Future Trends and Scenarios for the Wine Business Presented at 5th Edition of wine2wine

wine2wine is a unique two-day conference designed to give participants the latest market insights and strategic network opportunities. Italian wine producers, suppliers, international journalists, and professionals from all sectors of the wine business gathered in Verona to participate in educational and thought-provoking discussions, seminars, and workshops. There were 70+ sessions divided into 15 different theme tracks ranging from emerging markets and digital communication to fine wines and sustainability, along with a golden line-up of 118 speakers from around the globe. All the sessions were live-streamed and are now available on the wine2wine Facebook page.

This year wine2wine showcased a new 45-minute format, with each session entailing a 30-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute Q&A. Additionally, practical demonstrations open to a selected audience called #w2wLabs were integrated into the program as well as B2B sessions for wineries, where participating wineries had the chance to present their products to international buyers. Attendee feedback verified that each one of these revamps were highly popular and successful.

Armando Corsi, Associate Professor and Senior Marketing Scientist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, commented on his experience as both a speaker and provider of one of the new #w2wLabs entitled "The Wine Lexicon Project": "wine2wine has simply been the perfect place to share my work and ideas with a large group of wine players, who were keen to listen and learn." Positive feedback was also given by participants in these #w2wLabs. For example, Mattia Scarbolo, Director of Sales and Marketing at Scarbolo, commented on the #w2wLab "Wine & IG Stories, the Perfect Couple" hosted by Francesco Mattucci: "I very much enjoyed the session. I've been using Instagram Stories for quite a while now and I was trying to understand if what I was doing was correct. I left the #w2wLab with all the answers I needed, and from a professional too!"

Wine producers provided added value to this edition by contributing as moderators for many of the sessions. Carlo Franchetti, Vice President at Vini Franchetti, reflected on his participation at wine2wine 2018: "wine2wine managed to put many wine topics and personalities under the same roof. Two days of debates and presentations during which operators in the sector got to know each other. Overall, the event gave us the chance to bring our knowledge up to speed, in both a useful and pleasant way. Cheers to wine2wine for turning such a complex task into something so easy!" Elio Carta, CEO of Silvio Carta Winery, commented on his participation in the event as well as in the Vinitaly International Academy Tasting Panel held the day before the start of wine2wine: "Any activity organized for the promotion of our region and the Made in Italy products is always worthwhile for us. wine2wine clearly showed there was a great deal of attention, care, and professionalism put into the project by everyone behind it. The topic of communication is one of the most delicate for our country and wine2wine represents a wider window on this matter. We surely drew some interesting and innovative cues from this wine business forum."

Naturally, guest speakers to this 5th edition of wine2wine played a vital role in presenting new trends and future scenarios for the wine trade. 118 highly specialized professionals from all over the world came together in Verona to speak in depth on fine wines, finance, management, new markets, sustainability, viticulture, digital marketing, and new media. Paul Mabray, CEO at Emetry and speaker for the session "The US Ecosphere of Online Sales and Marketing Companies," emphasized the uniqueness of this Italian business forum: "wine2wine opens the minds and hearts of the wine industry and is the preeminent conference in the world for wine professionals. With so many of the top minds in wine congregating there to share ideas, improve our collective business understanding, and collaborate, it's one of the must attend events of the year." Robert Joseph, Editor at Large at Meininger's Wine Business International, also noted: "Of all the think tanks and conferences, wine2wine has established itself as a leader. Every year, Vinitaly International's Managing Director Stevie Kim manages to assemble a really great team of speakers and audiences."

Just like its past editions, wine2wine has won over the crowds. Participants leave with new contacts made through the various networking opportunities during the event. The potential for new business leads and prospective business is also reinforced by the fact that attendees have had the opportunity to learn new skills or discuss new ideas for their businesses. Eliza Pinta Kauce, speaker of the session focusing on the Latvian wine market, highlights just that in her recollection of the day: "A wonderful international gathering that marvelously shakes the ideas and gives fresh air to the Italian (and not only!) wine industry. Listening, learning, educating, and discussing are the way to go to enhance the level of expertise within the business and wine2wine is doing a great job to encourage this."

The 5th edition of wine2wine was also characterized by key elements of digital innovation in the running of the event. For example, participants could interact and be connected through a dedicated wine2wine App, where business contacts could also be kept and exchanged. Moreover, the Facebook live-stream of every session has been preserved and made available to everyone on the wine2wine page.

About:
The grand Vinitaly 2019 will be held from April 7th to the 10th. 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 6th 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 157 Italian Wine Ambassadors and 13 Italian Wine Experts.

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