Life is returning to the wine trade fair business with VieVinum as one of the fixed high-lights - from 21 to 23 May 2022. As a "Special Edition", it also marks the beginning of this event format’s new future. The proximity to ProWein, which has been postponed until May, also offers advantages, for example when international visitors can now combine both fairs.

VieVinum, which has been organised by M.A.C. Hoffmann for 24 years, is known by many as the most beautiful wine fair in the world, especially as its venue is the imposing Hofburg palace in the very center of Vienna. As a boutique trade show, VieVinum enjoys the advantage of having a manageable size and the corresponding flexibility to respond to changing requirements. For 2022, this means above all more space, more security and more time for discussions at the stands. Also in focus are the expansion of digital services, more attention on trade visitors, and the so-phisticated, thematically attractive "School of Wine" as a professionally in-depth support programme. The teams of M.A.C. Hoffmann and the Austrian Wine Marketing Board – the most important VieVinum partner – are working together to make the joy of wine all the more tangible under new conditions.

"We constantly hear how important VieVinum is to our exhibitors and visitors and we’ve worked on new concepts intensively,“ says Alexandra Graski-Hoffmann, managing direc-tor of M.A.C. Hoffmann. “Along with everyone’s health as our top priority is our mission to offer even more opportunities for finding the right trade partners."

Visitors from Around the World

For many years, the main focus of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board has been on the initiation and consolidation of international business relationships for domestic winemak-ers. At the invitation of AWMB, traders, sommeliers and wine journalists from all over the world are expected to attend VieVinum. "Our international partners are very much looking forward to coming to VieVinum and cultivating contact with our winemakers!", emphasis-es Chris Yorke, the AWMB managing director. "We are in close contact with them and are already in the middle of planning their truly unique experience at VieVinum."

VieVinum launches the Gerd A. Hoffmann Academy - a cross-mentoring project for young winemakers. Under the motto VieVinum inspires - passion for wine, promising new talent will be supported for a few months by well-known personalities serving as mentors.

Recognising talent and helping them with advice and support was one of the special qualities of VieVinum founder Gerd A. Hoffmann. "Those who knew him know that he always supported aspiring winemakers in a caring way and he loved to encourage them," says Alexandra Graski-Hoffmann, who has been continuing her father's life work successfully for many years now. In memory of his work, the Gerd A. Hoffmann Academy has been established to bring young winemakers together with well-known personalities from business and society in a cross-mentoring programme. For the newcomers, there will be opportunities in the exchange of experiences; for everyone, it will be about sharing the passion for wine, inspiring each other, learning from each other and establishing new networks.

Objectives and Procedures of the VieVinum Cross-mentoring Programme

Applications are open to those winemakers between the ages of 18 and 35 who will be founding or taking over a winery, or have already done either of these. Together with an advisory board headed by Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of Austria’s Winegrowers Association, the young candidates will be selected and matched with mentors such as Birgit Reitbauer (Restaurant Steirereck), Veronika Doppler (Restaurant Vestibühel) and Michael Krammer (CEO, Ventocom). The exchanging of experiences will include questions and issues regarding everyday business life, succession of the operation, international development, crisis management, and one of today’s most important topics - the effects of climate change on one's business and the economy and society. The interests and exchanges between the mentee and mentor bring significant value to the programme.

In terms of media support, the main steps for this project are the matching of the mentees and mentors along with their getting to know each other, a first summary review in the coming Spring, and the final presentation of experiences shared in the run-up to VieVinum 2022.

The central steps of this project in the area of media support are the matching and getting to know of mentee and mentor, a first summary in the coming spring and the final presentation of the experiences made in the run-up to VieVinum 2022.

VieVinum organiser Alexandra Graski-Hoffmann is enthusiastic about establishing a focal meeting point for this programme. "I hope that, with this step, our community will be strengthened, the visions of all of the participants will be apparent, and we will go into VieVinum in the years ahead with new strength and confidence."