Here is what Angelo Gaja wrote for the Piedmont newspaper La Stampa on Sunday, Nov. 24.
The Langhe at the crossroads and the courage to dare. But our wines are not workhorses. It is a mistake to expect Barolo and Barbaresco to drive the entire Piedmont production.
I would like to offer my contribution to the debate initiated in the pages of this newspaper regarding the various issues concerning the situation in the Langhe-Roero area, focusing exclusively on wine. Our sector is taking note of the many changes that have already begun. How should we deal with them? In one of his end-of-year speeches, President Mattarella suggested “reading the present with the eyes of tomorrow, rather than with the eyes of yesterday.” Which is to be understood as an invitation to think differently, to look at what is happening from different perspectives, to have courage and for us langhettians to know how to dare, as we used to do in the past and venture changes.
The European Community’s War on Alcohol.
The Commission to the European Community has spoken out declaring all-out war on alcohol. The wine world has welcomed the initiative by speaking out firmly against abuse and in support of moderate and responsible consumption. But these wise words must be followed by concrete actions. Good examples are needed: the wine world knows how to welcome them. I hope that it is the Albese region that will be the first to set an example, restoring to wine the dignity it deserves. In the first place, by giving up dragging wine into the public square and opposing its pouring in public places, as if it were one more attraction offered to tourists by chance, unsuspecting, unprepared consumers, young and old. It remains difficult to think that in light of the Brussels-declared ban on alcohol we can blithely continue to do as we have always done in the past and that we should not instead adopt responsible behavior. This is an opportunity to restore dignity to wine by correcting its misuse. Wine tasting should take place only in closed places and premises, arranged to welcome wine lovers who attend them voluntarily, by choice. It would mean gaining awareness that even in the occasions or events in which wine tasting is promoted, its cultural value is grasped.
Barolo and Barbaresco, our champions
Barolo and Barbaresco are our champions. They are comparable to two racehorses that, as such, give their best when raced at racetracks. The pretense of having them pull a large, decorated wagon on which to load every good thing, the entire production of Piedmont, wines, grappas, beers, meats, cured meats, cheeses, fruits, pastries, vegetables, hazelnuts, chestnuts… is bound to turn them into draught horses, with the risk of distorting them. Better not to abuse them. The producers of the new generation are much better and better prepared than the previous one. They have understood that in addition to walking in the vineyard you need consultants in the cellar and you need to be actively engaged in marketing, which is not a dirty word as was believed in the past, if conducted properly, because producing well is important but then you also need to sell well. When I joined the company in 1961, there were less than a hundred Barolo bottlers and less than a hundred Barolo labels. Now there are more than 400 Barolo bottlers, but Barolo labels have more than quadrupled in number. The market becomes more competitive, competition grows, thanks to it the wine will benefit with progressive improvement in quality. New generation producers have their bar in social. If you want to tell them what the previous generation had done for them, initiate the dialogues with them that used to take place in the bar in the past, perhaps you also need to invent a way to go and flush them out on social. It should be the Producers’ Consortium, which is their home, to open a social for them on which to try to start the dialogue that has been missing for too long.
Fear of invaders?
I mention only two that are a credit to the Alba area, just for example: Miroslav Lekes, a Czech, winery and restaurant owner in Monforte, who produces excellent food and excellent wines; Kyle Krause, who arrived from Ohio in 2016 to buy the gem of the Vietti winery, continue to keep it at a high level and produce in the Serafino winery (also his) one of the best Alta Langa sparkling wines. To have such invaders, and they are not the only ones, welcome! Legitimate to be wary of the possible arrival of af-Funds, but without demonizing them. The exercise of feeling sorry for oneself is useful because it serves to apply oneself to correct deviances, which are also evident. However, in the many young people working for the affirmation of our wines I glimpse strong today the DNA of the langhetti, we are in good hands, let us be surprised, they will know how to face the future with bravura.
