The 53rd edition of Vinitaly, the international exhibition of wines and spirits taking place in Verona from today until 10 April, opens under the banner of large numbers and new records. The exhibition spaces have been sold out since last November despite the increase in the available net area. 4.000 exhibitors from five continents they offer a unique international panorama of everything that revolves around the world of wine and Italy is the absolute protagonist of this event with its rich and inimitable wine heritage.
“For four days at the Fiera di Verona – says Giovanni Mantovani, general manager of Veronafiere – the whole world that constitutes a potential market for wine gathers. At Vinitaly 2018 we recorded 32 top foreign buyers from 143 countries and also this year we continued to work to increase the quality of demand at the fair. We have therefore invested further resources on the in-coming activity, selecting and inviting operators from 50 target countries, representative of all continents. A strategy that does not neglect the offer, since the International Wine Hall area is also growing, with a significant increase in foreign exhibitors from 35 countries”.
With this in mind, Veronafiera has been engaged in an important digital transformation project for years. “This year – adds Mantovani – the Vinitaly app has improved further to take advantage of geolocation in the pavilions and new features, again in support of b2b. The expansion of the languages also continues, from three to nine at full capacity, in which we offer the Vinitaly Directory, the online business guide of the event which has become the point of reference for companies and operators. We have thus created a virtual and interactive wine community with users from 190 countries that brings the show to life 365 days a year, integrating the physical tour of b2b and educational events organized abroad by Vinitaly International and its Academy”.
This is echoed by Maurizio Danese, president of Veronafiere "We are aware that we own a brand linked to wine that is one of the best known in the world for this Vinitaly intercepts many resources among the 100 million euros of planned investments. We have identified three growth guidelines for the event: launch of two new permanent promotion platforms in Asia and the United States – the first is already in an advanced stage, the second is a project we are working on -; the regeneration of the exhibition center to adapt it to the highest European standards; the enhancement of digital, set-up and catering services. Even if the update of the industrial plan refers to 2022, through these initiatives we are laying the foundations for a strategic development of the fair that looks to the next twenty years".
For this reason, among the pavilions we find more and more innovation, internationality, digitization. All to further refine the event as the most effective business tool for operators in the wine sector, arriving in Verona from over 140 countries. Veronafiere with Vinitaly puts into practice what a leading event must do: be in constant contact with the markets, perceiving their changes and expectations while providing simple solutions to the complex problems of companies and their customers' buyers"
And history and internationalization are the elements that emerge from Vinitaly 2019 International Award which this year went to the Ornellaia winery, a monument of Made in Italy in the world, as recognition of the excellence of its wines, to Leon Liang, one of the founders of the most important and innovative wine education school in China, ea Demei Li, the winemaker who was the first to bring a Chinese wine to win an international award.
The American Madeline Puckette was proclaimed winner of the 2019 edition of the prestigious "The Wine Communicator of the Year" award, sponsored by Vinitaly.
The motivation for the award underlines how Ornellaia born in 1982, therefore only in recent times, “has achieved excellence with a range of products of undisputed value that the whole world envies us. The company's flagship wine, the Ornellaia Bolgheri Rosso, is a true Italian cult wine, as is the 100% Merlot Masseto. Led by Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja, managing director, and belonging to the Tuscan Frescobaldi group, Ornellaia has contributed, together with other local companies of great fame and value, to give life to a denomination - Bolgheri - where before there was mostly a wild Tuscany and coastal. Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja has also been able to create a real brand by transforming the estate into a treasure trove of works of art, calling every year an internationally renowned artist to create the label and to sign a unique series of 111 large format bottles. auctioned off and contested by enthusiasts and collectors from all over the world”.
Leon Liang has been a great connoisseur and enthusiast of Italian wine for over 10 years, which he knows thoroughly after many study and in-depth study stays in our country.
The motivation for the award recognizes that “Together with Yang L, the only Chinese Master of Sommelier, he founded Grapea, the most important and innovative wine education school in the country. With this structure, rich in a team of over 20 people who in 2018 alone conducted more than 150 seminars and wine tastings in 14 local cities, the most important international associations in the world of wine and a growing number of Italian consortia operate. For this very reason, Leon Liang is becoming an essential point of reference for the wine market in China, also through his extraordinary ability to know how to reach both the world of trade and that of Chinese end-consumers and at the same time highlight the unique specificities of Italian quality product, where diversity and entrepreneurial talent come together in an extraordinary "unicum". Leon Liang therefore represents the most significant exponent of the renaissance of fine wines imported into the country and is an indispensable interlocutor for understanding the development trends and future scenarios of wine in China”.
As for Demei Li, associate professor of Food Science and Technology at the Beijing Agriculture University, one of the visiting lecturers at ESA, Ecole Superieur d'Agriculture in Angers, France, the prize was awarded with this motivation: ”He is one of the most important Chinese winemakers and has been repeatedly recognized as one of the driving forces behind the improvement of the country's cellars. He was the first production manager (as well as director of the technical department) of the French-Chinese project Domaine Franco Chinois. He is a consultant for several wineries in China, including Helan Qingxue, Leirenshou in Ningxia, Tiansai and Zhongfei in Xinjiang. Just while he was working for Helan Qingxue, Jia Bei Lan wine won the International Trophy of the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2011: thanks to him, for the first time a Chinese wine won the coveted award. Li has now become one of the best winemakers in China and is considered by many to be the Chinese equivalent of Michel Rolland. Thanks to his consultancy activity, particularly in the provinces of Ningxia and Xinjiang, Li Demei is responsible for the high standard of Chinese wines on the global market. In 2012 he won the Wine Intelligence 10-for-10 Business Award. In 2013 he achieved the Decanter Power List and was named Top 10 Most Influential Wine Consultants by Drinks Business. As a reporter, Demei writes for many wine publications including DecanterChina.com. He was also one of the columnists for the fourth edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine.
