Adopt the “Mondavi defense” to defend Italian wine from attacks by the World Health Organization and the global “Wine no more” wave.
How can the WHO attack a culture, that of wine, planning to destroy it, without anyone lifting a finger? Centuries-old rituals related to the consumption of wine, the good kind and in moderation, its meanings, are part of Italian culture, have spread all over the world, and should be protected. What if the time had come to add them to the intangible heritage of humanity that UNESCO holds?
This is what Italian Wine Trends and Italian Wine Crypto Bank claim in their statement. Below is the Italian translation.
The press release
“Libiam nei lieti calici”? Hundreds of millions of views on YouTube alone? Were it for Juan Tello, Giuseppe Verdi could never have written it. Neither Caravaggio would ever have painted a Bacchus and Michelangelo would never have sculpted a statue of one. The wine glass then would never find a place in Giorgio De Chirico‘s sublime still lifes, nor in the very popular Happiness sung by Albano and Romina.
Now if Juan Tello was just any pincopallo who would care. But no, he is the head of a World Health Organization Unit and on behalf of WHO is engaged in a “Cultural” war against alcohol in general and wine in particular. He says in interviews that alcohol only hurts, that they work against the producers and to prevent people from starting drinking. In perfect bad faith it puts moderation and alcohol abuse on the same level.
The “Mondavi Defense”
Juan Tello would never have been covered if we had not read Tom Wark’s unparalleled articles among (the others, here and here) on the growing global prejudice against alcohol and the Wine no more wave. Wark, who incidentally fears that the U.S. government will soon recommend against drinking wine at all, suggests adopting the “Mondavi Defense.” That is, leave aside the health claims and focus on the cultural message that Bob Mondavi, founder of the eponymous American winery, strong and proud of his Italian roots, used to repeat: “Wine is the temperate, civilized, sacred and romantic drink recommended in the Bible. It is a liquid food that has been part of civilization for 8,000 years. Wine has been praised for centuries by statesmen, scholars, poets and philosophers….” Unexceptionable, but Tello and WHO want to fight this very approach. We seem to hear him, Mondavi, insisting as an “Italian” on the culture of wine as a “natural drink for every celebration: birth of a child, graduations, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, promotions, family reunions, government toasts and other holidays.”
“We need to counter the culture that normalizes drinking” would be Juan Tello’s scripted response…. Tello and WHO are only the tip of the iceberg, with them are, for example, EU bureaucrats, anti-wine lobbies, and perhaps the time has really come to enforce the Mondavi Defense in the most forceful way possible.
Wine culture
Centuries-old rituals related to the consumption of wine, good wine in moderation, and its meanings, are part of Italian culture, have propagated throughout the world, and should be protected. They are witnessed in art, poetry, painting, sculpture, laws, and songs. Francesco Guccini sings “anguish and a little wine, urge to blaspheme,” Sergio Endrigo: “The first glass of wine/That I drank in my life/I drank Maria”/To your health/” and Zucchero Fornaciari: “Baby don’t cry, make it funky/Bread and wine I’ll bring you.”
What if the time had come to inscribe these rituals and practices in theintangible heritage of humanity register held by UNESCO? Maybe it’s a really necessary action, the kind Riccardo Cotarella was calling for recently to counter attacks on the wine world. Perhaps Minister Lollobrigida, who cares especially about wine, might give it a thought. Perhaps Prof. Massimo Montanari, chairman of the Scientific Committee for the candidacy of Italian Cuisine as a UNESCO heritage site, could also include a section on wine, which for Italians has always been a “liquid food,” as Mondavi himself called it.
The resulting promotional campaign would do justice to WHO’s scripted attacks, but it would help educate new generations about moderation in wine consumption.
And if Italy were joined by other countries, as when recognition of the Mediterranean Diet was achieved, perhaps humanity would benefit even more.
We have also addressed the topic, from different aspects, here, here and here.
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The authors of the statement
- Italian Wine Trends is the newsletter published in English, Italian and Chinese by The I Factor Ltd (Hong Kong – SAR), the company that produces and operates IWCB – ITALIAN WINE CRYPTO BANK Italian Wine Crypto Bank and CHINESE CUISINES MEET ITALIAN WINES Chinese Kitchens Meet Italian Wines.
The Newsletter is a summary of news regarding Italian wine in the world. - Italian Wine Crypto Bank is a Registered Trademark owned by The I Factor LTD, a Hong Kong-based company that has been active for more than 12 years in the promotion, marketing and trade of Italian wines and food products worldwide.
