OPERA WINE AT VINITALY 2015

Opera Wine: A Showcase for Italy's Finest Wines from 100 Great Producers
Presented by Wine Spectator and Vinitaly Presents

Story and photo gallery by Dwight Casimere

VERONA, Italy---Italy's wine stars were out in full force for Wine Spectator and Vinitaly Presents' Opera Wine. Now in its fourth edition, Opera Wine is a gala presentation of the top wines from 100 legendary producers as selected by Wine Spectator Magazine, the leading recognized authority on wine and Vinitaly, the world's largest festival and conference of wine. Opera Wine was the formal prelude to Vinitaly 2015, which attracted a record number of participants this year.

Producers were on hand to personally pour their elite selections, to the delight of a sellout crowd at the Palazzo Della Gran Guardia in the heart of the ancient city center of Verona, which is dominated by the massive and historic  Arena, site of this summer's annual Verona Opera Festival.

 Opera Wine's 100 Great Producers outside the Palazzo Della Guardia in Verona

 Character actors represent Verdi's  opera 'Aida,' the centerpiece production of Verona's Opera Festival

 Dwight Casimere with Marilisa Allegrini of Allegrini Wines

 The ancient Arena in the Piazza Bra of central Verona

 Marchesi de Frescobaldi President and winemaker  Lamberto Frescobaldi with the company's marketing ambassador of 20 years, Alessandro Lunardi

 Wine writer, film maker and sommelier Charlie Arturaola (r) with his winemaking friends at OperaWine (Below) Some of the 'beautiful people' at OperaWine

                                                   

 Veronafiere, the setting for Vinitaly

 Dwight Casimere with Wine Spectator Executive Editor Tom Matthews (center) and winemaker Paolo Bosoni of Cantine Lunae

 A face in the crowd at Vinitaly 2015  and  (Below) Giovanni Folonari of A and G Folonari Tenute with Cantine Ferrari Chairman Metteo Lunelli (r)

Antonio Zacchero, Carpentino Winery

 Robin Shay, Brand Manager  to Allegrini wines

 Francesca and Alessio Planeta of Planeta wines of Sicily

Dwight Casimere with Paolo Bosoni, Lunae Bosoni

 'Aida' at Opera Wine

 Jacopo Biondi Santo with his son , Tancredi. Two generations of Biondi-Santi wines, the inventors of modern day Brunello di Montalcino wine.

Vinitaly Managing Director Stevie Kim presides over the OperaWine news conference

Among the presenters, Allegrini Azienda Agricola  of the Veneto region, Arnaldo Caprai of Umbria and Donnafugata of Sicily.

Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International moderated the news conference announcing this year's initiatives for Vinitaly 2015 which included Enolitech Expo, an on-site promotional tool devoted to the wine and oil sectors and Sol and Agrifood, a showcase for the Dairy, Snack Food and Produce industries. This year's was the 49th edition of Vinitaly with 4,000 exhibitors and 155,000 visitors, among them 56,000 guests from 120 countries. For more on Vinitaly and its international and US events, visit vinitalyinternational.com.