Vinitaly to showcase Italian wines at ‘Design Shanghai’ show

Italian wines will be the centre focus at the upcoming Design Shanghai, Asia’s leading international design show, with wineries represented in the ‘Vinitaly lounge’ and a ‘Preview night’ exclusively dedicated to Italian wine.

Calling China the “promised land” for Italy, director general of Veronafiere, Giovanni Mantovani, said that the Chinese market has yet to become an ‘Eldorado’ for the country’s wine exports.

According to Italy’s National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT), in the first 10 months of last year, total Italian exports to China already exceeded the total sale volumes achieved in 2016, in excess of €11 billion.

In the wine sector, China’s wine imports from Italy showed a record 106% increase in the last five years, which is twice as much as demand in the US and almost 19 times more than in Germany, based on the ISTAT figures. However, its market share is still low at only 5.7% far behind countries like Australia and Chile.

In addition to wine, the trade show scheduled for 14-17 March will feature major Italian brands in the design sector from interior decoration to kitchens, said Veronafiere.

“Today in China we need, more than ever, to represent the country in a univocal way,” said Mantovani, “and the fertilisation between two distinctive elements of the essence of Italy, such as design and wine, cannot but contribute to determining the correct perception of our brand.”

The project, which is the fruit of a new strategic partnership in China signed between Media 10 – organiser of Design Shanghai – and Casa Médinit (of the Veronafiere Group SpA), was announced recently by Veronafiere in Beijing on the sidelines of the press conference.