The last San Francisco Winter Fancy Food saw the Vinitaly Wine Bar pouring over 40 labels from various regions of the Bel Paese. Italy’s appointment as “Country Partner” of the event contributed to the enormous visibility gained by the Italian Pavilion and all Italian wines on display.
Veronafiere started off its 2020 tour at the 45th edition of the Winter Fancy Food, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, January 19th to 21st. In cooperation with the ICE – Italian Trade Agency (ITA); Vinitaly Wine Bar showed off the diversity and the complexity of Italian wine culture, presenting wines from various regions of Italy.
Veneto, Umbria and Puglia were the protagonist regions on the first day of the event, being represented by Consorzio di Tutela del Prosecco DOC, Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco and Consorzio di Tutela Vini DOC Castel del Monte. The consortia wine lists included over 15 Italian wine treasures such as: La Marca, Prosecco DOC Exra Dry “Blue Label”; Antonelli, Montefalco Rosso DOC & Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG and Vignuolo, Nero di Troia Castel del Monte DOC. The highlight of the day was the ribbon-cutting ceremony performed by the Italian Consulate General to San Francisco, Lorenzo Ortona. The President of the Specialty Food Association, Phil Kafarakis and Director of ICE, Antonino Laspina were also present.
On the second day, Italian wine importers Lux Wines and Brand Italia further explored the Bel Paese, pouring wines from Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piemonte, Lazio and Tuscany. Selected wines included: Jermann, Pinot Grigio; Renato Ratti,Langhe Nebbiolo DOC “Ochetti”; Impera, Roma DOC “01”, Argiano, Rosso Toscano IGT “Non Confunditur”.
The third and last day was mostly devoted to Sicily, Sardinia, Molise, Campania and Trentino, with importers Lyra, Empson USA and LLS Winebow serving some of the best wines from their portfolios: Benanti, Etna Rosso DOC; Cantina di Santadi, Cannonau di Sardegna “Noras” 2016; Elena Fucci, Aglianico del Vulture DOC “Titolo” 2015; Mastroberardino, Falanghina del Sannio DOC 2017; Tiefenbrunner, Pinot Grigio Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT 2018.
Two of the wine lists presented by the Vinitaly Wine Bar at the Winter Fancy Food in San Francisco
Organized by the Specialty Food Association, the Winter Fancy Food Show is the largest trade show devoted to food and beverage in the US. The Fancy Food Show takes place twice a year: in January, with the Winter Fancy Food, and in June, with the Summer Fancy Food. For both 2020 editions, the Specialty Food Association appointed Italy as “Country Partner” of the event. The special mention has benefited the Italian Pavilion immensely and will do so again in June, giving enormous visibility to all Italian products on display.
The last edition of this large-scale convention featured an exhibition space of more than 200,000 square feet, 1,400, exhibitors from around the globe, 80,000 specialty foods and beverages, and the industry’s top networking events. According to the first estimates, more than 25,000 food and beverage professionals attended the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco this year. This high turnout provided the Vinitaly International Wine Bar with greater visibility on each day of the event.
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About
The grand Vinitaly 2020 will be held from April 19th to the 22nd. Every year, Vinitaly counts more than 4,000 exhibitors on a 100,000+ square meter area and 130,000 visitors from over 140 different countries with more than 30,000 top international buyers. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine “Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers,” which will be held on the 18th of April, one day prior to Vinitaly will unite international wine professionals in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA this year launched the seventh edition of its Certification Course and today counts 215 Italian Wine Ambassadors and 15 Italian Wine Experts.