Verona is one of my favorite Italian cities. Walking along streets where ancient Romans, Medieval nobles, Venetian Signori and Napoleon once walked contribute to the rich tapestry of art, architecture and history. In addition Verona is the home of a truly spectacular wine show each year know as VinItaly.

According to its organizers, VinItaly is the world's very first wine fair. It was first held in Verona in 1977 and has steadily grown to become the largest wine fair conducted anywhere. This year the anticipated attendance will exceed 150,000 visitors seeking out the wines of over 4000 exhibitors. It's hard to describe just how big VinItaly has become.

The concept of VinItaly is simple; the 20 Italian wine regions get divided amongst 17 huge buildings. A few of the smaller regions share a hall. For a buyer this makes things very easy. Let's say you are looking to add a Barolo to your portfolio. You can go to the Piedmont hall and taste 10, 20, 30 different producers until you find what fits your needs for quality and price.

Whenever I have been fortunate enough to go to VinItaly I always say the same thing (and never get any sympathy):  Attending VinItaly is work. I recall a couple of years ago, Brad Lewis took his lovely wife Joy along for a day at the fair. By noon she decided that strolling the streets of Verona was a much better option than tasting and spitting hundreds of wines in a day.

Work or not, the thing I enjoy most about VinItaly is the personal relationships that we form with different producers. In today's fast-paced digital age there is still nothing like a face-to-face meeting and a handshake.

If you are planning on being in Verona this week please look me up. I'll be tweeting @abcwinepaulq. See you at VinItaly!

Paul Quaglini, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits wine supervisor