Wine and food in the culture and education school programs: word of the patron Bibenda Franco Ricci

“Wine is the main symbol of Made in Italy, a strategic lever for the growth of Italy in the world, a sector that has grown more and better than the others in agriculture and in a relatively short time. Wine (and also food), however, must now really enter the programs of culture and food education in Italian schools. Franco Ricci, the “director” of the Italian Sommelier Foundation (FIS), one of the most important centers in Italy for the culture and formation of wine, has no doubts as to what should be invested in the present and future of the Italy of wine. And, in his activities in Rome, Franco Ricci always manages to create events in which wine expands its communicational value: “wine (and food) are - Ricci continues - the greatest wealth of our country (which is worth 538 billion euros, or 25% of the Gross Domestic Product of Italy), but now, to make a qualitative leap, we must grow in the culture of Italians towards and for the sector”.
This also means calling characters and celebrities in a sort of positive testimony to wine and its world, each year different. This year, for the Guide Bibenda 2020 (800 the best of all the Italian Regions), the day before yesterday, in Rome, for example, we moved from Maupal (to the century Mauro Pallotta, the 46 year old street-artist from Rome who over time has become known for having portrayed famous characters on the streets of the Capital - from Pope Bergoglio to Queen Elizabeth, to Donald Trump - engaged in a wine story on the wall of Rome Cavalieri) to the journalist Franco Di Mare and the journalist conductors of Tg1 and Tg3 Floriana Bertelli and Emma D’Aquino, from one of the masters of Italian cuisine Gianfranco Vissani to the legendary cook Lidia Bastianich, with her son and TV man and artist Joe Bastianich. And still the most famous Italian journalist Bruno Vespa, the singer Al Bano ... And the winemakers of Italy: one for all, last night, Roberto Conterno, Mister Monfortino, the icon that embodies the classicism of Barolo at auctions around the world, with figures that are as dizzying as the great crus of Burgundy and Bordeaux. Conterno, whose Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2013 is among the top 10 labels of Bibenda 2020, is the prize reserved for wines - only 10 out of 27,000 - evaluated not only on the basis of tasting, but according to other criteria than those provided by the official evaluation method, wines that have transmitted emotions, listening to the soul, the mind and the heart. And among them there are also I Capitelli 2016 di Anselmi (with Roberto Anselmi), the Montefalco Sagrantino Chiusa di Pannone 2012 of Antonelli San Marco (Filippo Antonelli), the Radix 2015 of Casale del Giglio (Antonio Santarelli), the Bianko 2017 of Macondo (Lorenzo Catasta), the Moscato d’Asti Lamoscata 2018 of Mongioia (Riccardo Bianco), Valpolicella Superiore Vigneto di Monte Lodoletta 2013 by Romano dal Forno, Alto Adige Sauvignon The Wine Collection 2016 by San Michele Appiano (Anton Zublasing), Rossese by Dolceacqua Superiore Poggio Pini 2017 by Tenuta Anfosso (Alessandro Anfosso), and Etna Bianco A’ Puddara 2017 by Tenuta di Fessina (Silvia Maestrelli). As per tradition, the prize also goes to the best winemaker Premio Giacomo Tachis, Barbara Tamburini, along with the awards to the best wine journalist, Floriana Bertelli (the presenter of Tg 3), the best agent of wine trade, Bruno Vernuccio, and the best wine writer, Andrea Zanfi.
Dulcis in fundo: issued yesterday, November 30, the stamp that celebrates the wine guide Bibenda 2020 (the No. 20, and inside the paper guide there are all the stamps always issued by the Italian Post Office on wine).