The attacks that wine is undergoing, not least from the World Health Organization, worry anyone who knows this beautiful world closely. Watch out for the current "Wine no more".
The wine world has so many things to deal with that, perhaps, it is losing sight of one, on which, however, much of its future is staked. We are referring to the not-so-subterranean attacks from several quarters. seek to demonize wine, as the drink at the root of all evil.
No more wine?
Alcohol is bad for you, alcohol is carcinogenic, wine must be eliminated from our tables (and our lives). It is the campaign of the
Wine no more
, wine no more, which sees one of its champions in the WHO, but also in some lobbies at the level of the European Community.
Coincidentally, alongside these thinly veiled attacks, the idea of the dealcolated wine, which would be, in this view, the panacea for all ills. We take away their alcohol, still call it wine, and everyone is happy. But are we really sure that this is the case? Does it make sense to wipe out a product that is thousands of years old and is Intrinsically related to our culture? both the classical (think of the Odyssey and Odysseus who manages to get the better of the Cyclops Polyphemus by taking advantage of his ignorance and getting him drunk) and the artistic (how many paintings over the centuries feature goblets of wine?) and the literary or musical.
For those who believe that when health is at stake it is okay to get into the thick of things, we believe that this is also an economic issue. At stake are the European grants allocated for wine promotion and export. But if wine is bad for you, you certainly cannot pay for its promotion. However, if the wine is dealcoholic then this may change. And who would benefit from these possible future contributions? Not Italian winemakers, for whom the production of no-alcohol wines is not allowed.
Science and pseudo-science
The issues involved are many, as are the reasons for apprehension. Some people are very concerned about these joint attacks. We talked about this with
Riccardo Cotarella
, president of Assoenologi, Italian and international, and his position is crystal clear: “We witness almost daily attacks by pseudo-scientists declaring that wine is carcinogenic (the latest release concerns in breast cancer), that it gives people heart attacks and who knows what else tomorrow. But where are the studies showing the scientificity of these claims? They are Indemonstrable statements that lack scientific basis, while on the contrary, we have studies showing that one or two glasses of wine a day are good for you. Until careful, shared studies, supported by numbers and percentages, clearly tell us which side is the truth, we remain convinced that the solution is a
intelligent and moderate consumption
“.
