Hundreds attended the fourth edition of wine2wine in the northern Italian town of Verona, which kicked off on Monday, December 4. The two-day event was a marathon of discussions, seminars and workshops that brought Italy’s producers and suppliers together with wine professionals from all over the world.
The conference provided producers with market insights and strategic network opportunities, with a revamped format that included a new website and an app that helped both speakers and attendees meet and exchange views before, during and after the event.
“I appreciated the innovative format, able to provide producers with data and information that they often don’t have, even when they approach overseas markets,” said Denis Pantini, an analyst at Wine Monitor-Nomisma, who was one of the more than 100 speakers at the event.
“One of the problems of Italian producers, who mainly own small-sized companies, is that they end up exploring new markets without the needed knowledge, often losing ground to the advantage of international competitors,” Pantini added.
This year’s event mainly featured individual speakers, with a 20-minute presentation followed by a five-minute Q&A.
“The single speakers have been the best performing sessions from the past editions. To truly deep dive into one theme, one voice can really do the job,” said the managing director of Vinitaly International, Stevie Kim.
The forum opened with a debate focusing on media versus sales platforms for millennials, where Adam Teeter, co-founder of VinePair, and Logan Lee, co-founder and CEO of Wine Awesomeness, shared their insights.
This year, the up-and-coming U.S. states in the wine sector, Colorado, South Carolina and Pennsylvania were in the spotlight.
“We found (it) very useful to learn different points of view and find each year new and different inputs,” said Mateja Gravner, who has attended wine2wine for three years in a row. Her family-owned company, Gravner, which produces white Ribolla Gialla, exports about 20% of its wines to the United States. “The different U.S. markets are a very interesting topic for a small company like ours, and this event was a good opportunity to explore them.”
Published: December 6, 2017
