The International Wine Expo in Chicago has not yet concluded and Vinitaly Veronafiere is already relaunching for 2024.
If this year for Veronafiere it was a partnership with Italian Expo, the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce of Chicago and the Midwest and the ICE Agency of Chicago and New York, from next year the project is to create a an even more extensive and structured trade fair event, starting from the format and experience of Vinitaly.
An important step for Veronafiere, but even more so for Italian wineries and American operators in the wine business.
Even though the U.S.A. are the world’s leading wine consumption and import market, there are currently no large-scale events that allow wineries to meet US importers and distributors (the only exception is Vinexpo America which is held in June in New York).
The choice of Chicago as the location of the event was also significant because it is the main metropolis of the American hinterland, by far the third largest city in the USA after New York and Los Angeles, therefore logistically and culturally more similar to markets with greater development potential than to the east and west coasts which are now approaching maturity.
As Federico Bricolo, President of Veronafiere, declared in his speech at the opening of the International Wine Expo:
“The teamwork that has been underway for some time with the institutions has proved us right and we can say that we have won an important and complex challenge, to aggregate all the projects with the Vinitaly brand to create a strong promotional moment in favor of the Italian wine sector in the USA ”.
Vinitaly is increasingly demonstrating its ability to become that control room for the valorization of Italian wine often invoked by the sector, without however ever managing to go beyond its declarations of intent.
The desire to articulate and discuss together with the other components of Italian viticulture can also be found in the words of the CEO of Veronafiere Maurizio Danese:
“Vinitaly USA 2024 will also follow the indications of the nascent committee of importers with whom we will share strategies and common interests for the development of Italian wine. The objective is to make the relationship with the market even more profitable, which expresses great attention to premium wines and at the same time is always looking for new proposals. And Italy, with its 540 vines, is able to offer a unique choice of its kind, capable of satisfying the needs of the ho.re.ca, importers and distributors”.
Statement echoed by Matteo Zoppas, President of ICE Agenzia:
“Fairs are strategic for the business matching of companies, especially small-medium sized ones. With Veronafiere Vinitaly, which had already moved carefully on this market, ICE is evaluating together with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Assocamerestero, all present in Chicago these days, the project to make Vinitaly USA 2024 the main strategic appointment for this fundamental market”.
A long-awaited leap in quality is therefore expected, as I personally wrote about it in 2012, as necessary to face the current phase of general slowdown in the wine market at a global level.
