Producers appeal to the UN: “Reducing wine to a health risk is a cultural danger”

“It is dangerous to reduce wine to a health risk, because this overlooks its cultural, social, and human dimensions”. This appeal comes from the International Wine Academy, in a text written unanimously by its members and signed by Italian producers Maurizio Zanella (Ca’ del Bosco), Franco Martinetti (Franco Martinetti Viticoltore), Donatella Cinelli Colombini (Fattoria del Colle), Angelo Gaja (Gaja), Alberto Graci (Graci), Salvatore Geraci (Azienda Agricola Palari), Alois Clemens Lageder (Alois Lageder), and Pietro Ratti (Cantina Renato Ratti). It is addressed to the 150 heads of state and government of the UN at the 80th United Nations General Assembly, which began on September 9 in New York.
This is the Academy’s first public statement since its foundation in 1971, and is aimed at protecting the image of wine ahead of the meeting on September 25, which will focus on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, as well as the promotion of mental health and well-being (as announced to WineNews by the Secretary General of Ceev-Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins, announcing that the WHO would return to combating alcohol abuse rather than consumption tout-court, ed.).
In its appeal, the AIV calls on the UN to “prevent and control non-communicable diseases without denying the foundations of our cultures, without erasing what sustains our civilizations”. In the text, the Academy then addresses the issue of moderate wine consumption, arguing that it “symbolizes the defense of the culture of taste and moderation”, also citing the “Review of Evidence on Alcohol and Health” 2025, the study carried out by the National Academies of Sciences on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which concludes that “compared to zero alcohol consumption, moderate consumption is associated with lower all-cause mortality”.
“We simply want to tell the world not to forget everything that wine has given it over thousands of years, including poetry, culture, mysteries, beautiful landscapes, and, of course, the passion for sharing, which is the foundation of our humanity. Wine is a universal heritage of which we are the guardians and beneficiaries”, Guillaume d’Angerville, president of the Academy and owner of the Marquis d’Angerville estate in Burgundy, explained to Le Figaro.
Today, the AIV brings together around a hundred personalities linked to the world of wine, including world-renowned oenologists such as Jean-Louis Chave, journalists and critics such as Michel Bettane, as well as producers, agronomists, and sommeliers. It was founded over 50 years ago with the aim of "defining a code of good practice for the production of wines of ‘noble origin’ through reports, memoirs, and works by its members”. By “noble wine”, the Academy means wine “that has history and tradition, reveals a sense of belonging to the place where it is produced, transcends fashions by being different in each vintage but still recognizable, and where geography, geology, exposure, viticultural practices, and winemaking all combine to produce a wine specific to its terroir and in accordance with the concepts of sustainability and quality”.