Lanzara, Cambria, Arfo, Vasari, Occhio di Sole, Caravaglio, Abraxas, Pietra Tagliata, Caruso & Minini, Calatrasi, Viticultori Associati di Canicattì and Alambicco di Sicilia. These are the twelve Sicilian wine cellars that, led by the Regional Wine and Vine Institute (Irvv) will take part in “Vinitaly Russia 2010”, an event organized by Fieraverona to bring to Saint Petersburg and Moscow the best Italian wines. The event will take place tomorrow in Saint Petersburg at the Corinthia Nevsky Prospect Hotel and in Moscow on the 16th and 17th of June at the New Manege Georgievski Pereulok.

The event will be articulated in guided tastings of the best Sicilian wines and business meetings with importers and suppliers. According to Giancarlo Conte, vice-president of the Irvv, the aim of this operation is “to allow our companies to make new contacts and expand on the Russian market”. At the moment  Moscow holds 65% of Italian wine selling in Russia and Saint Petersburg 15%. But Moscow is a megalopolis with more than 14 million people, covering 10% of the Russian population. It has 150 top-quality restaurants, 60% of which are Italian. The average income per month is 3.2 times more than the average of the whole country and, always according to the Irvv, wine use is equal to the one of “Lombardy and Veneto together”.

Moreover, said Giancarlo Conte, “in Moscow more than half million people, i.e. the consumers of Genève and Zurich, earn more than 15,000 Euros a month”. Saint Petersburg, founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter I the Great and considered the “window to the West”, is a fascinating city visited every year by four million tourists from all over the world. It has about 4,000 restaurants that offer Italian, German, Japanese and obviously Russian cuisine, and it also has 15 hotels belonging to international chains.

So Moscow, underlined the Irvv, “has great potentials for Italian wines”. Just think that wine consumption “has reached 1.6 million litres” up to now.  

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute