History and the future, improvement, artisans and open markets at the Wine Culture Forum

The history of Italian wine has a rich past and a successful present in markets, research on varieties, territories, wine tourism, and the future would seem equally flourishing. This is thanks to a joint effort of political and cultural institutions, as well as the big companies that are on the markets (which must be open, regulated, and without duties) and the wine artisans who, today, like yesterday, are willing to take risks and innovate, which when successful, bring benefits to the whole sector. Wine gives value to “time”, in the era of “eternal present”, but it also represents values ​​such as solidarity and social improvement. These are the messages, alongside President Mattarella’s, which important personalities expressed at the eleventh edition of the "International Wine Culture Forum" organized by the Italian Sommelier Foundation and led by Franco Ricci, today at the Luiss in Rome, with the participation of many great wineries. “It is an honor to have Mattarella here today when we are celebrating our most excellent product, wine”, said the president of the University Emma Marcegaglia, “which is culture but it also a part of Italy’s future , the engine of economic and social development according to a great Italian entrepreneur like Adriano Olivetti”. Its growth is linked to its widespread culture, “which we believe is equal to that of the Coliseum”, and “to which we have been committed for years, but for which there is still much work to do”, said Ricci. We have discovered, for example, that the hotel schools did not dedicate even one hour of lessons on wine. We fought the institutions, as we are convinced that we need to start with the young “to educate them about their culture”. Wine teaches nature’s rhythms and how they have changed, said Angelo Gaja, recalling those "artisans of wine" who acted and act in a “stubborn and contrary direction”, like Ferruccio Biondi Santi and Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, together with Tachis, who invented Brunello and Sassicaia; but also Valentini, Josko Gravner, Arianna Occhipinti, Angiolino Maule, Walter Massa, and many others. Wine’s great culture is capable of giving new perspectives even to those who have lost the way, said the co-founder of the Community of San Patrignano Letizia Moratti, whose “kids” produce wine.