The president of Assoenologi : “” Natural “is an important adjective: it means that nature takes its course and there is no human intervention. Where human intervention occurs, one can no longer speak of natural”.
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President in Italy, the harvest is drawing to a close. What should we expect from this 2020? What will we find in the bottle?
It is a harvest of normal quantity, while for the quality it is a very good vintage, with peaks of excellent and exceptional. It is always risky to make a general forecast about the country because it is the climate that reigns supreme and we increasingly have a tropical climate compared to the continental climate of years ago. Within a short distance we can have land suffering from drought and others flooded by summer showers, so it is difficult to make a general judgment. But we have some very exceptional tips. Throughout Italy we will have this great quality that comes from 2020. If nothing else, in the black vintage of 2020 for all the things that are happening, we will have good quality wines. It does not console much but gives us hope for the great positivity of this vintage.
Does it compensate a little for the lower quantity that is expected for this vintage as regards production?
Not all evils come to harm. The smaller amount will help keep the market somewhat buoyant. Although we have lost a little what is the main stage of wine, that is to say restaurants, wine bars and the whole Horeca department, we have recovered with online sales and large-scale distribution. Obviously we are worried, our companies are suffering, but we are also convinced that at the moment of rebirth, wine will be the first element that will accompany well-being and conviviality.
In fact, in recent months people have rediscovered the positive support that wine can give even from a distance. Is there also a change in the Italians’ consumption of the wine product in their daily life?
Wine has always been an ideal companion for mankind. And as the quality has increased we have gone more and more towards the culture of wine, towards the desire to know it better: where it is born, with which vines, the property, the winemaker, the season … there is no product in nature that can be influenced by the season like wine and this is its great gift. We oenologists can do a lot but then there is always an element that conditions us and that gives DNA to the wine and it is the seasonal element. But he has always been a companion of men and women, now the pandemic has left us an important signal: we have re-analyzed the hedonistic and not the external aspect of wine. I am referring to very heavy bottles, to labels created by famous painters, to cellars designed by great architects. We will go more to the essentials and I believe this is a behavior that will not only concern wine, but will affect our whole life: looking at the essentials, at the truly important things . This will be a positive legacy that this virus will leave us. We have found in wine a travel companion: approaching a glass of wine in the right way (with moderation, intelligence and wisdom) certainly helps to relax, to forget the problem. Thinking about wine, its characteristics, its origins, the hands of the producers, the farmers who raised the vineyard, the work of us oenologists who do with so much passion and love was a moment of relaxation and it will be more and more like this .
Many Italian wineries have chosen his guide, is it difficult to interpret so many different territories?
A taboo must be dispelled: we oenologists cannot interpret a territory, it is the grape that has this power. At the most we can ensure that the territories express themselves in the best possible way not only in quantitative terms but also in qualitative terms. We cannot approve Montalcino and Chianti, even if they are both in Tuscany. The habitat (soil and climate) is so strong that it cannot and must not be influenced in its organoleptic expression. We oenologists have the task of ensuring that the territory is the maximum expression of wine. In Italy, unlike France, we want to give importance to grapes, but calling a wine with the name of its grape is wrong! We must call the wine with the name of its territory, then the name of the grape. Calling a wine “Sangiovese” without saying where it is made, in what year, then it truly becomes a question without a name, without face, without personality.
Is the enormous Italian wine biodiversity a strength or a weakness when approaching foreign markets?
Nobody knows exactly how many indigenous vines we have and how many we still have to discover, not to mention the territories. For example, I work in Bordeaux, it is a place I love, but being close to the sea it is a rather flat territory. Montalcino, on the other hand, is cone-shaped: so how much altitude and how much exposure do we have? The truth is that Italy is out of competition. The atavistic problem is that we do not know how to communicate our wealth. If we knew how to make the most of our territory there would be none for anyone, however we are slowly slower but we are getting closer to awareness.
Organic farming, biodynamic, sustainability. How is the philosophy of wineries changing?
It is a double-faced medal. We have a duty that sustainability is at the beginning of our thoughts. Alternatives to traditional culture such as the biological or biodynamic system are welcome. But the downside is that it is often used to see more wine. Finally, however, the EEC has expressed itself by saying that the term “natural” cannot be used because the consumer tends to think of it as more valuable and therefore to pay more for it. “Natural” is an important adjective: it means that nature takes its course and there is no human intervention. Where human intervention occurs, we can no longer speak of natural. And the natural product of grapes is vinegar. Where there is no vinegar there is human intervention. We have a duty to pursue everything that is organic in respect of nature and men, because wine is part of the heritage that nature has given us, but it must not be used in an opaque way to deceive the consumer. Otherwise we make organic and biodynamic agriculture lose their true meaning.
Climate change: how to preserve vineyards and productions?
It seems absurd but many Italian vines, especially historians such as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo or Negroamaro are late ripening. 30 years ago the grapes were harvested at the end of October, early November and often they were harvested to avoid the formation of mold due to slow ripening because with the beginning of September the temperatures dropped and the ripening peak that we now reach by anticipating the harvest for up to one month. We witness different wines, more concentrated and expressive of their territory. A Sangiovese compared to 30 years ago maybe from the hills today makes incredible wines, once they were more subtle because they were children of that time. The varieties that have been negatively affected are the internationals that ripen too early.
Are re-evaluating the Abruzzo pergola or moving the vineyards to the heights that make sense or not?
Of course yes, the awning if well conducted shades the clusters compared to a espalier as well as going on higher ground. We have to approach the vineyard thinking about climate change and therefore the management of the green, the tillage, the density per hectare to be able to greatly contain the negative effects of an extreme climate so it becomes more and more a scientific approach.
The culture and knowledge of wine is also growing in China, including the Italian one …
We oenologists owe and will have a debt to all those who make wine culture. Sometimes the story of wine is told by people who have no knowledge of what wine really is with its culture. Today there is a thirst for culture on the part of consumers, but tasting is the final act of a journey that begins earlier. When we approach a wine we must know everything about that wine, because if we know everything we can better perceive our senses. If we know that in that vintage, in that territory, in that cellar, in that vineyard there was a dry climate, we approach with something that makes us understand that wine will probably have suffered a little or benefited from that climate. The union and symbiosis between man and wine is something that no other product of nature can express. Let’s not forget that the thirst for culture comes from countries that have approached wine quite recently, I have Chinese friends who ask me many questions and it is impressive how these people are approaching wine. There are very good winemakers, many come to study in Italy and want to express their land. China is a very important market for Italian wine, but there is also satisfaction in talking to them because you can feel the love for wine.
Thanks President Xiè Xiè
Thanks to you from 5000 Italian winemakers for what you do for Italian wine.