By Hans Mick in Milan
After a break of three years caused by pandemic disruptions, the latest edition of what’s billed as the world’s leading event to showcase new wine technology has kicked off in Milan, Italy.
The doors opened on Tuesday at SIMEI 2022, held at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre, with tens of thousands of wine and beverage sector representatives expected to attend.
The event runs for four days and has attracted delegates from Old and New World wine producing countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Manufacturers and suppliers have also come from near and far to display their latest products, representing state-of-the-art technological developments to enhance grape and wine production.
For this 29th edition, SIMEI has more than 450 exhibiting companies, delegations from 36 foreign countries with about 25,000 trade visitors expected from all over the wine world.
In addition to presenting the most advanced technological solutions for the wine industry, a conference is being held with speakers addressing a wide range of important and pressing topics related to the entire wine production chain.
The theme of SIMEI 2022 is sustainability, which will be the focus of a number of specific discussions and events organised by the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, an independent global grouping which promotes sustainable practices and standards within wine production.
The first business to take place at SIMEI 2022 was the presentation of awards to winners of the ‘Innovation Challenge’, a competition honouring the previous year’s most outstanding technological achievements.
The top prize went to Amorim Cork Italia for its “Naturity” technology used for single-piece natural cork stoppers. This makes it possible to combat trichloroanisole (the fungus responsible for the “cork” smell) thanks to an optimised combination of pressure, temperature, water vapour and time.
Speaking to Daily Wine News, Amorim Cork Italia’s Carlos Santos, said the award recognised his company’s leading role in developing technological and sustainable solutions.
“Nowadays in Italy it is very important that you are really sustainable and not greenwashing. Now people are asking exactly what you are doing to be sustainable and you have to demonstrate that through all the things you are putting into action,” he said.
“[Our technology] gained the most important prize of SIMEI.
“I am very happy with this because while we have been recognised in the past for our technology, this recognition is the most important because it’s for innovation. This means that we really achieved something big – that’s the nicest thing.
“[The award] shows that we are leading the world, not only in an industrial aspect but also in technological aspects. I think this is the great step that we’ve made.”
In general, exhibitors at SIMEI 2022 expressed an upbeat assessment of the overall global wine business as it moves towards a new year.
Many welcomed the return of SIMEI after its absence during the pandemic period.
Leone Minoia from Albrigi Technologie, a manufacturer of stainless steel tanks, said it was good to again meet face-to-face with customers and distributors.
“We are very happy to be here. We continue to see a lot of people. The last edition of SIMEI was back in 2019 so we are glad to be back again now,” Minoia said.
“It is important for us to be here because people from all around the world come here to see all the innovation in the winery field. They can see what we produce and offer to their winery.”
Jacapo Velo, a partner at filtration equipment manufacturer VLS Group, said his company has been coming to SIMEI for 30 years to display their products.
“We make agreements here with new distributors and we meet customers for new products,” Velo said.
“It’s good to be back again because people want to see your face and want to touch the machines. A real event is still the best for selling machinery.”
SIMEI 2022 continues until this Friday.
Are you a Daily Wine News subscriber? If not, click here to join our mailing list. It’s free!
