Calabria is preparing to return to being a protagonist on the international wine scene. From 7 to 9 June 2025 Cirò will be the stage for the Merano Wine Festival Calabria – “Cirò: Essenza del Sud”, an event dedicated to the wine and gastronomic excellence of Southern Italy.
The official announcement was made in the morning, during the tenth edition of Wine&Siena – Capolavori del Gusto, an event that celebrates the best of Italian wine and gastronomic production every year. Cirò, famous for its vineyards and the legendary Cirò DOC, will therefore welcome enthusiasts, industry experts and tourists from all over Italy and the world, to celebrate the tradition and innovation of Calabrian wine producers, promoting the rich food and wine heritage of a land that has always enchanted with its authenticity and beauty. All this will be possible thanks to the Calabria Region and the synergy work carried out with Arsac, the Municipalities of Cirò and Cirò Marina and the Consortium of Protection of Cirò DOC.
“From 7 to 9 June 2025 – comments the regional councilor for agriculture, Gianluca Gallo – we will host the Merano Wine Festival. An important event at a national level and of great quality which enhances not only the wines of Cirotano and all those of Calabria, but also the agri-food and excellent craftsmanship. Also an opportunity to visit and get to know an extraordinary land.”
The event promises three days of tastings, meetings and masterclasses with internationally renowned experts, producers and sommeliers. Calabrian wines will be the protagonists, with particular attention to Cirò and other local excellences, but there will also be a look at Italian and foreign wine production, to create a 360-degree wine dialogue.
“This Festival – underlines the general director of Arsac, Fulvia Caligiuri – represents an extraordinary opportunity for Calabria to show itself as a territory that combines tradition, quality and innovation. From this perspective, Cirò is the ideal place to tell the world about our pride and our winemaking identity”.
The choice to land in Calabria, states the patron of the MWF, Helmuth Koecher, “is part of a project that aims to enhance the historical and cultural heritage of Magna Graecia through the prestigious format of the Merano WineFestival, which will see how the protagonist is the wine of the Olympics in Calabria. From this point of view, Calabria, with its deep historical roots and its extraordinary potential, stands as an example of oenological and gastronomic excellence, capable of inspiring the entire peninsula”.
The mayors of Cirò and Cirò Marina, respectively Mario Sculco and Sergio Ferrari, the latter also acting as president of the Province of Crotone, add: “We are very satisfied with the great opportunity that is offered to the entire Cirò area. We will host an extraordinary event for which we express gratitude towards the regional government and councilor Gallo, who strongly wanted it to be held in our territory. We are already working to take care of every little detail because we have a strong awareness of how important an event is that will allow us to reveal our beauties and above all to tell the extraordinary positivity and great potential of our territory”.
Paolo Ippolito, president of the Commission of the Cirò Doc Protection Consortium, remarks: “We are enthusiastic and honored to host this event for the first time in Southern Italy, which sees us as protagonists as a Consortium. Three days dedicated to the wine of the Calabrian territory with all the consortia together with the companies of Southern Italy, with meetings that will develop through press tours in the vineyard, seminars, masterclasses, round tables and tasting tables and an eye also focused on gastronomy”.