Vinitaly in june: a marathon of events attended in person to restart italian wine

Italian wine is under starter’s orders in June for a marathon of Vinitaly events attended in person. The national calendar of wine events will open with the 25th Vinitaly Design International Packaging Competition scheduled at Veronafiere on Friday 11 June. More than 180 labels were entered in the competition for assessment by the jury chaired by Gianni Arnaudo, an architect whose work even in design fields sees him rank among the leading international figures characterising the most significant turning points in XX century art.

There is also a special, summer debut 16-18 June for 5StarWines – the Book & Wine Without Walls, the three-day wine selection organized by Veronafiere that this year will be the prologue for Operawine. Wines will be tasted blind in five categories by an international jury taking part in person: still, sparkling, semi-sparkling, sweet and fortified wines are the categories defined for the traditional version of the publication (5StarWines) as well as the green version for Wine Without Walls dedicated to certified organic or bio-dynamic wines or those associated with specific product sustainability protocols. Only the wines achieving a score equal to or higher than 90/100 can be reviewed and included in the book published by Vinitaly, thereby also benefiting from constant promotional support on a national and international scale.

Moreover, 19 June will be the ‘restart day’ for Italian wine as well as the city of Verona: The stage will be taken by Vinitaly OperaWine in the Gallerie Mercatali (opposite the exhibition centre), followe3 by the inauguration of the 98th Arena Opera Festival in the evening. The ten-year anthology of grand tastings at the international event organized by Vinitaly in collaboration with Wine Spectator will see 186 producers from all regions (the 100 traditionally chosen participants are joined this year by all timers) selected by the American magazine meet more than 300 professional operators and buyers from Italy (about 120) as well as abroad from 13 European and non- European countries, thanks to the Veronafiere-ICE Italian Trade Agency incoming campaign. This is the first important international business contingent to return to Italy after the forced stoppage over the last 15 months. It thereby restarts business relationships in person, not the least with a view to the Vinitaly Special Edition scheduled 17-19 October at Veronafiere. It is precisely in this context that 20 June will welcome the Vinitaly Preview (again c/o the Gallerie Mercatali): an extra event intended for an initial delegation of Italian wine cellars taking part in a walk-around tasting precisely to respond to demand on target markets taking part in person in Verona.

The courses organised by the Vinitaly international Academy under the scientific direction of Attilio Scienza (who has already trained more than 190 Italian Wine Ambassadors worldwide, 14 of whom are also Italian Wine Experts, the highest level of certification) are scheduled at Veronafiere 20-23 June to close the ten days dedicated to Italian wine organized by Vinitaly to boost the recovery in the sector.