Vinitaly

The first walk to Vinitaly proved to be a long one. I'd printed off a map of the walk from my hotel to the fair grounds. I took a couple of wrong streets but managed to finally reach my destination. The distance was supposed to be about 2km, but that morning I'm sure I covered at least 3km.

Here are some photos of the venue to help give you an idea of its scope:

(some of the 'booths' were multi-level and had the footprint of a large house)

There were 10 individual buildings housing 22 different winemaking regions. The venue was the size of the Byward Market and if you tried every single wine on offer Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm, it'd take you NINE YEARS. It was enormous and there were thousands upon thousands of attendees. I thought Vinisud was big - but Vinitaly dwarfs it.

I was equipped with a stack of business cards, the Italian wine review book "Gambero Rosso", and the desire to find small(er) producers without Ontario representation with excellent products (exhibiting good typicity and flavour profiles) at a specific export price point.

So...a typical approach and ensuing conversation would sound something like this:

Me: "Hi, my name is Eric and I am an agent in Ontario, Canada. Do you currently have an agent in Ontario?"

Supplier: "Huh?? No anglese..." (with a look of utter perplexion)

or

Supplier: "Si, ____________(insert Ontario agency name)."

or

Supplier: "Ontario? No."

Me: "Great, I'm looking for a specific export price point for private importation. Do you have products in the 2-4 Euro price range?"

Supplier: "Huh?" (same look of perplexion)

So on and on it would go. Variations on that theme. Language was a barrier in most cases - but some suppliers either spoke passable english or had an interpreter of sorts on hand to help them do business.

After the initial discussion, I would typically taste their products in the price range I was after and make detailed tasting notes describing the wine's aromas, flavours, colour, etc. I would also have to evaluate the product to determine whether or not there was adequate value, typicity, etc.

After doing this for 7-8 hours for 4 days, I've tasted a tonne of wine and have a much better understanding of regional characteristics (minerals in certain soils impart a distinct aroma & flavour profile) and grape varietal characteristics.

I tried products ranging from frizzante pinot grigio (charmant method) to Franciacorta (like Champagne but aged on the lees longer and much better priced and I think tastier!!) to basic Valpolicellas to high end Barolos.

I think there will be good fits between Hexagon Wines Inc. and Tacchino (a family owned and run vineyard and winery that I might visit on my way back to Verona), Leone Conti (who is having a baby around the same time Sabrina and I are), Torre Fornello (Enrico chuckled about how when I tasted a highly alcoholic wine and looked at the bottle it indicated 13% but I looked him straight in the eye smiled and said no it's much higher...he winked at me and said 14.8%), La Viola, Danese (mass produced & inexpensive: ideal for private import), and Villa Schinosa - just to name a few.