Vinitaly: virtual to reality

Cantine Barbera considerations on Vinitaly 2011

Over the past few years many wineries have begun to show opposition for Vinitaly. Why? Because it is far too expensive. It is hard to find good buyers anymore, and quite frankly the aisles have turned into a fashion cat walk. This year in our Pavilion Sicilia we will be two thirds the size of what we used to be. And this is a fact.

True fact: Vinitaly is hard work, and very expensive. To begin you have the booth rental which is about 5,000 euros, that is for a small booth in Pavilion 2. The soaring prices in Verona continue to be the real issue. It is virtually impossible to find a room unless you reserve a very long time in advance. The queue at every bar and restaurant door is our everyday life.

True fact: No longer are contracts signed at this event, those days are over, and it is not because of the level of the buyers. Over the past few years the wine business has undergone a deep transformation. It’s time for us to wake up and understand the visitors expectations, we need to change with them.

To renovate your style in communication and promotion doesn't mean providing a new layout for your booth or new labels for your wines. You need to change the way you interact with your business partner, who surely gets his information long before the event, and comes to the Fair knowing exactly what he wants and where to find it. The show thus becomes a way to meet each other, to renovate and enrich those relationships that start somewhere else, very often in a "virtual" world.

What I do in Verona is to meet "live" people. People that I have previously met on social networks or exclusively via e-mails or tweets, corresponding through a 140-character pattern that only allows a daily informal chat... and obviously not a business relationship.

Then you physically see each other for the first time at the Fair, and suddenly your virtual relationship becomes real. But now you don't have the initial prudence or the slight discomfort that you would normally feel during the first minutes you meet someone new… obviously a glass of good wine helps!

PS: We are at Pavilion 2, stand D74, join us there!