller fairs on olive oil and on spirits are held and prizes for wines and - later - for packages are established.

For Whom

Vinitaly is meant to be a “business to business” event, because only wine professionals are allowed, but being that this definition pretty broad, it results in about 150.000 participants visiting the fair every year. They are wholesalers and distributors, retailers (wine stores, wine bars, restaurants, catering, hotels…), sommeliers, bar tenders, wine makers, enologist and technicians, wine and trade journalists, and, obviously, authorities and institutions.

Such diversity of visitors makes Vinitaly a quite popular fair, both because professional standards can sometimes be a little lower than wished, and because each visitor can become an evangelist of the tasted wines, really giving exhibitors’ business a boost.

And What

Vinitaly, however, is not just a mere exhibition of the wines of about 4.000 winemakers, in which more or less experienced wine professionals try to drink as much wine as they can for the entrance fee (which is € 80 for one day, or € 120 for four days, with a further rebate of € 5 if purchased online here: http://www.vinitaly.com/en/Ticket-and-coupon/).

It’s a larger project that nowadays consists in a rich calendar of events and conferences organized and held by the same exhibitors and taking place continuously throughout the duration of the fair. There is also a conference whose title dares to be “Wine as a health food”.

5 Stars Wines and prizes

Wine exhibiting also means wine tasting, and Vinitaly is the occasion to compare wines and elect the ones that best represents today’s taste.

Prior to the exhibition itself, in the town of Verona as well, the Vinitaly International Wine Award 2016 will take place.

2016 news is that the prize system changes: no more medals, but a clear, understandable score from 1 to 100 points. Only the wines that will reach the score of 90 points will be classified as 5 Stars Wines.

Yet, not only the wines receive prizes in Vinitaly.

In 1996 a prize for persons or companies that stood out in promoting wine culture was established, and it was given to journalists like Monica Larner (who won it twice as a “young journalist” and a third time just as a journalist) and the Lifestyle Food channel star and head sommelier at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Matt Skinner.