There is something almost moving about the image of 97,000 people converging on Verona from 130 nations to talk about wine. Not oil, not semiconductors, not artificial intelligence, just wine. And yet, looking at the figures from the 57th Vinitaly, which closed on 9th April, it becomes clear that this fair is a political, economic and cultural barometer of an industry worth billion, one that, at this particular moment in history, needs a shared stage more than ever.
An Edition Under Pressure, and All the More Significant for It
It would have been easy to anticipate a subdued Vinitaly 2025. American tariffs, geopolitical tensions, a global economy that creaks at the joints: all the ingredients were there for a quieter, more cautious affair. Instead, the opposite happened. International buyers were up 7% on the previous year, surpassing 32,000. The United Kingdom leapt forward by 30%, France by 30%, Belgium and the Netherlands by 20% each. The United States, despite everything, despite the tariffs, held steady with a +5%.
There are, of course, bum notes: China posted a -20%, and the broader context remains uncertain. But the direction of travel is clear, and Verona knows it.
New Directions: NoLo, Wine Tourism
The real story of this year lies not so much in the numbers as in what those numbers reveal about an industry in transition. For the first time, Vinitaly gave official space to No/Low alcohol wines (the so-called NoLo category), which, according to forecasts from the UIV-Vinitaly Observatory, are expected to grow by 8% per year in value by 2028. A trend that, not so long ago, would have had purists rolling their eyes, and which now sits squarely on the agenda of one of the world’s most important wine fair.
There was also room for wine tourism, with the debut of Vinitaly Tourism, and for niche productions such as RAW wines (the largest network of natural, low-intervention, organic and biodynamic wines) and amphora wines. All of it pointing to a fair that no longer merely photographs the sector, but actively tries to anticipate where it is heading.
What Remains
One leaves Vinitaly 2025 with the sense that Italian wine is moving through a phase of considered maturity, the capacity to hold its ground in the market with clarity, to embrace new trends without forsaking its identity, and to use a trade fair as a political instrument as much as a commercial one.
The next Vinitaly is scheduled for 12th–15th April 2026. Until then, arrivederci Verona.