page_title: Vinitaly
section_title: Wine competition
hierarchical_section_title: Vinitaly / Wine competition
caption_attribution_description: Tasting panel and judging at the Italian wine expo VinItaly in Verona.
context_page_description: Vinitaly is an international wine competition and exposition that is held annually in April in the Italian wine region of Verona in northeast Italy. The event is exclusively for wine professionals featuring an average of 3000 wines from several dozen countries. First held in 1967, VinItaly has been called the "most important convention of domestic and international wines" and the "largest wine show in the world".
  For producers in the Italian wine industry, attendance and the reception that their wines receive is considered a barometer for measuring the health and success of the market, particularly for emerging Italian wine regions. The event is also used as an opportunity by wineries to release new wines and wine styles or announce partnerships with universities, organic and biodynamic wine organizations or even other wineries. Along with Vinexpo, which is held every other year in the French wine region of Bordeaux, VinItaly is considered one of the premier international wine events.
context_section_description: The wine competition aspect of VinItaly involves a sensory judgement of wines grouped within their own category—dry wine, sweet wine, still wine, sparkling wine, fortified wine, etc. The wines are judged by five member panels which usually includes two Italian judges, two members of the international wine press and an additional, non-Italian judge. After calculating the average of the scores received by the five judges, with the highest and lowest scores tossed, wines are awarded medals (in descending order of prestige) of Grand Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
caption: One of the tasting and judging panels at VinItaly.
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