A success beyond the wildest expectations, this in a nutshell is the comment on the 20th edition of Enoforum (the 12th in attendance in Italy), the international technical-scientific congress of the wine industry held from 16 to 18 May 2023 at the Vicenza Convention Centre of the Italian Exhibition Group.

Gianni Trioli, President of Vinidea, the event’s organising company, was particularly satisfied: ‘It was not easy to repeat the numbers of the 2019 edition, the last to be held in Italy before the pandemic, and instead we managed to do even better: 1,300 technical participants, 135 reports (30% from foreign researchers), 55 companies presenting the latest technological innovations. With these numbers, Enoforum confirms itself as the largest conference in the sector throughout Europe.’

Effectively, Enoforum, organized by Vinidea in collaboration with SIVE (Italian Society of Viticulture and Enology), Assoenologi and Unione Italiana Vini, has become over the years at the European level the technical-scientific congress of reference dedicated to innovation in viticulture and enology, in which all the innovations coming from public and private Research worldwide are presented. Peculiarity of the event is to bring together in a single context the three pillars of the wine industry: wine producers, the world of research and supplier companies.

Two conference rooms (one dedicated to international research, with simultaneous translation, and the other to Italian research), a tasting room, a “demo” room, a poster area, a media partner area and an exhibition space where leading companies in the industry could meet; in short, an unprecedented edition in terms of quantity and quality of information presented:

• 135 reports on the latest innovations for the vineyard and winery, presented by:
• 60 independent speakers, from universities or public research centers
• 40 foreign speakers, from 10 wine countries around the world, thanks in part to the video conference mode
• 26 Enoforum Award speakers(*)
• 7 research projects: regional, national and European
• 20 posters on new technologies and knowledge, in addition to those presented orally
• 55 companies presenting innovations resulting from their R&D activities
• 10 tasting sessions, to understand the sensory effects of innovations
• 10 demos to know how to use innovations in practice
• 35 exhibitors to delve into information with experts from companies
  Countless networking opportunities to engage with hundreds of colleagues from across Italy.
• An opportunity to learn about local wines and products, as witnessed by the partnership with the Durello Consortium, the protagonist of tastings and Master Classes.

There was unanimous satisfaction not only from the participants, who were running busy from room to room trying to follow as many appointments as possible, but also from the invited speakers, who highlighted the quality of the proposed content and the precise organization. In particular, Gérard Liger-Belair, head of the Effervescence & Champagne Research Unit at the University of Reims and a world authority in the field of “bubbles,” who opened the proceedings of the third congress day, commented, “I am particularly grateful to the organizers for inviting me to Enoforum, and I am really impressed by the size of the event, the quality of the interventions and the perfect organization-I doubt that it would be possible in France to do as well.”

However, those who may have missed some of the reports need not worry: all recordings of the speeches will gradually be available online at the Internet magazine Infowine.com, with priority access to Premium subscribers.

Born in 2000 in Montesilvano (PE) on the initiative of Vinidea and SIVE, Enoforum over the years has grown in importance and has been enriched by international editions in Portugal (Infowine Forum), Spain, the United States and soon in Chile and even France (Sparkling Wine Forum). It was also the first fully online congress due to Covid-19 in spring 2020, replacing the Spanish edition planned in Zaragoza. The previous Italian in-presence edition also held in Vicenza in May 2019, had been attended by about 1,200 congress attendees.

The Enoforum Prize 2023

(*) The Enoforum Prize was conceived as a global competition offering the scientific community an opportunity to present innovative research related to the wine industry. Approximately 100 research papers from around the world applied and were subject to initial evaluation by the international scientific committee. During Enoforum Web Scientists, held on March 13, the 36 best-ranked papers were presented orally. In real time, all participants were invited to evaluate the submitted papers to determine the winner and finalists