I could write this article carrying on slogan over slogan as there are so many important messages which have been communicated during the recent presentation of the popular Slow Wine Guide (italian guide to the best Italian wines), which was held on the occasion of “Salone del Gusto”, international food and wine event (held in Turin from October 23 to the 27th).
The sommelier (of the FISAR association, one of the italian associations) have announced a new approach to become less professorial and much more “natural” as in the last years the sommelier have often been presumptuous: “wine is the protagonist, sommelier is not”.
Also Carlo Cracco, famous Italian chef, accepts Petrini’s ironic criticisms, the charismatic President of Slow Food which has opened the meeting throwing a word for everyone, including the chef “which become nasty during the most watched TV program such as Master Chef for example”! And maybe they should take it more seriously if – as announced by Petrini himself- a significant proportion of children “want to become a chef”. Yet, Petrini talked to women, whose “know-how” has always been the base of the culinary traditions all over the world. It talked to young people “there’s always time to study marketing, return to the vineyards before it’s too late”; he was touched by the warm presence of producers, inviting them to team up with other sectors of the food industry; inviting also them to be more accomodating “some defects in the wine can give personality, it does not matter”!
Partecipating at the presentation I thought that Slow Wine was becoming the glue satisfying all the different categories.
Then, mr. Giavedoni, co-editor of the guide, answered to the hidden criticism and the idea that the guides have died: “we are alive and it’s demonstrated by the fact that we are here all together”. Moreover, while generally in case of crisis, people tend to stay apart and by their own side, they are literally building a team up: with the sommelier association I mention before (FISAR) which yields to the temptation to publish their own guide, supporting instead this project. Yet, Slow Wine made a partnership with DHL (transportation company), crucial for Import-Export operations related to those italian wines, even in terms of support to SMEs to face laws and regulations, as well as the logistics of events like this.
Not only that: an online magazine in 3 languages, a radio and a work about Ethics and Aesthetics of wine, represent 3 new projects are presented here by Giancarlo Gariglio, another guide of the editorial staff.
And the President of Slow Food Italy, Nino Pascale, effectively explained the reason of the success of the guide: an extensive network of contributors throughout the country who really know their own single territory and who only write about single production areas having so the time to visit all the producers of that area. In fact, when the journalists asked the producers “why slow wine guide is better? “, they all answered “because they visit us, they do not only give stupid scores to the , they tell our story”.
