Eric Asimov: “Americans “have married” Italian wine”. Till death do us part…

“Americans “have married” Italian food, including wine, and this is true on the side of the “mass market” with bottles of Pinot Grigio that sell a lot, for example, but it is also true from the side of artisanal productions, which is what interests me the most. There are so many different Italian wines and so many serious producers who have decided to conscientiously produce their wines that purely express the local cultures from all over Italy, and that American consumers find tremendously exciting”.This was said, during the connection from New York to “Vinitaly 2022” in Verona, by the famous wine critic of “The New York Times” Eric Asimov, who commented from his authoritative observatory the current scenario in the Usa, that is Italy’s first and most important wine market, thanks to the everlasting passion of American consumers for Italian wine which is the basis of a lasting relationship, of the series “till death do them part”.
Exactly the great diversity of wines to which consumers today have access, “is the aspect that has changed the most in the world of wine in the last 30 years”, the famous journalist told to “WineMusic”, the evening event of the Grandi Cru Committee at the Philharmonic Theater of Verona, during the delivery of the “Premio Comitato Grandi Cru d’Italia” to Monica Larner, Italian reviewer for “Robert Parker – The Wine Advocate”, for her prestigious career, and to Gabriele Gorelli, the first Italian to achieve the title of Master of Wine (an award that of the best Italian wineries, today led by the president Valentina Argiolas, which, in the past, was given also to WineNews, ed). “A much wider diversity than it was 30 or 20 years ago, thanks to more wines and more styles made with more varieties of grape from different places. And this is a wonderful thing, and I consider it a testament to the increased confidence of farmers and wine producers around the world in their culture and production methods, but also the greater curiosity that consumers have in waiting to try many different wines”.
At the same time, in recent decades, from his counter-current point of view, also the evaluation and scoring systems of wines have had to adapt, modifying the evaluation parameters, and going beyond the sensorial ones in order to judge a label. For Asimov “the wine writer’s task is to intrigue readers and push them to explore this wonderful world. I am not a writer who simply wants to evaluate hundreds of bottles. I think it is pointless, and I think it means making readers dependent on the critic. My goal, perhaps utopian, is to free consumers from dependence on wine writers and wine critics. I want them to feel confident that they exploring for themselves, of being able to determine whether or not a wine is good according to their taste, without the assistance of critics, scores, and tasting notes”.
Because wine is, first of all, pleasure and sharing, and among many Italian wine denominations, looking at the upcoming new season, for the American wine critic, “Chianti Classico could be the wine to recommend, but looking at Italian wines, there are also many whites that I love. And since it is not yet summer, I still have time to taste other wines, whether they are an Etna Bianco or a Verdicchio di Matelica, Soave and Vermentino, and perhaps even some other reds, such as Cesanese, Gavi or Dolcetto, which are loved it in recent years. I still have some time to decide, and Italy suggests a great choice”.