Taste of Italy

Category: Success Stories

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: GB Export clients launch with Texas importers.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: GB Export clients launch with Texas importers.

    The IACC Texas gives a warm shout-out to Taste of Italy Exhibitor GB Export, a Piedmont-based export and marketing group for their recent placements at Taste of Italy Houston, Dallas, El Paso — the largest trade fair devoted exclusively to Italian food and wine in the U.S.

    Founder Gabriella Binello and her staff, like Tommaso Portieri (pictured above, right), have been attending Taste of Italy for many years now and her clients have made multiple placements of their wines in the Lone Star State.

    Recent new exports include wines by wineries Prediomagno, Paradiis, Donna Viola, Cerulli, and Le Ginestre. Each are now launching or have already launched their brands with Texas-based importers.

    GB Export also attended the first ever Taste of Italy El Paso last year and plans to be there again for this year’s event — the second of its kind in the western Texas city.

    Texas continues to be home to one of the fastest-growing restaurant communities in the U.S. And each of its major cities are among the fastest growing in the U.S.

    For more than a decade, Taste of Italy — in Houston, Dallas, and more recently in El Paso — has been a leader in connecting Italian food and wine companies with importers and distributors in the state.

    Click here to read more Taste of Italy Success Stories.

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Winemakers break into the Texas market thanks to IACC member Beviamo International.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Winemakers break into the Texas market thanks to IACC member Beviamo International.

    For those of us who work at the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Texas, there could be no greater reward than to know that our efforts have connected Italian businesses with partners here in the U.S.

    For more than 10 years, our Taste of Italy trade fair and festival, the largest in the U.S. devoted exclusively to Italian food and wine, has helped Texas-based importers to discover new wines to bring to our market.

    One such case is that of Beviamo International, a Houston area importer and distributor of fine Italian wines.

    Over the years, Beviamo International’s owner Angelo Ferrari has expanded his Italian portfolio by adding wineries he’s first encountered and wines he first tasted at the fair.

    And we couldn’t be prouder to share the news that he has recently placed brands like La Guardiense, Coali (introduced by our proud member Sebastiano Bazzano with B.Connected), Silvestri, Madaudo, and even Citra, one of Abruzzo’s most important producers, at Spec’s locations across the state.

    Our mission is to create community between Italy and America. And there could be no better example of our mission fulfilled than Angelo’s recent placements at one of the biggest retailers in the U.S., with nearly 200 stores in Texas.

    Congratulations to Angelo, Beviamo International, and his wonderful portfolio of Italian wineries!

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: After a standing-room-only-seminar, Calabria prepares to send its best food products to Texas.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: After a standing-room-only-seminar, Calabria prepares to send its best food products to Texas.

    Earlier this week, IACC business development manager Francesca Bacci accompanied Texas-based chef Luciano Salvadore to the Mercato delle Eccellenze di Calabria (MEC) in Calabria.

    Chef Luciano, the executive chef at Il Calabrese restaurant in South Lake (Dallas), had been asked by MEC’s founder and director Giovanni Guido to be part of panel was tasked withs selecting the best Calabrian products to be included in MEC’s first offering in the state of Texas.

    After all, who better than chef Luciano, an expert in Calabrian cuisine and a highly respected restaurant professional who has his finger on the culinary pulse of the state?

    Giovanni and chef Luciano were also part of a panel and standing-room-only seminar on the foods and wines of Calabria at this year’s Taste of Italy in Houston in March.

    Giovanni, Francesca, and chef Luciano were joined a number of leading Calabrian food producers and experts who shared their insights into the best of Calabrian gastronomy.

    “It’s important to work on building up our presence in foreign markets,” said Giovanni. “Calabria’s foods and wines are trending,” he added, “and we need to act on that momentum. Our next step will be for MEC to present these products at the next Taste of Italy in Dallas.”

    Image via Agrinvita.

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Long-time Taste of Italy exhibitor Monti Trentini.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Long-time Taste of Italy exhibitor Monti Trentini.

    Monti Trentini has attended every Taste of Italy since the first year the fair was held. And they also attended all of our virtual events when in-person events were not possible.

    Over the years, they have developed a long-term relations with Selected Food & Beverage, a top Texas-based distributor and a proud IACCTX member. And they have had their products on the shelves of HEB supermarkets and gourmet shops since that very first fair they attended.

    Another Taste of Italy Success Story!

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Vero Italian Traditional Food at Spec’s and HEB.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Vero Italian Traditional Food at Spec’s and HEB.

    Stefano Albano, the owner of the Rome-based Vero Italian Traditional Food, is one of the shining stars of our campaigns here at Taste of Italy.

    Not only are his food products like his Pasta Vero now available at Spec’s, one of the largest fine wine and gourmet food retailers in the country with nearly 200 stores across Texas. Many of the wineries he represents are also now available at stores across Texas like Spec’s and the state’s leading supermarket chain HEB, which is based in San Antonio but has multiple locations in all of the states major metropolitan areas and in many rural areas as well.

    Just another Taste of Italy success story!

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Vite Colte, producer of Barolo and Barbaresco, in Texas since 2019.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Vite Colte, producer of Barolo and Barbaresco, in Texas since 2019.

    Vite Colte, a top producer of Barolo, Barbaresco, and other iconic wines from Piedmont, first participated in Taste of Italy in 2019.

    Not only did they sign a deal with Spec’s, one of the largest retailers of fine wines in the U.S., but they also connected with an importer in Mexico who is bring their wines in for the first time. They have also used their contacts at Taste of Italy in Houston to make connections with other IACC offices across North America.

    It’s another one of the countless examples of Italian food and wine companies breaking into the U.S. market thanks to their experiences at Taste of Italy.

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Melegatti at Spec’s, one of the largest fine wine and gourmet food retailers in the U.S.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Melegatti at Spec’s, one of the largest fine wine and gourmet food retailers in the U.S.

    While most of the exhibitors at Taste of Italy are medium-sized and family-run companies, the trade fair — the largest in the U.S. devoted exclusively to Italian products — also features some of Italy’s most well-known and iconic brands.

    When Peter Gryska, the head fine food buyers at Spec’s in Houston, found out that Melegatti, the iconic producer of panettone, was looking for distribution in the state, he jumped at the chance to add the products to his retail and distribution products. Today, those products are available throughout the state at the behemoth retailer’s nearly 200 locations.

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Acetaia Guerzoni at Food Related.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Acetaia Guerzoni at Food Related.

    In 2016, Acetaia Guerzoni, led by Lorenzo Guerzoni, above, Italy’s only biodynamic certified producer of traditional balsamic vinegar, attended its first Taste of Italy in Houston.

    Right out of the gate, the Guerzoni family made a connection: the Ciorciari brothers, owners of the San Antonio-based food importer Food Related, fell in love with their high-end products.

    Today, the Ciorciari family has been importing their products for more than 7 years and they are available throughout Texas, including Austin, Houston, Dallas, and, of course, San Antonio.

    One thing that a lot of people don’t realize about Taste of Italy, which is now held in two major markets in Texas, Houston and Dallas, is also attended by buyers from across the large state of Texas.

    Congratulations to the Guerzoni and Ciorciari families for your fruitful partnership!

  • A Taste of Italy Success Story: Cantine Silvestri at HEB supermarket.

    A Taste of Italy Success Story: Cantine Silvestri at HEB supermarket.

    For the team at the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, there is perhaps no greater reward than knowing that our work for our members and clients has helped them expand their sales network.

    One such case is that of Cantine Silvestri, a legacy grape grower and winemaker in the Castelli Romani hills outside the Italian capital.

    It all started at Vinitaly 2022… Fast forward to fall 2022: Not only is Cantine Silvestri now available in the state of Texas; it’s being featured at HEB supermarkets in Texas.

    In wine trade parlance, having your labels displayed like that is called being “stacked.” It’s a sort of badge of honor for wineries and distributors. And it means that they will be “moving a lot of boxes,” as they say in the industry.

    Congratulations to Cantine Silvestri for their remarkable accomplishment! And thank you to the owners for believing in what we do here at the IACC South Central: Building community for our clients and members.

    The wine is currently being imported by Beviamo International, a Houston-based importer and longtime member. The winery is represented in the U.S. by Vero Italian Traditional Food, an Italian-based company and also a chamber member.