The wine doesn’t stop: forward in the vineyard and cellar, with responsibility

The countryside follows its rhythm and doesn’t look at the Coronavirus. The seasonal operations between the rows, such as pruning, go on as usual, perhaps with some extra precautions for the health of those who work. The same thing in the cellar, for work such as racking or pumping over, because wine lives its life, and will have to be ready, when the emergency, soon (hopefully) or later will pass, and things will start running again. Many people stop the hospitality activities, visits to the cellar and tastings, of course, to protect the health of workers and customers, even beyond the rules established by the Government. In the meantime, for administration and office work, like everyone else, the wine companies are equipped with smart working as much as possible, re-programming holidays and shifts, just enough to keep running some activities that are alive, and that have to cope, however, fortunately, with some expeditions, especially to foreign countries, in this phase in which the Italian restaurants, and consequently in consumption of wine in the on-trade, are at a standstill, while the gdo and wine shops, thanks to domestic consumption, seem to hold up a little better. We look at the measures that the Government will take, we dialogue with the banks to find solutions that guarantee the necessary liquidity, we work with Italian customers with the maximum flexibility, avoiding sending wine to the catering industry so as not to aggravate the already complex conditions, we try to reassure foreign countries so that trade flows do not stop, we hope that Europe will strike a blow, extending the deadlines for instruments such as CMO Wine and Psr, and we look to the future. This is the picture that emerges from a WineNews survey that, to understand how the wine sector is resisting the Coronavirus crisis, has heard the opinions of many different realities, from large structured companies with modern management to very small family-run businesses, from medium-sized companies to large cooperatives, from the north to the south of Italy. Names such as Antinori, Feudi di San Gregorio, Allegrini, Masi, Planeta, Tasca d’Almerita, Arnaldo Caprai, Pio Cesare, Zymè, Le Fraghe, Marisa Cuomo, Maeli Paladin, Shenk Italian Wineries, Cantine Tollo, La Versa - Terre d’Oltrepò, Castello di Ama and Velenosi.