Fifty-two wineries from all over Italy and over 300 wines to taste for the Chinese wine lovers and professionals who attended this year’s edition of VINO100: and rare though it is that the “part 2” of  film bests “part 1”, all commentary was that this second edition was even more successful than last year’s. Alessandro Vallecchi and Santi Planeta of Sicily’s iconic Planeta winery were among those impressed. “You know, I might be wrong, but just by judging the number of attendees already here this morning, I think that this year you will have even more people than last year”.  But the good wine shows are never just about the quantity of people who attend, but rather the quality, and the producers and winery staff present were impressed as always by the attendees.  “It’s really amazing” laughed Letizia Patanè, fifteen years and counting at the Passopisciaro winery, also in Sicily: “I had people coming to my stand asking me about the differences in the various Contrada wines, and this in China, can you believe it? I mean, even in Italy there are many who don’t know much about the contrade”. Giampiero Bertolini of Biondi-Santi and Isole e Olena, Margherita Mascagni of Argiano, Matthias Messner of the much-respected Bozen winery of Alto Adige marveled as well at the quality of those present: “We travel all over the world and participate in many wine fairs, and often the attendees are people who sign up just to drink, and aren’t even wine professionals; which is fine if that is the target of the wine fair, but what really sets VINO100 apart is that it is obvious the amount of care and extra work you guys do to ensure the wineries will meet importers and sommeliers and actively help try to promote and broadcast the quality of our wines. In the end, it should help our wine sales, so thanks for your effort” told us Messner. Matteo Cecchetto, a consultant for Monte Zovo in Veneto and Marco Milani, export manager for Zenato also in Veneto, both went on record calling VINO100 “…the best wine show organized in Shanghai every year”. Happily, it wasn’t just all compliments and talk: already by the end of VINO100, one winery announced officially they had closed a deal with a new importer and two other wineries who did not yet have a Chinese importer had virtually also sealed a deal with one each. VINO100 also saw some amazing wines presented in vertical tastings that were the subject of much discussion during the days of Friday, May 22 and Saturday 23: Elena Walch Gewurztraminer Kastelaz, Isole e Olena Cepparello, Castello del Terriccio Lupicaia, Castello di Ama and Tiberio Chianti paired masterclass of ten different wines, Cogno Barolo Ravera vertical back to 2004, Jermann White wines masterclass with, among many other great wines (the Pinot Bianco proved a crowd favourite and a huge, perhaps unexpected, success!), the Vintage Tunina 2015, W… Dreams 2015, and Capo Martino 2013, the wonderfully precise and pure Prosecco Superiore wines of Gemin, and last but certainly not least, the outstanding wines of Passopisciaro with two four vintages mini-verticals of the Etna Rossos Passorosso and of the Contrada Guardiola (ex-Contrada G). “Legend”, “Master” and “we’re blessed to have him talk to us about Italian wines: when it comes to Italian wines, he’s like literally nobody else in the world” were just some of the laudatory comments about Ian’s work and efforts in guiding the masterclasses. Finally, on the Sunday May 25, a private event featuring twelve different wines from the Bozen winery in Alto Adige, where Matthias Messner from the winery and Ian D’Agata and Yumi Liu led the proceedings.

VINO 100 was preceded on the Friday evening by a welcome reception featuring two dozen different Chinese wines to taste and an awards ceremony in which each winery received a certificate naming the winery’s best wine of the show. During the reception, certificates naming the wine (no tasting notes or scores, just the name of the wine) that was most liked by the Ian D’Agata Wine Review were handed out to the VINO100 participating wineries. Ian’s new project in cooperation with a Chinese regional government was also announced, and more details will follow. Last but not least, the annual restaurant awards were handed out, to the restaurant and wine bar in China with the best Italian wine lists. This year’s winners were: Da Vittorio Shanghai (Best Restaurant Italian Wine List 2026), while the winning wine bar was Pudao Wines (Best Wine Bar Italian Wine List). But along with VINO100, the Ian D’Agata Wine Culture company also organized the Italian Wine Week, which featured: a morning-long B2B meetings for those wineries participating in VINO100 and looking for an importer; the Ian D’Agata Wine Academy introductory course on Italian wines, a completely free day-long event in which forty sommeliers and importer company staff could taste fifty wines from all over Italy with Ian D’Agata and Yumi Liu teaching about, and guiding tastings, on the wines from northern, central, and southern Italy; wine dinners with wineries and their importers geared to placing those who buy in contact with those who sell wines, while providing the opportunity to learn more about the wineries and wines themselves.

In ultimate analysis, VINO100 hopes to have provided a real service benefiting Italian wineries, Italian wine lovers and professionals, as well as Italian wine. Time will tell.