“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.
