Vinitaly 2024 – What went down (and what’s going up)

Luca Zaia (L) President of the Veneto Region

It’s been a few days since Vinitaly 2024 ended. Here are some random thoughts about the Italian wine trade show that is held for four days in April in Verona.

#Ciao, #Vinitaly2022, #WellDone!

That was the conveyance via the social media thoroughfares on Wednesday April 13, 2022 as the most recent iteration of Vinitaly was winding down. For those who did go to “the show,” the reactions were varied. Some were relieved, that they got through it, Covid or not. Some were simply exhausted. Some were ecstatic. And some left shaking their heads, saying, “We waited two years to come back to the same ‘ol, same ‘ol?” Was the show a success? Or was it a dinosaur, restored, bone by bone, and put on display to exhibit that some things never change? 

Dispatch from Kyiv: Why I won’t be going to Vinitaly this year

The following is a speculative compilation deriving out of anecdotal missives from friends in the wine trade who are in Ukraine. This is only a drill. Слава Україні!

 I’m in the basement of our apartment building, where I now live. I am a young Ukrainian in the wine business (mainly p.r. and sommelier studies), but right now, me and my family, and our country, are fighting for our lives. So, I won’t be going to Vinitaly this year.

My mother-in-law has taken our children across the border to Poland, where now they are safe. My husband is fighting for our freedom in eastern Ukraine. I’m here with my mother, who is a widow and needs my attention, for she cannot travel far these days. And my father-in-law, we haven’t heard from in days. He’s back at the farm north of Kyiv, tending to the land and the animals. We are very worried for him.

I looked forward to Vinitaly every year, to meet with winemakers and my social media community. Especially hard it has been in the last two years because of the Covid. But now we face an even greater enemy to our being here in Ukraine.

I love Italy, their wine and food and people. I love how free the country is. I would bring back a little of Italy every time I went. I even loved Vinitaly. I didn’t mind the crowds, the confusion or the uniquely Italian form of organizing a large event like Vinitaly. Now I wish I had a bathroom here in Kyiv like the worst one I would ever find at Vinitaly. Or a dry panini and an overpriced bottle of frizzante water. It sounds like heaven to me.

But I am now part of the resistance against one of the most evil of humans, I cannot even say his name. But you know who I am talking about.

My husband has seen things no one should ever have to see. We are a peace-loving family. My children are innocent. We are innocent! But cruelty doesn’t distinguish between the guilty and the guiltless. No, the bombs from above are indiscriminate in their path of destruction. But we are not beaten. We are bloodied, yes. Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is unscathed. And we will win!

I’d love so much to see my friends at Vinitaly. But I’d love even more to see my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my dear husband and my sweet, sweet children. I cannot even think about a wine fair, although I am guilty to say I dream about it. Maybe one day, in the future. But for now, we have more important things to attend to: Our Existence.        -Марія Павліченко

 

DONATE:

UNICEF USA Official Site - Help Children in Ukraine

SAVE THE CHILDREN - Ukraine Crisis Children's Relief 

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS 

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE RED CROSS 

UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - Ukraine Aid

Vinitaly – Should I stay or should I go?

In three weeks, barring any further unforeseen crisis and impending world events, Vinitaly 2022 will commence. Having test driven Vinitaly last autumn, and forestalling and then cancelling the 2020 one, all indications are that it is safe to proceed. It’s time to get back on the saddle. Let’s go to Verona!

But are some of you are still hesitant? Well, first off, if you haven’t made flight plans, hotel reservations, secured your entrance badges/tickets and so forth, it’s probably a little late to consider going. However, if you live in Italy or have already, somewhere in the world, made travel arrangements, and you are having last-minute doubts, is there any substance to your fears? I’m going to try and lay it out, just in case you needed it.

An introvert’s guide to surviving Vinitaly

Amor litteras ad Vinitaly

My dear mom was an extrovert. Being around people recharged her batteries, not that she needed them to. She was a perpetual motion machine. But as a child of hers, who came into the world as an introvert, the opposite happens when I am around a crowd. Thus, when I visited Vinitaly after a year’s absence, I imagined all the other people who might have to brave the endless pavilions of Veronafiere and are also introverts, and thought to make a plan for all of us.

Why this might be our last Vinitaly in Verona: A Dear Giovanni letter to Veronafiere

Dear Veronafiere,

We have been coming to Verona and Vinitaly since 1967. We have watched it expand over the years and have endured the labor pains of growth along with many other long persevering Italians, as well as people from around the world. But we are seriously considering not coming back to Vinitaly in Verona.

#Vinitaly2014 - New white wine, old red wine, Renzi's hashtag (#campolibero) and new bathrooms

 Baron Alessandro de Renzis Sonnino - Vintage Raleigh, low carbon footprint and kid gloves

Vinitaly 2014 was a little different than the first Vinitaly I went to in 1984. In 1984 there were fewer pavilions and producers. One could see the whole show in about two days, back then. Now, four days doesn’t even begin to cover it. But any longer would be too much.

This year was difficult. Two days before the show started, my throat started to get sore and closed up. I had a slight fever and muscle pain. Mind you, I had been in Italy for some time, first as a judge for 21st Concorso Enologico, the international wine competition sponsored by Vinitaly. After that I went to see producers in Tuscany, trying to get a jump on only having four days at the show. By the time I had done that I was exhausted. But then the real reason for why I came to Italy started, that being the Vinitaly show (and all the satellite shows nearby), so I did what one does, I willed myself to get through Vinitaly.

First-Timer's Guide to finding the best bathrooms at Vinitaly

Over the years, Vinitaly has grown. When I first went there in 1984, there may have been 6 pavilions in use. Now there are 17. The crowds have swollen and the infrastructure has been tested at times. The search for a clean, dependable bathroom is a necessity. Hours of standing, tasting, spitting, drinking water to wash off the tannins and the tint, an espresso every couple of hours and you get the picture. When you gotta go, you gotta go. But some places are better than others. And so, dear readers, for the very first time, I am offering first-timers (and crusty veterans) my Guide to Finding the Best Bathrooms at Vinitaly.

Best Moment at Vinitaly: Savoring Life with Roberto Bava

I’d had it. One more over-oaked, alcohol soaked Tuscan wine and I was going to go bonkers.

It was then that I decided to visit my friend Roberto Bava. We don’t do business together, but he has been to my home and I have visited him in Asti. We are friends. I needed to visit a friend, simple as that.

I sidled up to his booth at Vinitaly, where he welcomed me. We talked about ideas, about the world, about whatever moves us. I needed that. After three days of pummeling my palate with wine I just wanted to take a break.

Roberto doesn't lack for energy or ideas. He is like an Italian version of Marshall McLuhan, or Seth Godin. Heaven forbid if Bava and Vaynerchuck ever join forces, although the two are universes complete on their own.

Bava sat me down and showed me his latest sparkling wines, Giulio Cocchi, Alta Langa DOC. We tasted four: the Bianc ‘D Bianc, the Toto Corde, the Rosa and the Oro.

The Bianc ‘D Bianc is a vintage Chardonnay in the Metodo Classico. My scorched tongue was starting to come back from the trail of broken tears, the result of two days of intense tasting of red, mainly Tuscan. I felt this lithe spirit begin to coax me back to the realm of the living. Juliet of the Sparklers.

The Toto Corde, a vintage blend of 30% Chardonnay and 70% Pinot Noir, was a step further in the rehabilitation of my palate which was ascending from the Dantean hell of wine tasting one often experiences in the trade halls at Vinitaly. Not Prosecco, no, no. Not Franciacorta, either. And not Champagne, this Alta Langa appellation for sparkling wine is regenerative and restorative at the same time. The veils were being lifted.

A plate of crackers with fois gras appear. No heavy cheese or home made salumi. This was my tongue's Betty Ford mini-clinic moment. I was feeling better. The depth of the Toto Corde with the snack was one of the perfect matches I had during Vinitaly.

Along the way, Bava and I are chatting about anything and everything. We just pick up the last conversation we had and head forward.

He doesn’t need me. Or the company I stand with. This is freedom for both of us. We don’t want anything from each other, just camaraderie and sharing of ideas. Making the world safer for Italian wine. Two friends, talking about wine, life and the future.

The third wine, The Rosa, a Pinot Noir in purezza, brings in depth and a baritone aspect to the tasting. Bava is a musician, sings in the choir at his church in Asti. He cannot live without music. And his wines are trios and quartets and whole orchestras of his life’s work. We’re working on a quartet in this moment.

The last wine, the Oro. 1999 vintage. 80% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, with a twist. The Chardonnay is appassito, a riper harvest left to dry and concentrate the flavors and the sugar. Not sweet, but an older style of sumptuousness, often found in wines made in the days before micro-ox, spinning cones and heavy toast barrique.

Gorgeous wine, and dear to the wallet. But we plunk down the dollars for a Selosse- this is a similar experience. Oh, it isn’t Champagne? Yes, it isn’t. And it Bava makes no apologies for its provenance. Does Umberto Eco express regret for where he comes from?

Not finished with me, Padre Bava had purged me of the torments of the Tuscan barrique torture. Now he would issue my absolution. But first I had to do my penance.

Bava is passionate about cacao and chocolate. He has a network of monks living and working in South America to reclaim patches of land that have been laid bare by Conquistadores, both ancient and modern. And in those lands, these monks have planted cacao. He took me through three levels of Paradise through his OIOIO line of cacao, the 45% Criollo Java Cream, the 65% Sabirano ( from Madagascar) Macis and the 70% Otonga (Ecuador). What next?

Before sending me on my way, refreshed and ready to take on the Piedmont Hall, Roberto pours me a little sip of Barolo Chinato.

How does one go back to making the rounds on a Sunday like this? I have been washed and purged and my palate has been re-anointed.


Thank you, my friend, thank you.

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy