Verona, april 6-9, 2014
Vinitaly – the world’s top exhibition in the wine sector – is part of VeronaFiere’s portfolio. VeronaFiere (www.veronafiere.it) achieved status as an international exhibition authority in 1977. It is the leading direct organiser of events in Italy and among the main players in Europe with an average of more than 30 shows per year, more than half of which organised directly. VeronaFiere also began operations abroad in 1998.A leader in agricultural and agro-foods sectors thanks to Vinitaly, Fieragricola, Eurocarne, Siab, Sol and Agrifood, VeronaFiere has equally developed – over its history since foundation in 1898 – many new areas of interest such as building, construction and transport industries, (Samoter, Marmomacc, Legno&Edilizia, Bus&Bus Business), furnishing (Abitare il Tempo, Vivi La Casa, Progetto Fuoco), sport, tourism and leisure (FieraCavalli and Model Expo Italy) and professional training (Job&Orienta).
History
Vinitaly is the event that more than any other has traced the evolution of the national and international wine system, helping to make wine one of the most captivating and dynamic realities in the primary sector.
2012: Vinitaly keeps up with the times and reduces show days from 5 to 4; the weekly interval also changes, from the traditional Thursday-Monday to the new Sunday-Wednesday. This decision aims to optimise attendance by specialised traders arriving from all over the world and provide more space for operators in the horeca channel.
The 46th Vinitaly welcomes the debut of wines from organic and biodynamic agriculture with the new event named ViViT-Wines, Winegrowers and Terroirs.
There is also a new calendar for the International Wine Competition and the International Packaging Competition in 2012, respectively 12-16 November and 6 November, to help enhance and valorise promotion and marketing tools at the service of award-winning companies, who will thereby have more time to exploit them with a view to the 47th Vinitaly scheduled 7-10 April 2013.
2011: Vinitaly is a protagonist of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy with the “Unity of Italy Bottle”. The project launched by VeronaFiere is the only one in the reference sector to obtain the official logo of anniversary celebrations. Blends of 20 pure reds and 20 pure whites – representing a grape variety from each of the 20 Italian regions – created two wines that, after being offered to the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, were donated to important international dignitaries.
2010: advanced services for companies, direct web-based marketing to increase the number of international trade operators and improve the loyalty of those already involved in Vinitaly are the central theme of the 44th edition of Vinitaly. Innovations have also been introded to provide even more assistance to visitors attending the event, with hand-held PC or blackberry services and the new My Vinitaly space in the event’s internet site. An online platform dedicated to journalists has also been inaugurated, providing organised availability of press releases, images, videos, interviews, analysis and market research – so that everything at Vinitaly is just one click away.
The International Wine Competition introduces – alongside the Special “Vinitaly Nation 2010” and “Gran Vinitaly 2010” awards – the Special “Vinitaly Region 2010” Award. Wines winning medals may now include “International Wine Competition 2010” on bottle labels: acknowledgement of quality attained thereby becomes a marketing tool ensuring impact all over the world.
With the addition of Singapore, Brazil and Sweden, the Vinitaly World Tour now involves nine countries.
2009: Vinitaly 2009 welcomes the inauguration of new Hall 1 – bringing gross inside area at the exhibition centre to 150 thousand square metres.
In implementing a development policy in full respect of the environment, VeronaFiere equipped the new hall with 2,000 square metres of solar panels – generating electricity equivalent to the annual requirement of 33 apartments.
Following positive experience in 2008 with Agrifood Club, the Exhibition of quality agro-foods, it was definitively decided to expand trade sectors targeting interested international operators beyond wine with Vinitaly and extra virgin olive oil with Sol to all “Made in Italy” agro-foods.
Exhibitors at Enolitech are provided a free anti-counterfeiting service to protect industrial and intellectial copyrights of products on show and counter the presence of trade operators exhibiting “cpounterfeit products” or practicing “unfair competition”.
November saw the debut of Vinitaly World Tour in Seoul, South Korea.
2008: “Passionate Business” was launched as the synthesis of the operative mission and philosophy of VeronaFiere:: passion for wine and effective business.
Vinitaly World Tour celebrated its 10th anniversay – starting off again from India in January. February saw Vinitaly US Tour, now doubling up with an initial trip to Miami and Palm Beach. June welcomed the new stage in Russia, while October saw Vinitaly return to the USA – this time to Chicago, New York and, for the first time, to the capital Washington. The international calendar culminates in November with Japan (where the promotion agreement between VeronaFiere and Isetan has been extended until 2010) and China, with stop-offs in Peking, Shanghai and – for the first time – Macao.
2007: following successful on-line matching through the www.vinitaly.it site in previous years, Vinitaly launched “Taste Italy”, a new initiative bringing together supply and demand. Here, the best Italian companies present to 5,000 international operators and trade journalists – through an innovative dispenser system – the “top products” and “new products” of the year.Innovations also involved the International Wine Competition thanks to an agreement between VeronaFiere and the exclusive Isetan fine food distribution chain in Japan, that in October 2007 saw the creation of sales corner for award-winning wines in its stores in Tokyo. Moreover, thanks to an agreement with Spazio Italy, the company winning the Italy section will enjoy 15 days of promotion in the area managed by Air Dolomiti/Lufthansa in the Italian departures area of Munich International Airport.
Vinitaly 2007 saw the creation of Genius Wines, an integrated system serving companies developed by the consortium between VeronaFiere, Federvini and Uiv. Objectives include the identification of new outlet markets and the promotion of Italian produce.
2007 came to an end with EU recognition of the quality, innovation and organisation levels achieved by VeronaFiere with its international initiatives in the wine field: Brussels in fact approved an EU project lasting three years (2008-2010) co-financed by Italy and the Italian Wine Union for about 4 million Euro to promote quality European wines in China, India and Russia, with VeronaFiere Authority as the actuator.
2006: Vinitaly “comes of age” with its 40th anniversary. Two new exhibition halls (10 & 11) were joined by expanding presence on international markets thanks to Vinitaly Japan in Tokyo in November, the first edition with the Vinitaly brand in India in Mumbay and New Delhithe third event in Russia with St. Petersburg as the innovation alongside well-consolidated Moscow, Vinitaly US Tour (Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas) and Vinitaly China in Shanghai (China).
The International Packaging Competition welcomed liqueurs and spirits made from fruit other than grapes; previously, in 2005, the award had embraced spirits made from wine products.
2005: even stronger internationalisation of the brand serving the Italian wine system. New efforts in India with Ifows prepared thr ground for the first full-scale edition of Vinitaly India. May saw the second edition of Vinitaly Russia and October welcomed the US Tour (Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles). November – by now a consolidated tradition – saw Shanghai host the 7th edition of Vinitaly China.
The main exhibition in Verona (April) saw the definitive launch of new initiatives combining wine and international catering with “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Wine & Food Pairings”, as well as space for emerging producers through “Trendy Today – Big Tomorrow” and meetings with buyers and the Ho.Re.Ca. channel.
2004: the Vinitaly brand was directly promoted – for the first time, after six years – in China and – an absolute innovation – in Russia. The Vinitaly US Tour travelled to Miami and San Francisco.
