Vinitaly is a people fair
Vinitaly is the largest wine fair in the world, but it's actually just as much a people fair where producers and importers build long-term relations, family style.
I'm visiting Vinitaly in Verona with the Enoteka team, and even though it's all about wine, it's also about people. In fact, my experience here is that everyone focus on building long-term relationships with great intent, and they do it Italian style, meaning it's kind of having a second family.
The producers aren't really that interested in you as an importer if you just want to buy a single pallet of wine. They know that it's much more profitable to sell a little now and more later over time.
The simple reason is that wine takes a long time to make, and if you don't have a long lasting distribution network, you business eventually suffers. As a result, a close family-like relation is what everyone is aiming at.
From the importers point of view, the situation is similar. They want some kind of exclusive right to import to the particular market, and even though they might not be big enough to get formal exclusivity, there is an unwritten code of conduct that you only have one importer in each market.
An organic process
The consequence is a way of doing business that's quite completely based on deep human relations that even become friendships. Producers and importers follow each other through life and bare witness to each other's kids growing up, which lays the foundation for the next generation of the business.
It's a very organic process, and I absolutely love that because everybody wins this way. Business becomes a human transaction instead of just a money-for-goods transfer, and that's really how business should be done no matter the product and market.
As long as we do business this way, we are not killing each other. It's a bullet proof road to peace – literally.
I think we should keep this ancient way of trading with each other in mind as we move forward in time. There is a much larger potential in it than the divide-and-conquer approach we are seeing at the moment all over the world.
Watch my video below to get an impression from Vinitaly.
