Angelo Gaja to Attilio Scienza, Italian wine economy and progress

The only town in Italy where wine is not produced is Forte dei Marmi, therefore, it has become the ideal town to talk about wine. “VinoVip”, the wine show organized by Civiltà del Bere, in its twentieth year has been presented in a maritime version, “VinoVip al Forte”, held in the dreamy atmosphere of the Versilia Riviera and in its historical locales like the Capannina and the Bistrot Restaurant. The wine show, usually held in the equally exclusive atmospheres of Cortina d’Ampezzo, today highlighted the pairing, “Wine & Money”. The lectures and discussions were led by such elite expert names as Angelo Gaja and Attilio Scienza, who traced the development of the Italian wine sector and the history of its trade through case histories of some of the top Italian wine brands - Antinori, Marquis of Barolo, Tasca d’Almerita, Zenato, Bortolomiol, Siddùra, Masciarelli, Mastroberardino that their protagonists narrated, including talks by Denis Pantini, head of Nomisma Wine Monitor, and the American wine economist, Mike Veseth. Price dynamics were the common thread in comparisons, especially Angelo Gaja’s speech, which recalled that, “up to 25 years ago the gap between the prices of Italian and French wines was very high. The first winemaker to raise Italian prices was Biondi Santi, who was almost ridiculed for doing so. We are still behind today, particularly on the distribution network. However, from the point of view of the fair, and the possibility that Paris will replace the Vinexpo in Bordeaux, we are actually stronger, even though we do need something new and different, like a biennial fair in Milan. Further”, added Gaja, “climate change will be much more problematic for France than for us”. Speaking of climate change, Attilio Scienza said it is what frightens us most, and that “fear is a pervasive element in our life, it has been a constant throughout history, but innovation also arises out of fear. Now we are afraid of climate change, but we have all the tools to tackle it, as well as the need to create vines that are capable of resisting drought. The future lies in working with genetics to create new plants that are able to tolerate the heat and use less water”.