Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

SICILY AT VINOBLE 2026, ONE STEP AWAY FROM COVETED UNESCO SUN BELT RECOGNITION

Italy, Spain, Greece, and France together: IRVO supports Marsala and the international candidacy that promotes fortified wines from the Mediterranean Sun Belt.

 

There's a European story based on wine, cooperation between territories, and the valorization of the Mediterranean's intangible heritage. It involves Sicily and will be told at the next edition of the Vinoble from Jerez de la Frontera, which will take place from May 30 to June 1, 2026 in Andalusia. The participation of the Sicilian Region at Vinoble 2026 will mark the identity and the enological growth of the Island in the international panorama within the most prestigious exhibition dedicated to fortified, liqueur and naturally sweet wines.

The director of the Regional Institute of Wine and Oil (IRVO) Vito Bentivegna and the president of the Paladins of Sicily Diego Maggio, will be present in Spain representing the Sicilian Region following the drafting of the dossier and the coordination with the international partners of the project aimed at UNESCO candidacy of the ancient practice of fortifying wines in the “Sun Belt”, the Mediterranean Sun Belt, aiming to enhance its identity as intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The project currently involves four large poles of the historical production of fortified wines: Marsala for Italy; Jerez-Xérès-Sherry for Spain; Samos for Greece; the Confederation of Vins Doux Naturels of Mediterranean France.

The coveted UNESCO recognition is the goal: it would not only seal the practice of wine fortification as a production technique, but would also identify it as a living cultural heritage, the fruit of handed down knowledge, community identities, historical relationships and ancient maritime trade, and contemporary developments that span the territories of the Mare Nostrum between Mediterranean Europe and the Atlantic.

During Vinoble 2026 the progress of the UNESCO candidacy project, the results already achieved by the “Sun Belt” will be shared along the path of understanding involving the European network of formally fortified wines, already established with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Marsala in 2025.

The candidacy committee, coordinated by engineer and project manager Calogero Foti, includes Diego Maggio, expert in charge of the UNESCO dossier, Giuseppe Cudia, CEO of PRC Repubbliche and coordination manager, President Baudouin Havaux, and Italian Ambassador Karin Meriot. The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles leadership, who have fostered international dialogue for the construction of the European network of fortified wines and the progressive convergence of the "Sun Belt" for the UNESCO candidacy, will also be participating. Representatives of the historic Marsala and island winemaking sectors will also be involved in Jerez, including Roberto Magnisi, general manager and oenologist Florio, and Tommaso Maggio, respectively, and Alexandra Curatolo of the Curatolo Arini winery.