by Luciano Ferraro sent to Chicago
Vinitaly opens a new fair in Chicago. With Lollobrigida and hundreds of entrepreneurs. The idea came from a Sicilian entrepreneur who started years ago with a small fair. The US market bought Italian wine for 1.5 billion dollars from January to August ’24
Chicago’s Navy Pier, one of the film’s sets «The color of money» with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, became for two days the launching pad for Italian wine in the United States. Con «a historic overtaking», Italian sparkling wine has just surpassed French sparkling wine in the USA in value and volumewith a 35% market share compared to 31% of the transalpines. Sparkling wines are holding up thanks to Prosecco (+2.4%). But reds and whites are losing ground (-6% and -7%).
The season in which America was the gold rush ended after Covid: -6% of sales in the first 8 months of 2024. To chase away dark omens (as in another film shot at Navy Pier, «The Knight dark”, the Batman saga), Veronafiere has moved to the reborn lakefront of Chicago, with a mega Ferris wheel overlooking the 137 skyscrapers that exceed 150 metres.
A well-run-in machine for the first edition of the event
Objective: start again from the Midwest. Because the United States is the first importer of tricolor bottles ($1.5 billion from January to August 2024). President Federico Bricolo and CEO Maurizio Danese led the way to Chicago Veronafiere’s proven machine for organizing Vinitaly USA. First edition, with 230 companies and 1,650 labels. Limited number of fairs, masterclasses and debates, to convince importers, distributors, restaurateurs and wine shop chain managers to buy more.
A small fair for now, compared to that of Verona (4,000 exhibitors). But the idea of following the color of dollars is so strong that it brought an entire political-entrepreneurial class to Chicago. In the lead, the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida: «We want to encourage the export of one of our excellences, to increase internal wealth and guarantee social equity for our people», he says from the stage. «We are a lever for competitiveness and growth», Bricolo follows him. And Minister Tajani (on video): «This is a new strategic horizon, not just for business».
Chicago, new center of attraction
There were, alongside the president of ICE, Matteo Zoppasthe leaders of Coldiretti (Ettore Prandini), by Unione Italiana Vini (Lamberto Frescobaldi), by Federvini (Micaela Pallini). Among the white and purple stands, some of the most international Italian winemakers, Matteo Lunelli (Ferrari), Marilisa Allegrini, Chiara Lungarotti, and flag-bearers of the Consortia such as the director Luca Giavi of Prosecco Doc.
Everything was born from an idea of a Sicilian entrepreneur who has lived in Chicago for 18 years, Maurizio Muzzetta. As an importer of wines (among many also Brunello di Montalcino La Fiorita founded by the former actress Natalie Olivares and Louis Camilleri, former president of Philippe Morris and CEO of Ferrari cars), he started a few years ago with a mini fair. «In 2021 – says Zoppas – with Bricolo and Danese we decided to invest in this format and today we have arrived at the first edition of Vinitaly USA. The world of trade fairs is changing: Vinitaly is a fixed point, Prowein in Düsseldorf is slowing down, Vinexpo in Paris is going up. Chicago can become a new center of attraction.”
Buyers and new production routes
Vinitaly USA is a change of direction: entrepreneurs do not wait for buyers in Italy, but show up at their home. Among the 1,500 buyers who arrived in Chicago there were all the large American groups (National Association of Beverage Importers, Terlato, Banville, Winbow, Opici, Winesellers), but not only: for example a big wine producer in Colombia and the head of purchases of the Wynn casino in Las Vegas which is opening in the Arab Emirates, the first mega resort with a gambling hall.
Will it be enough to reverse the trend? «We should certainly open up to new typologies – says Marzia Varvaglione – even the French Champagne wines have a dealcoholised wine, Italy still doesn’t allow it». The one that has already seen the light again after a problematic 2023 is Prosecco: «In the first 9 months the increase in sales is 5%», announces Giavi.
«In the last 5 years Italian bubbles have grown by 40% in volume in the USA — Lunelli does the math — but the real challenge is to create more value, to make the excellence understood, territory by territory, with the driving force of the strongest brands.”
October 21, 2024 (modified October 21, 2024 | 10:08 pm)
