CARLO PETRINI ON WINE AND GUIDES. THE PRESIDENT OF SLOW FOOD INTERNATIONAL CLAIMS, TIME IS RIPE TO MOVE BEYOND CLASSIFICATIONS. NO DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN CLASS A AND B PRODUCTS, PUT TOGETHER THOSE THAT CREATE QUALITY AND A CORRECT APPROACH TO WINE

“Small wines and the enological ‘Maserati’ should stick together. Vigneron, whether Marchesi or industrialists, should not forget that, above all, they are farmers. And for this reason there shouldn’t be Class A guides and Class B guides. The time is ripe for reasoning in another way, which does not use classifications of merit but which is based on quality and how correct the approach to wine is”.
These are the words of Carlo Petrini, the president of Slow Food International, who “animated” the presentation of “The Guide to Everyday Wines” (a guide to the best Italian wines under 8 euros) at the Salone del Vino, recently held in Turin.

Carlo Petrini also noted how “our guide was born with the logic of creating a limit of 8 euros. But the daily bread, like the daily wine, represents a concept based on our needs. The ‘everydayness’ cannot be quantified because it is based on our bio-rhythms, the needs of our lives. Our guide, but also the one published by Gambero Rosso, have an obsolete set-up in their essence”. He also pointed out that readers should, “assume guides in a dialectic manner because they are not the Gospel and when consumers taste wine they are the ones to create the categories”.

As for winemakers, Petrini advised them to, “always have a conscience, and when you come out on the market with your products make sure they are not influenced by the trends of the moment, but that they are expressions of your identity as producers… Today, in Italy, it is truly difficult to make a bad wine and one must try very hard. Companies shouldn’t forget that solidarity is the greatest force in the world that they have. Solidarity and helping each other earns more than sloth.
Petrini also reflected on agriculture and the problems connected with the increase in the price of bread, pasta, wine and other basic food products: “Mobile phones absorb 13% of our earnings, and food 15%. Is this our post-modernity? How can we be angry if pasta increases by 13% while mobile phones take our money without us even noticing that there were price hikes?”

And Petrini concluded by noting, “We are losing the necessary respect for agricultural products. We get angry about the increase in costs for zucchini, pasta, eggplant, but no one is ever happy that a farmer is earning more. Why must these parameters of efficiency benefit only entrepreneurs and not farmers?”