“WINE? IT PLAYS A CENTRAL ROLE IN MEDITERRANEAN AND ITALIAN CULTURE. IT SERVES CULTURE. DISSUASIVE MESSAGES ON LABELS ARE USELESS”. THE PHILOSOPHER TULLIO GREGORY EXPLAINS HIS ENTHUSIASM FOR THE NECTAR OF THE GODS TO WINENEWS

“It is difficult to write the history of the Mediterranean without wine and oil. It’s absurd to think of discouraging consumers on labels. Man distinguishes himself from animals because he is capable of producing alcoholic products”. These are the thoughts of philosopher Tullio Gregory from the Cisam Foundation (Italian Center of High Medieval Studies) in defense of wine and its role in the history of Italy’s people.
“It is difficult” – continued Gregory in an interview with www.winenews.tv – “to think of Italian history without wine and oil, the symbols of sacrifice, redemption and peace in liturgical calendars and pagan rituals. Divinities and symbolic values have been given to wine, which goes well beyond just a healthy desire to drink well. Wine is knowledge, wisdom, the same verb as God. As well, many of these meanings have been preserved and perpetuated over time, remaining up to the present and maintaining the role of conviviality that history has assigned it”.
But how can this be connected with alcoholism and the health of people? It is obvious that wine is an alcoholic substance and, “It is clear that drinking large amounts of wine is damaging, but if used in the right way and in advisable doses, it is actually curative for the human organism, as has been demonstrated by the French paradox. And, anyhow, I am against dissuasive messages on labels, as has already occurred with cigarettes. A method that does not resolve problems, but rather pushes them in the opposite direction”.