Wine Business Hub is a service offered by the Elledue company to Italian wineries to support them in their export strategies.
Over many years of experience, the Wine Business Hub’s activity has expanded and evolved towards 360° consultancy that goes beyond the simple organization of B2B meetings, with activities that take place both online and in person.
However, one constant that has remained unchanged is the private in-person event which takes place in Pollenzo always in the second half of June, this year from the 24th to the 26th.
It is a three-day full immersion between B2B meetings, masterclasses and visits to wineries that take place in the Tenuta Reale di Pollenzo (Unesco site since 1997).
We interviewed Lisa De Leonardis, founder and marketing and communications manager of Elledue, asking her to tell us what characterizes this event.
Let’s first talk about B2B meetings…
“A month before the event, the agendas are set by crossing the needs and interests of the wineries with those of the invited buyers. The selection of buyers is made by our Country Managers, collaborators resident in the main foreign export markets of Italian wine.
The participating wineries are mainly Italian, but we also have some from Spain and Moldova.
Buyers mainly come from USA, Northern and Eastern Europe and Asia.”
What characteristics must operators have to participate in the Wine Business Hub Live?
“We work with wineries of different sizes. In Pollenzo there will be around twenty with small productions, less than 50,000 bottles per year, and around forty medium-large ones, with productions reaching up to several million bottles per year.
Consequently, buyers also reflect this structure of the proposal offered.
One thing that we believe is important is to always involve new wineries and buyers, so as to always offer new opportunities to our interlocutors.”
In addition to consultancy, you also do training…
“The Wine Pro Academy division was created to share the experiences and operational skills developed in wine exports. Within our training offer we offer “Smart” courses on specific topics which include one on-demand per week for 3 months and can therefore be followed with maximum flexibility by the participants.
We then have the Master in Wine Export Management which includes in-person lessons, live streaming and on-demand, tastings and cellar visits. The master begins in October and ends in June with the presentation of the projects at the Wine Business Hub in front of the wineries and buyers present.
In this way the students have the opportunity to compare themselves with the qualified opinion of the operators.”
To conclude, the two questions about the future of the sector that we are asking all the operators we meet: what is the biggest threat to wine today? What is the biggest opportunity?
“The biggest threat today is overproduction which risks becoming a brake on innovation in a time of great change, when the market is polarizing upwards and becoming increasingly competitive.
The biggest opportunity is the movement towards natural, biodynamic, organic and low or zero alcohol wines.”
