“Sana Slow Wine Fair”: a fair to launch the “revolution” in (and by) the world of wine

It will not just be a new wine fair, the “Sana Slow Wine Fair”, staged in Bologna from March 27 to 29, 2022. Because the new event organised by BolognaFiere, under the artistic direction of Slow Food, in partnership with FederBio and Confcommercio Ascom Bologna, and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Ice, will be the first international meeting of the Slow Wine Coalition and will bring together, for the first time, hundreds of producers and operators in the wine industry from Italy and abroad. It will be, in the words of one of the greatest thinkers of our time, Carlo Petrini, president of Slow Food, “a first, very first step” in a paradigm shift on many aspects that wine, “which has always been in the vanguard of agriculture”, can lead, acquiring awareness of its “political role”. Because if in the days leading up to the fair, from 22 to 24 March, there will be conferences and plenary sessions with high-profile personalities such as the geologist and populariser of science Mario Tozzi, Don Luigi Ciotti, the priest who founded the Libera network, and Carlo Petrini himself, it will be from the new Bologna fair that we can start to look to the future.
“We need an effort to start on new bases, with new alliances and new ideas”, said Carlo Petrini, highlighting today’s two major issues: overcoming the pandemic, “which, in addition to having brought the Italian and world economies to their knees, has called into question relationships and social life”, and the beginning of a new historical period, which will last decades, if not centuries, such as the “ecological transition”. “Science, even more than mankind, has today become aware that if we do not change paradigms, behaviors, lifestyles, which must be more natural, closer to the preservation of the environment, the situation is destined to become dramatic, and in some respects it already is. What is needed is a profound change in life’s behavior, in the way we produce, distribute goods and travel. And this happens if we question everything, not in order to live in suffering, but to free ourselves, to move from a compulsive consumerism to a more rational and functional one for common goods and relations”. And wine, for Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini, can do and embody all this. “The call that Slow Food and the wine world must make concerns first of all the protection of soil fertility, which means an organic approach, but also the reduction of the invasive impact of a monocultural viticulture that, at times, leaves no room for anything else”. But there is another aspect, according to Petrini, that concerns producers, consumers and intermediaries, who are at the basis of “the important structure of the Slow Wine Fair”. And that is the protection of the economy of relationships. “The world of wine, compared to other sectors, has fared well over the last two years”, said Petrini. “But what is suffering is the multitude of restaurants, wine bars and osterias, which have been and will be the pillar for making wine known in a culturally valid way, so that wine is a presence in the territory, and not just goods that go out into the world. The objectives of the “ecological transition” are not achieved by the logic of competitiveness but of cooperation. And if the time for cooperation has begun, it is necessary for wine to rebuild its relationship with its distribution. In recent months, online sales have developed enormously, but it is a model that does not pay the producer enough. It is the economy of relationships that has always underpinned our agri-food system. We cannot see cities where shops are closing, neighborhood shops are closing, and taverns are disappearing. We must avoid this impoverishment with the economy of relationships. If I think of my villages in the Langa without taverns, without wine shops, I cannot imagine the economy of Barolo and Barbaresco living on exports alone. There is an element of identity, the tourism issue. But we need clear-cut battles, where we have to demand, for example, that small traders pay taxes at least as much as the multinationals, which do all the good and bad and don’t even pay taxes in Italy. It is the local economy that saves us, and the international economy only exists if you are strong at home. We must not lose sight of the important role of wine for our shops and villages. This is the main topic to be discussed. We will not go back to the way it was before the pandemic, the local economy must be defended with all our might, therein lies our history, and our history needs a new alliance between producers, citizens and intermediaries. This is the way to save our country’s wine culture. And the Bologna event must send out this message”. And this is one of the aims of the “Sana Slow Wine Fair”, including debates, tastings and high-level masterclasses, especially with an international perspective, as Giancarlo Gariglio, at the head of Slow Wine, explained. “The objective is not a generalist fair, the objective is to create an innovative format linked to the world of wine. In recent months we have seen wine under attack, compared to products that are harmful to health. For us, this is also because we focus too much on the product, on the wine in the glass, and forget what the production and cultivation of vines can have in terms of impact on our planet if done in the right way. In the meantime, from the point of view of environmental sustainability, starting with organic wine can have a light, non-destructive impact. And then it is fundamental to recognize two values in the profession of the winemaker: that of his role as guardian and defender of the landscape, not just poignant territories such as the Cinque Terre in Liguria, the Amalfi Coast in Campania or the Moselle, between France and Germany, where large parts of the territory are only able to stand thanks to wine and agriculture, but also in less emblazoned areas. And then a social and economic role, because some areas would be depopulated without wine and everything that revolves around it. Our event”, says Gariglio, “was created to give voice to these stories, which help the world we know with these values. The professionals we attract to the fair will have the opportunity and the good fortune to enjoy a targeted selection of companies (over 500 from Italy and beyond) that focuses on the very high quality of the selected labels (over 3,500), thanks to the experience of Slow Food, but there will also be a very high philosophical coherence with the message we want to launch, and here lies the difference with other events. A strategic alliance has been created between those who make wine, those who sell it and those who consume it: the “Slow Wine Coalition” and the Sana Slow Wine Fair will be the first event, the first meeting of this international network created with Bologna Fiere. In our “Terra Madre del vino”, the foundations will be laid for content and for the strengthening of functional commercial relations for a revolution in the world of wine, which now more than ever must take a qualitative leap forward, including in the awareness of its “political” role in the world”.
The message launched by the “Sana Slow Wine Fair” also appeals to the Minister for Agriculture, Stefano Patuanelli. “Carlo Petrini is right when he talks about osterias and the like. There are things that cannot be measured in numbers. Wine is a culture of being together, not just a product that goes on the market. Half of the songs by one of the greatest Italian singer-songwriters Guccini, who is my favorite singer, would not exist without osterias”, said the Minister, who then recalled the measures in favor of the wine sector: from the battles in Europe against Nutriscore and policies to “demonize” wine, to the 25 million euro put into promotion and so on, then applauding the “Sana Slow Wine Fair”: “your fair opens up so many issues, it will be a success”. Maria Grazia Mammuccini, president of Federbio and wine producer with “Sana Agricoltura” in Valdarno, Tuscany, is also convinced of this. “This fair reinforces a long-standing collaboration with BolognaFiere and Slow. And it is also important for wine: in 10 years in Italy the area under organic vines has increased by 124%, and represents 19% of the total, the highest percentage in the world, and organic wine is an important component, also for exports. I speak as the president of Federbio, but also as a producer: wine is not just numbers, it represents values, the specificity of territories, the identity of the winemaker, another fundamental component of the wine product, but it also expresses and protects the fertility of the soil. This event reinforces the extraordinary work that Slow Food has always done for small producers who could not tell their story on their own, but not only by communicating: by enhancing the network, we can make a qualitative leap. These values we are talking about are values of collective interest, they belong to society, but they are also valid on the market, they give concrete examples of a “green deal”, which can be taken forward immediately. The trends show that organic and related products are growing”.
A path, that of the “Sana Slow Wine Fair”, of which Giampiero Calzolari, president of BolognaFiere, is proud. “There are many moments of satisfaction for this new initiative. It is a new project, a fair that did not exist, which starts with the ambitions mentioned above. It is an event with a particularly innovative value and quality that sees our fair and our city as protagonists. The food and wine sector is important for our region, as demonstrated by the initiatives of other trade fair players, such as Parma and Rimini. Emilia Romagna is at the center of an economic strategy that looks with high profile at food and wine production and the culture of sustainability, a theme on which Emilia Romagna has always been an advanced region. And, of course, an initiative that gives visibility to the territory, but which is much broader in scope, a top international event. And then”, adds Calzolari, “it strengthens important partnerships. The one with Federbio, which is consolidated in “Sana”. And the one with Slow Food, a reality that is one of the heritage of our country, and that, in a few years, has become a protagonist of international reflection on the needs of “good food and good territory”, and it is a pleasure to work with them. And there’s another important element: we’re talking about a new initiative on wine, at a time when wine has won an “obscurantist” battle in the European Union, a victory in favor of the culture of food and wine. And, finally, it is also a good omen for the restart of the economic activity of the fair, which is a strategic asset for creating a positive economy in the area”.