Vinitaly Russia 2009: through the pink glasses

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:13:30 +0000

One of the key annual events on the Russian wine market – Vinitaly – took place in the heart of Moscow on the 25-26th of May 2009. Almost half a year moscovites were depraved of fairs of such a scale, not surprisingly this exhibition of 60 Italian producers of food and wine was such a success.
The Russian Vinitaly can be hardly compared to the 4000-exhibitors event in Verona that took place more than a month earlier. Nevertheless Vittorio Claudio Surdo, the Italian ambassador in Russia, pointed out the importance of the event and the meaning of Moscow to be the earliest city to host of the exhibition outside Italy.

A group of three presented the fair to some 50 people in the conference hall the first day: the abovementioned Claudio Surdo, Giovanni Mantovani, the CEO of the Veronafiere, Roberto Pelo (director for ICE Mosca). It was surprising to hear the optimistic expectations of Segnor Surdo who mentioned that wine consumption will increase twofold by the end of 2010 – up to 14 liters per person a year. Seems like Italian forecast was especially created to impress the public or the Italians themselves. Mantovani told me in a small interview that Moscow is not ready to host a large-scale wine fair like the one in Verona. He pointed out that the number of wine professionals is still very low in Russia and cannot be compared even to Japan.

All the major Russian importers of Italian wines couldn’t miss the show – it was a good chance for companies like Simple Wine / Vinopolis, Dp-Trade and MBG to show off. Some smaller companies were also here – OKB, Amour du Vin and others.

Meanwhile ICE Mosca reports that the fair attracted 20% more visitors compared to last year results.

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Vinitaly Russia 2009: through the pink glasses