Jan. 21 – The Vinitaly International Academy and Vinitaly International Importer Connect are two major novelties within Vinitaly International, the global platform created by Veronafiere to promote the excellence of Italian wine in the world. These new tools will be fully presented in New York on February 3 during Vinitaly U.S., whose traditional walkaround tasting session will involve more than 110 Italian wineries, complemented by local importers . “This city – said in a statement the company – was chosen to be the trailblazer and test the effectiveness of both initiatives on a mature and well-structured market. The American market is one of the world’s leading importers of wine: in first place for sparkling wines, with 30.456 gallons purchased in 2013 and in second place for bottled wines, with 361.759 gallons purchased in 2013. The US remains among the greatest admirers of Italian wine production. To the U.S. Italy exports 25.2% of its production, for 31.6% of total value.” The event on February 3 will begin with a panel discussion during which the results of the first “pilot” phase of Vinitaly International Importer Connect will be reported. The program is a B2B matching project that aims to promote meeting between importers and distributors of wine on an international scale. At the center of the debate, the are the performances of five Italian labels that, in recent weeks, have been put in contact on the platform BeverageTradeNetwork.com, with a database of 15,000 U.S. operators. Vinitaly U.S. opens its 2014 season of events organized by Veronafiere in the main markets for the wine business. The events schedule will continue in March with a fair dedicated to the Chinese market: a B2B event lasting three days at Fuorisalone in Chengdu, where there will be the 90th edition of the most important trade fair dedicated to importers and distributors. In the second half of the year, Vinitaly International – ambassador of Italian wine – will return to Hong Kong and Moscow.
