Republished from 06 April 2023,

Vinitaly 2023 ended with successful numbers and a positive feeling of renewed business impulse for Italian wine at home and abroad. This is a sign of recovery from years of Covid crisis.  Quantitative data is as follows: 93,000 total attendance, of which 29,600 foreigners, according to Veronafiere (Vinitaly’s organising structure), with a +20% increase in the number of foreign buyer entries, over 2022, from 143 countries).

Exposers and organisers were satisfied by the influx of buyers and professional visitors, both foreign and Italian.  National sales represent a share of the total market that, often obscured by export successes, remains the most important, overall.

“We closed Vinitaly 2023 in full swing, with choral participation from operators, institutions and media. We are particularly satisfied with the feedback we are getting from companies and terroirs, which represent the real strength of this event”, said Veronafiere president Federico Bricolo. He added: “the goal is to build a permanent and coordinated promotional platform with institutional partners, capable of attracting incoming investment in Italy and simultaneously on Italian wine exports abroad cantered on Veronafiere, with new impulse in Brazil, China, United States, Japan, South Korea and the Far East”.

“The investments made in favour of foreign attendance”, said Veronafiere CEO Maurizio Danese, “have given a first concrete result to a Vinitaly expo that we want to be increasingly decisive for the business of exhibitors who set aside significant resources for the event. A supply-demand matching that has worked, as demonstrated also by the more than 11,000 appointments planned between exhibitors and buyers on the Vinitaly Plus platform, which are in addition to those set directly between companies and buyers. The new course has begun but it is certainly not over: Vinitaly”, Danese concluded, “will always be the carrier of wine Made in Italy, both here and abroad, in terms of development of the sector and its companies, and this is what we are trying to do”.

The top five countries of foreign attendance are: the United States well ahead of Germany. Third remains the United Kingdom, while China returns to fourth position, bypassing Canada. Notwithstanding the general growth of the European market, we note the great return of operators from all non-EU markets: Asia, which more than doubled (+116%) driven by the return of the Chinese who exceeded 1,000 presences, and Japan (+143%). The Americas marked +38% with exploits from the US (+45%) and Brazil (+46%), as well as further consolidation from Canada (+19%). Australia also in triple digits, at +130%.

After the main expo in Verona, “Vinitaly China” will opened soon, in Chengdu (April 11) the first event organized by the subsidiary Wine to Asia – with one of the most influential platforms dedicated to wine in China: “Wine Sommelier”.  Masterclasses with the only Chinese master sommelier Yang LV in addition to a business forum.  Vinitaly will then fly to Shenzhen, on April 14, in the Italian Pavilion of the Hainan Government Fair, for a tasting and presentation of Italy at “Wine to Asia” (May 11-13), together with !Ice Agenzia and Fondazione Altagamma”. In Shenzhen, at Veronafiere’s international event, attendance is expected at more than 450 exhibitors from 20 countries.

Finally, please note that Vinitaly 2024 will be staged from April 14 to 17 in Verona next year.