Wine is a seasonal product. As such, its market follows precise cyclical patterns. Every year, when spring begins to warmly awake nature in our Northern hemisphere, wine trade shows and events mark the beginning of the industry’s businesses for the year to come.
Not this year, unfortunately…
Vinitaly’s 54th edition, originally scheduled to take place on 19-22 April 2020, has been definitely cancelled for this year, due to the effects of the coronavirus COVID-19 global pandemic.
The decision of VeronaFiere’s Board of Directors (Vinitaly’s organising body), follows an attempt to maintain hopes alive with a previous re-scheduling of the exhibition and its collateral events to middle June 2020, announced on March 3rd.
However, the current international health emergency obliged Vinitaly to skip 2020 and be postponed to 2021, on April 18-21, (and “OperaWine”, a wine tasting organised by Wine Spectator, on April 17), while extraordinary investments will be made on wine events abroad. This was officially announced by VeronaFiere’s Board of Directors, with a special press release. Maurizio Danese, President of VeronaFiere, declared that: “the persistence of the Coronavirus emergency at national level, with the succession of urgent decrees by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and the most recent spread of the same disease at European and international levels, have forced some unprecedented decisions. Hence, the Board of Directors, in agreement with the general management, took important decisions on several aspects essential for the continuation of VeronaFiere’s activities. Among these, the re-definition of objectives, strategies and investments for the safety of products, its customers and the business of related sectors”.
Danese added that “this complex situation also had a disruptive impact on overall European exhibition industry. To date, more than 200 events have been subject to calendar revision, with an overall loss of almost 6 billion euros and 51,400 jobs at risk, without considering the related industries and the loss of 39 billion euros in exports generated by international exhibitions for European SMEs”.
Consequently, Vinitaly postponed its 54th edition and its Sol & Agrifood and Enolitech simultaneous sibling exhibitions. The new dates are therefore rescheduled to April 18-21, 2021, while VeronaFiere will focus on supporting Italian wine businesses on the international markets. For Giovanni Mantovani, Director General of VeronaFiere, “the post-emergency for us is called rebirth… In agreement with supply chain organizations, Vinitaly, Sol & Agrifood and Enolitech are therefore deferred to 2021. For this reason, we will place extraordinary investments in our international events, Vinitaly Chengdu, Vinitaly China Road Show, Wine South America ( September 23-25, 2020), Vinitaly Russia (October 26-28, 2020), Vinitaly Hong Kong (November 5-7, 2020), Wine To Asia (November 9-11, 2020) and the initiatives of Vinitaly International Academy (VIA). Moreover, we put ourselves at the disposal of the wine sector and its promotional system, suggesting the creation of an innovative event next autumn at the service of companies”. Vinitaly’s deferral to 2021 was taken in agreement with representatives of the Italian wine sector associations: Ernesto Abbona, president of Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, president of Federdoc, Riccardo Cotarella, president of Assoenologi, Sandro Boscaini, president of Federvini, Luca Rigotti, coordinator of Settore Vino Alleanza Cooperative Settore, and Matilde Poggi, president of Fivi.
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