Six glasses are lined up on the table. Three contain Gaglioppo, three Barolo. No labels. No clues. Just the wine and those called upon to interpret it.
The tasting is blind, and as the answers come in, one certainty begins to crumble: confidently identifying which glasses contain Gaglioppo and which contain Barolo proves far less straightforward than many had expected. It was not a contest between wine regions, nor an attempt to declare a winner. The purpose of the masterclass, held during the second edition of Merano WineFestival Calabria – Essenza del Sud, was something quite different: to compare two great Italian grape varieties without prejudice and observe what happens when the only voice in the room is the wine itself.
The comparison revealed elements that were both unexpected and technically consistent. Tannin, elegance, depth, structure, and power without heaviness emerged as shared characteristics throughout the tasting. To these was added a different expression of warmth and sunshine: born from opposite climatic conditions, yet capable, in the finest interpretations of both varieties, of producing wines of remarkable balance. The message of the tasting was not to prove that Gaglioppo can become Nebbiolo. Quite the opposite: it demonstrated how Calabria’s great native red grape has reached a level of maturity that allows it to stand confidently alongside wines of this calibre without sacrificing its own identity.
This is perhaps the clearest picture left by the second edition of Merano WineFestival Calabria – Essenza del Sud. Compared with its debut last year, the event appears to have taken a significant step forward, shifting its narrative from simply promoting a region to assessing, in concrete terms, the quality it is capable of expressing.
The same impression emerged from the masterclass dedicated to Calabria’s white wines, arguably the tasting that best highlighted the richness of a still largely undiscovered heritage. From Mantonico to Pecorello, through Greco Bianco (Guardavalle), Guarnaccia Bianca, Zibibbo and Greco Bianco di Bianco, the tasting revealed a mosaic of native and deeply distinctive grape varieties capable of expressing remarkably different personalities while sharing aromatic precision, vibrant acidity, freshness and a strong sense of place. It was a journey that showed how Calabria can no longer be defined solely by its great reds and Gaglioppo, but now boasts a collection of white wines representing one of the most dynamic and exciting expressions of the region’s contemporary winemaking.
While wine quality remained the common thread throughout the tastings, the most significant innovation of the 2026 edition came on the commercial front. For the first time, Merano WineFestival Calabria dedicated an entire day exclusively to professional networking through the Buyers’ Club, bringing together ten buyers from nine countries — the United States, Brazil, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Latvia — who took part in around 150 B2B meetings with participating wineries.
This figure reflects a genuine shift in perspective. Until only a few years ago, the priority was simply to introduce Calabria’s wines to the world. Today, the goal is to transform the credibility earned in the glass into concrete commercial opportunities across international markets. Internationalisation, in other words, is no longer merely an ambition but a tangible path for future growth.
With approximately 3,000 visitors over four days across Melissa, Cirò and Cirò Marina, the festival matched the attendance figures of its inaugural edition while consolidating a format that successfully combines education, tasting experiences and business opportunities.
The programme opened on Friday, 5 June, at the Aragonese Tower in Melissa with the conference “Calabria’s Identity and Future Potential,” featuring Helmuth Köcher, founder of Merano WineFestival; Fulvia Michela Caligiuri, Director General of Arsac; Carlo Siciliani, President of the Cirò and Melissa DOC Consortium; and the mayors of Melissa, Cirò and Cirò Marina — Luca Mauro, Mario Sculco and Mariagrazia Panebianco. The conference focused on Calabria’s millennia-old wine-growing tradition, its extraordinary biodiversity and the future prospects of the regional wine sector.
On Saturday, the historic centre of Cirò welcomed thousands of visitors for the Street Wine & Food Festival, transforming the town into a route featuring eight wine stations, local chefs’ culinary creations, the “Magna Grecia Metodo Classico” masterclass, talks on international markets and entertainment that animated the village throughout the day.
Sunday and Monday were held at Borgo Saverona, where 125 exhibitors from the wine, food, spirits and beer sectors hosted extensive tasting stations. Alongside the tastings, guests enjoyed a showcooking session by chef Nino Rossi of the Michelin-starred Qafiz restaurant and dishes prepared by the Associazione Regionale Cuochi Pittagorici, showcasing some of Calabria’s signature ingredients, including salt cod, black pig, pecorino cheese, fresh pasta and Podolica beef stew.
“This second edition of Merano WineFestival in Cirò confirms the value of a journey that began last year. Calabria’s wines offer the finest expression of a unique mosaic: the strength of an extraordinary territory and the biodiversity of native viticulture capable of standing alongside the finest wine regions in Italy and beyond,” said Helmuth Köcher, founder of Merano WineFestival.
According to Calabria’s Regional Councillor for Agriculture, Gianluca Gallo, “Merano WineFestival Calabria once again proves to be an outstanding showcase, capable of shining a spotlight on the growing quality of our wines and the positive generational renewal taking place, driven by many young producers and women. By promoting the wine and agri-food sectors, Calabria is also enhancing the value of its territory.”
Fulvia Michela Caligiuri, Director General of Arsac, echoed this view: “Events of this calibre are essential for promoting Calabria’s wine industry and, more broadly, the region’s agri-food sector. This second edition of Merano WineFestival Calabria offered an outstanding showcase with an international outlook, giving producers the opportunity to demonstrate the quality and uniqueness of their wines and products.”
