After the success of the 2023 edition, the first to take place in the halls of BolognaFiere, the FIVI Independent Winemakers’ Wine Market is on the starting blocks and preparing to celebrate its 13th edition November 23 to 25, 2024.
Once again this year, important numbers: as many as 1,008 winemakers from all Italian regions will welcome the public, along with two delegations of European winemakers representing national associations belonging to CEVI – Confédération Européenne des Vignerons Indépendants, and 32 members of FIOI – Federazione Italiana Olivicoltori Indipendenti.
More than 8,000 wines in the tasting
“After last year’s success, I am delighted that this edition of the Independent Winegrowers’ Wine Market features growing numbers among exhibitors and expanded collaboration with FIOI’s olive growers,” stresses BolognaFiere President Gianpiero Calzolari. “This event open to the public, where excellent wine can be purchased, along with the Slow Wine Fair and SANA Food, fairs dedicated to the Horeca channel, and Marca, dedicated to private label, positions BolognaFiere as a leading exhibition hub in the agri-food and food&beverage industry.” “Wine enthusiasts and operators will have more than a thousand good reasons to come to the Wine Market,” jokes
Lorenzo Cesconi, winemaker and president of FIVI – Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti. “But it is not the numbers that excite us: at the Market, as in our vineyards, we work by seeking the highest quality. Our goal is for the Wine Market to be a pleasant meeting place between producers, who can compare and share knowledge and experience, and between producers and consumers, without mediations. It is as if in the pavilions of BolognaFiere we move, for a few days, our wineries: the spirit with which we welcome the public is the same.” To host exhibitors and the public, BolognaFiere is once again making available a surface area of 30,000 square metres, distributed across 4 pavilions: the winemakers will be welcomed on 29 and
30, while 28 and 36 will be dedicated to gastronomy, with proposals from the local tradition of Bologna and other Italian territories, and to services related to the Market. In the central gallery, there will be space for the partners and sponsors of the event, as well as the FIVI institutional stand with the famous t-shirts and other gadgets signed “Vignaioli Indipendenti.” The Wine Market will open its doors to visitors at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23, before bidding farewell to fans and operators at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25. In the pavilions, the public will be able to count on the ever-present trolleys and trolleys, which are indispensable for carrying the purchased bottles to the parking lot. And to those who will make a lot of purchases, BolognaFiere will again this year provide a handy shipping service at home.
Six masterclasses that will enrich the program of the event, created in collaboration with Alma, the most authoritative center for higher education in Italian cuisine and hospitality at the international level.
The five FIVI-branded events will have as their main theme “Time and generations: past, present and future of Italian winemakers“: through the storytelling of the winemakers and their tasting guide, these masterclasses will focus on real excellences of Italian oenology – from Franciacorta to Sagrantino, from Cannonau to Vinsanto – and on the productions of some winemakers under 40; the sixth masterclass, curated by FIOI, will instead be aboutoil, between truths and false myths. On the occasion of the Wine Market, tribute will also be paid to the winners of the “Vignaiolo come noi” Award, awarded this year to Virtus captain and NBA champion Marco Belinelli, and the “Leonildo Pieropan” Award, dedicated to the memory of one of the founders of FIVI and given to Sergio Mottura, a winemaker in Lazio. Thanks to the collaboration with Confcommercio Ascom Bologna and with AMO – Associazione Mescitori Organizzati, the wines and winemakers of the Market will be the protagonists of some appointments with the public even outside the pavilions of the fair. In particular, on the evenings of Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23, the festive atmosphere of the Market will infect the venues of Bologna and its province through Fuori Mercato – La notte bianca dei vignaioli di AMO, with itinerant tastings together with FIVI winemakers, and La notte bianca della ristorazione, promoted by Fipe-Confcommercio Ascom Bologna, which will have participating kitchens staying open until midnight.