Thank you to everyone who made this year’s gathering such a memorable and successful event! We look forward to seeing you at Taste of Italy 2018 in Houston!
The third annual Taste of Italy Houston 2017 (March 5-6) trade fair and festival marked the event’s biggest gathering ever: More than 60 exhibitors came to Texas from Italy this year to attend the show, the largest trade fair devoted exclusively to Italian wine and food in the U.S. And they presented more than 300 authentic Italian food products and wines.
In a marked uptick from last year, more than 500 guests attended the fair, including restaurant, food, and wine trade members from Houston, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and across Texas, as well as other States like Florida, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana.
This year also marked the first time that the Italian Trade Commission has partnered with the IACC Texas in presenting the event. And also for the first time, this year’s show featured a guided tasting led by a Vinitaly International Ambassador.
Guest speakers this year included celebrity sommelier David Lynch (author of Vino Italiano), Master Sommelier Guy Stout (Italian Wine Specialist for Southern-Glazer’s), Las Vegas-based sommelier Elise Vandeberg (Vinitaly International Ambassador), Melvin Maddux (Vice President of Interra Food Marketing), James Breuhl (Vice President of Perishables at Rouses Supermarket), Jeremy Parzen (Italian wine and food historian and journalist), and J.C. Reid (food columnist for the Houston Chronicle).
“The local, regional, and national response to the event this year was spectacular,” says Chamber Director Alessia Paolicchi. “Thanks to our outreach to media and to the Texas food and wine community, we were able to promote the many wonderful seminars we’ll be hosting this year. The response from the Texas restaurant and trade community has been extremely rewarding.”
The show was made possible with the support of several business and institutional partners, including the Italian Trade Commission in the United States (New York and Houston offices).
