Paolo Pejrone: “the fight against climate change is simple. Everyone just does his own part”

“We all know the ways to fight against climate change, it is useless to repeat them. We can plant trees and forests and do all things we should do. The important thing is to really do them, to put them into practice. Greta Thunberg is right when she says that it’s all “blah, blah, blah”, everyone is talking, sustainability has become almost a boring refrain and people aren’t listening. We need to act seriously, more intelligently and create more opportunities, but it’s up to us to do it, each one his own part”. Simple, clear and comprehensible words like those that great people know how to say. WineNews interviewed Paolo Pejrone, one of the top landscape architects and intellectuals of our time. He was a pupil of the famous British landscape architect, Russel Page. He was the “gardener” of “the Lawyer”, Gianni Agnelli, as well as celebrities such as Mary and Alain de Rothschild, the Aga Khan Karim, the entrepreneur, Carlo De Benedetti, the fashion master, Valentino, and the Borghese and Sanjust Princes. He was curator, among other things, of the garden of the Roman Basilica of Santa Croce in Jerusalem. He has just been appointed “Master” of the Literary Competition “Drinking the territory”, promoted by the cultural association Go Wine. He received the award in Alba, not far from Revello, where he lives on the Estate known as the “Giardino di Revello”. We asked him about vineyards and wineries in a country like Italy, where vineyards are in every region and territory. Undoubtedly, it is “viticulture that has designed the landscape”, Pejrone explained, “and not vice versa. Usage, practice prevail over the rest. Good exposure, favorable wind, the best or worst strip of land; exposure is very important”. The vineyard is a crop that often designs fairytale landscapes with rows of vines combing valleys and hills, and in some cases has become almost a monoculture. An error that today we are trying to correct, encouraging a return to biodiversity. “It should absolutely be favored. For instance, when someone plants a new vineyard, they should also be required to replant a small piece of woodland. And, in part this is already being done”. Another phenomenon that has exploded in the wine world is signature wineries - beauty combined with usefulness. “But perhaps it has always been like this, often giving more importance to beauty than to the process that produces beauty. Lately, there is a sort of “obsession” in the race for the winery that must amaze at all costs. In my opinion, it doesn’t have to: the winery should be a quiet place to work. These monuments, these “little cathedrals”, do not convince me much”. Pejrone has published many books and one of the most recent and successful ones is entitled, “One is never alone in the garden”. Would that be a reflection also on the vineyard? “Absolutely, yes. There are always some who prune on one side, others who pull and work on the other, those who defoliate, those that harvest grapes, and so on. It is a set of beautiful activities, which must be kept as such, and not emphasized too much. It takes calm, work and honesty”.