Republished from April 15, 2019 and updated

Some 125,000 people from 145 countries visited Vinitaly this year.  The 53rd edition of Italy’s international wine and spirits exhibition was held between April 7 and April 10, as usual in the beautiful town of Verona.  According to Veronafiere, the organiser, Vinitaly has attracted a record number of visitors (among them over 33,000 foreign buyers) and exhibitors (about 4,600 from 35 countries occupied a net show area of 100,000 sq.m.).  Vinitaly also proved to be one of the World’s top wine trade fairs through the launch of a new multi-channel wine promotion platform for Asia with a Chinese partner.

“The major feature of this year’s Vinitaly has been its international trait, confirmed by a further 3 percent increase in the number of foreign buyers” said Veronafiere Director Giovanni Mantovani.  He further noted that: “this has also been a very digital edition, with over one million visits to our multi-language directory in the two weeks across the event”.

According to follow-up data from the organising body, the top five countries representing foreign buyers at the event were Canada (18 percent rise), the UK (9 percent), Germany (4 percent), China (3 percent) and the United States (2 percent).

The offering at Vinitaly was integrated by the simultaneous occurrence of Sol&Agrifood (Veronafiere’s quality agro-food show) and of Enolitech (an exhibition of technical accessories and technologies for olive oil and wine production).  Furthermore, this year Vinitaly Design made its debut: a showcase for products and accessories to complement the offering associated with wine promotion and sensory experience, items used for tasting and service, furniture for wine cellars, wine stores and restaurants, customised packaging services.

The Asian market, China in particular, was a major focus at Vinitaly for both management and exhibitors.  A new multi-channel permanent “Wine to Asia” platform to promote Italian wine to Asia was launched on the closing day by Veronafiere and its Chinese partner, the Shenzhen Taoshow Culture & Media Company, belonging to the Shenzhen-based Pacco Communication Group.  “The Far East is an area that has to be monitored constantly.  Therefore we have set-up a permanent initiative capitalising on more than twenty years of activity in the area”, explained Veronafiere’s President Maurizio Danese.  The initiative, scheduled in 2020, aims to strengthen the promotion of the variegated world of Italian wine in Asia.  Further, Danese said that: “as Veronafiere/Vinitaly, our priority is to serve as a catalyst for the promotion of Italian wine to China, because we do believe our world of wine needs to present itself under the same umbrella, in unity”.

Veronafiere’s objective is to considerably rise the market share in the Far East, where Italy today ranks fourth among the largest foreign wine exporters, far behind France (its direct global competitor), and also behind Australia and Chile.  According to a recent study conducted by Vinitaly together with think-tank Nomisma Wine Monitor, Italian wine’s penetration in the Far East is still minimal compared to the country’s potential.  Research showed that Italy’s market presence in the area was trapped at 6.5 percent (419 million euros, about 472 million U.S. dollars), versus France’s 50.2 percent (3.24 billion euros), Australia’s 15.9 percent and Chile’s 8.9 percent.

Between 2008 and 2018, wine imports in the Far East increased by 227 percent, 11 times more than in Europe and almost 4 times more than in North America (US and Canada), according to customs data analysed by the report.  Italian experts and winery operators alike admit that the country was paying a price for having moved late to Asia and China compared to their French competitors, who started over 20 years ago.

How does Vinitaly fit within this picture and its future colours?  According to Danese, Italy’s current Asian export ranking is not appropriate; it should change to become at least third.  To reach this goal, Veronafiere partnered with Shenzhen’s Pacco Communication:  the Chinese partner in the “Wine to Asia” platform.  Pacco started working with Veronafiere in 2014, assisting to promote Italian wines with an off-show event alongside China’s oldest wine and spirits fair in Chengdu, and with road shows in China’s first and second-tier cities.

Both Veronafiere and Pacco Communication underlined the importance of choosing Shenzhen as home city for the new initiative, as it attained the highest growth rates in China over the last twenty years and is home to some 30 percent of all wine importers in that country (obviously targeted as Asia’s most relevant).  Moreover, Shenzhen is the third most important city in economic terms after Beijing and Shanghai, and is considered the city of innovation and digital communication in China.

Pacco’s CEO, Alan Hung, professes confidence on growth of Italian wine in Asia, believing that it is a very good choice for the Chinese market and, although it is not yet very strong as it should at the moment, Italian wine will be the future of Chinese and Asian markets.

Hence, we will follow developments in the course of this year and will assess new scenarios as time will take us to the next edition of Vinitaly (the 54^th), scheduled on 19-22 April 2020.