Merano Wine Festival 2025: Calabria at the center of food and wine excellence between tradition and innovation

Calabria is preparing to return to being a protagonist of the international wine scene. From 7 to 9 June 2025 Cirò will be the stage of the Merano Wine Festival Calabria – “Cirò: Essence of the South”, an event dedicated to the wine and food excellence of Southern Italy.

The official announcement was made this morning, during the tenth edition of Wine&Siena – Capolavori del Gusto, an event that celebrates the best of Italian wine and food 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, for 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 synergistic work carried out with Arsac, the Municipalities of Cirò and Cirò Marina and the Consortium for the Protection of Cirò DOC.

"From the 7 9 2025 June – comments the regional councillor for agriculture, Gianluca Gallo – orWe will be hosting the Merano Wine Festival. An important event at a national level and of great quality that will enhance not only the wines of Cirotano and all the Calabrian ones, but also the agri-food and the excellent craftsmanship. 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. The protagonists will be Calabrian wines, with particular attention to Cirò and other local excellences, but there will be a look at the Italian and foreign wine productions, to create a 360-degree wine dialogue.

 “This Festival – underlines the general manager 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, says the patron of the MWF, Helmuth Koecher, “is part of a project that aims to enhance the historical and cultural heritage of Magna Grecia through the prestigious format of the Merano WineFestival, which will see the wine of the Olympics in Calabria as the protagonist. From this point of view, Calabria, with its deep historical roots and its extraordinary potential, stands as an example of wine 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 in the role of president of the Province of Crotone, add: “We are very satisfied with the great opportunity that is offered to the entire territory of Cirò. 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 are strongly aware 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 Consortium for the Protection of Cirò Doc, remarks: “We are excited 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".