Bottle truths, lies on the cover: the other side of wine communication

There was a time when Italian wine was not glamorous, it was not mainstream, it was not contained to tell. It was simply the result of enormous sacrifices. Of entire generations of winemakers who worked silent, often without protections, carrying out family traditions with a dedication that moves today. They were difficult years, marked by tiring working conditions and a market dominated by a few voices and not always clear rules.

Con that context, the tragedy of the 1986 methanol, dictated by dishonest producers, marked a point of voto negativo return. It was a human drama before even . He successo the image of Italian wine per mezzo di the world and forced the entire sector to a profound reflection. From that episode, a more rigid system of rules was born with effort, a greater awareness of the role of quality and safety and a new generation of producers ready to change course.

Today, we can recognize that a different model, less quantity, more value, was born from that deep wound. Less bottles from a supermarket, more territorial identity. We learned to bevanda better. To select. To understand that there is a choice behind every wine.

But the transformation did not concern only the vineyard. He also involved the way we tell the wine. I remember well when the communication was managed by a few names, few tools, few codes. A restricted circle per mezzo di which language was often deliberately complex, cryptic, excessively technical. A closed system, where the judgment of a few could determine the fate of entire companies.

Con that climate, it was sentenced that the white wine should be drunk only per mezzo di the current year, labeling as “past” “inadequate” those whites who instead had an extraordinary evolutionary potential. A wrong belief, which still weighs acceso the perception and sales of Italian whites today. You wanted to leave everything as it was. The status quo was a fortress not to be touched. Those who proposed new ideas were often isolated ridiculed.

Meanwhile, an exasperated ritual was built around the tasting, made of gestures, expressions and attitudes that ended up removing the public. Some comedians and show characters have staged these manias, ridiculating them and not always wrong. A pungent satire, who put per mezzo di bare how much that communication was distant from the reality of the people.

And per mezzo di that narrative void was born the so -called “natural wine moda”. A movement that intercepted a legitimate need for authenticity, but which often confused the word naturalness with healthy. Natural wine, as it is commonly understood, does not exist per mezzo di scientific and regulatory terms and its idealization has brought many seriously defective products to the market, passed non attivato as “free” but per mezzo di reality unstable, not controlled, sometimes even soaked.

A healthy wine is not the one that escapes the rules, but what comes from healthy grapes and a competent wine management. Today it is very rare to find a “conventional” wine with serious defects. Thanks to the progress per mezzo di the vineyard and per mezzo di the cellar, the average quality has risen impressively. the contrary, per mezzo di too many examples of “natural”, technical limits are masked with romantic narratives sometimes even hilarious.

To this has been added another aspect that I cannot ignore. The communication of wine, for too long, was managed by figures who unmarried “dark” personal and professional relationships. The hospitality offered by the producers often became practices and certain praises seemed more the result of private parentes than of authentic technical assessments. It is not an accusation, it is a historical observation. But we must admit that that model has contributed to making the world of distant, inaccessible, self -referential, hypocritical wine.

Some communication solons have even created an atmosphere of “mass-media terrorism”, thinking that arrogance was useful to define hierarchies. But that way of doing gave only visibility to a few, without generating any really innovative thoughts, without really enhancing the system. There are examples of those who disappeared for many years and then reappeared, per mezzo di disguise, with the arrogance and presumption that has now done its time.

And if it is right to recognize that the work must be paid, that competence must be respected and that every commitment deserves honor, it is equally important to distinguish between the right compensation and the opaque profit, what is born under the point, eliding transparency and intellectual honesty. Con this sense, I cannot fail to attract attention to some reference associations per mezzo di the world of summilleries, where unfortunately cases of undue appropriations have occurred by some subjects, exercised at the expense of the associates themselves, per mezzo di an atmosphere of self -referentiality and lack of real representation and transparency.

It is time for a reflection acceso this, acceso how much the system must return to serve those who support it and not the other way around. Con the same way, we must unmask the hypocrisy of those who proclaim themselves popularizer by passion, when per mezzo di reality they move according to dynamics that betray that same passion. For many young communicators, false illusions have been created, fueled by an environment that promises recognition but often offers neither meritocracy nor clarity. It is necessary to say it firmly: passion is a serious thing and cannot be used as a comparison for ambiguous opportunistic behaviors. Those who work with transparency and seriousness never leave out the vision of intellectual honesty. The serious companies that promise communication and visibility without having a real structure competence exist for a short time and then disappear. It serves seriousness, honesty and ability to be able to compete per mezzo di this sector, proclamations self -referentiality are not needed.

Communicating wine today means having a project, an ideal, a vision. It means to link the story of the wine to its social, economic and cultural function. We can voto negativo longer ignore the innovations that in che modo from wine technology, from sustainability, food education.

Wine can voto negativo longer be told only by those who judge it, but also by those who produce it, by those who need it, by those who dal vivo it every day. A new trusted pact between producers, communicators and consumers is necessary. A pact based acceso respect, transparency, continuous avviamento.

Forget the past would mean betraying those who fought for this present. We cannot speak of the future of Italian wine without honoring the path, even if sometimes painful, of those who have preceded us. And we can voto negativo longer accept that the same rumors that have excluded, simplified, profit per mezzo di a né -transparent way.

Change cannot be a pose. It must be a cultural, daily, concrete choice. And it was also for us, that we have never accepted compromises with those who did not share our code of ethics and our vision of wine production. We chose not to bend, not to endorse narratives that did not reflect our values. We dal vivo acceso consultancy, it is true, but we only accept those who fully close to our Code of Ethics. We are not interested per mezzo di working with those looking for visibility at all costs demands communication shortcuts: our credibility is based precisely acceso the ability to say voto negativo, when it serves, with respect but firmly. Because consistency is not just a virtue, it is a necessary condition to remain credible per mezzo di this world. I would like to make a harmony of voices with Vinoway who choose to play out of the choir, to create a rete televisiva privata of values, not of interests, where the seriousness of the contents and the strength of the ideals count. Don’t tell me that it is proselitismo chimera, this is reality.

Wine does not need spotlight, it needs consciousness, vision, responsibility!

And above all it needs a new language. A language that does not fear the truth, which does not take refuge per mezzo di convenience, that does not use complexity as a shield but as a tool for building bridges. We are called, today more than ever, to return dignity to the communication of the wine, to make it accessible, deep, sincere.

Those who communicate wine has enormous responsibility, to keep their memory, enhance its identity and project it into the future with honesty and vision. We can voto negativo longer allow ourselves to make mistakes, to ignore the signs of time, to chase ephemeral consents.

Those who really love wine know that they don’t tell about convenience. It is told out of respect. Because wine is a cultural good, a voice of the territory, a human act that deserves truth.

And the truth, even when uncomfortable, is the only way to return authentic value to our work.

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