Milano Wine Week 2026 opens with 100 events and two hubs
The ninth edition adds awards for wine tourism, brings back Wine List Italia and puts restaurant mark-ups on the agenda, with tastings from the Marriott to the Arco della Pace.
Milano Wine Week 2026 opens on Saturday 17 October and runs until Sunday 25 October, with more than 100 tastings, talks and masterclasses spread across Milan. The ninth edition is built around two hubs: the Milan Marriott Hotel on Via Washington for the trade, and an Enoteca at the Dazio di Levante, beside the Arco della Pace, for the public.
The format, launched in 2018 by Federico Gordini on the model of Milan Design Week, is deliberately not a trade fair: events take place in restaurants, hotels, bars, universities and cultural venues. Il Giorno lists the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, BASE Milano and the Savona-Tortona district among this year’s locations. The Enoteca, with hundreds of labels and sommeliers on hand, is free with Eventbrite registration and opens from 6pm to 11pm on weekdays and from 11am to 11pm at weekends.
What is new at Milano Wine Week 2026
Nine days in Milan say less about bottles than about how restaurants sell them.
The main addition is wine tourism. A Wine Hospitality Forum on 17 October launches the first Wine Hospitality Awards, which according to Il Sole 24 Ore recognise 50 wineries across ten categories. The same morning brings an invitation-only tasting of 25 Chianti Classico labels spanning 50 years, held with the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico. A free opening toast follows at 6pm at CityLife, then One Wine Night with main sponsor Carrefour at the Dazi.
Wine List Italia returns on 18 October for its fourth edition, with a grand tasting led by about 100 sommeliers. The MWW Awards, now in their sixth year, honour more than 100 wine lists from Italian restaurants and shops on 19 October.
On 23 October, from 6pm to 11pm, 24 Tuscan wine consortia pour at a walk-around tasting at the Marriott organised with AVITO; proceeds go to FRO, a radiation oncology research foundation. Masterclasses feature Bellavista, Alta Langa, Giovanni Rosso and Alma. The exhibition Il vino cambia forma, with Spazio Di Paolo, shows 35 packaging and label projects for all nine days.
Restaurant wine lists under scrutiny
Gordini’s theme this year is the restaurant table. The sommelier’s job, he told Il Sole 24 Ore, has shifted “from educating a passive customer to building their loyalty”, and he warned that excessive mark-ups cost restaurants customers now that price-comparison apps make them easy to spot.
Paid events are sold through DICE, and the organisers have not published a single pass price. The autumn calendar of Italian wine then moves north, where the Merano WineFestival is setting up a wine observatory for 2027. In Milan, the week ends with a closing party on Sunday 25 October.
