Guida L’Espresso 2020: “it’s all good, but not much new. The organic grows in the wine list”

“It’s all very good, but not much new: this is how I would summarize the meaning of the Guida “I Ristoranti e i Vini d’Italia” 2020, in the sense that objectively in Italy you can eat really well, with a growth in quality that is important at all levels, from the highest to the trattorias, from pizzerias to ethnic restaurants ”. This is how Enzo Vizzari presents the Guida dell’Espresso at WineNews: we still have to wait a while to be able to leaf through it (the presentation on October 14 in Florence, ed), but it is almost ready, and after having anticipated the awards for the Lunch of the Year (Lido 84 of Gardone Riviera), the Maitre of the Year (Thomas Piras of the Contrast of Milan), the Cook of the Year (Alessandro Del Favero of the Aga of San Vito di Cadore), the Youths of the Year (Paolo Griffa of the Pietit Royal of the G. H. Royal & Golf in Courmayeur), the Innovation in the Kitchen (Terry Giacomello of the Inkiostro in Parma) and the Career (Tonino Mellino of the Quattro Passi in Nerano), he reveals in preview at WineNews also the name of the Best Sommelier: Pascal Tinari of Villa Maiella, the starred family restaurant in Guardiagrele (Chieti).
“For some years now, ” Vizzari continues, “there are no great novelties and emerging greats, the situation is consolidated, but it should be noted that our guide takes into account 2,000 restaurants, just over 1% of the places where people can eat in Italy, the best of the best, and here the situation is very good but stable. And this is true both when we talk about the role of women, which is always important, and when we think of the phenomenon that we, as Guida de L'Espresso, renamed “Nuova Cucina Italiana” which, between 2005 and 2010, brought chefs such as Bottura, Romito, Niederkoffler and Uliassi into vogue. However, be careful, consolidation has no negative meaning, we are simply not in a phase of renewal. It is interesting the movement around ethnic cuisine, impressive for its numerical growth, which has brought with it significant peaks in terms of quality, concentrated essentially in the North. Another phenomenon that I have seen firsthand is precisely the geographical disparity: Lombardy is impressive in terms of the number of quality tables, as it is Veneto, while other regions with great potential are stationary, starting with Tuscany and Lazio”.
But the real revolution is in the glass, as long as it springs up, from here to the next few years. “The most tangible novelty - concludes Enzo Vizzari - is instead in the wine list: at all levels there is a marked and evident shift towards natural and organic wines. We need to see how much it is about fashion and how much about changing consumption habits, and therefore how much, as a trend, will be consolidated, but this is true for consumption in general. It is objective that there is an increasingly important attention to organic, and especially at a certain level this affects the choices of sommeliers and therefore on wine lists”