On Saturday morning, on a small cobbled street in front of a winery in the Italian Chianti region, other people meet with their drinks at the tasting table.
The vineyards and agrotourism of Renzo Marinai are located in the hills of the Conca d’Oro, the “golden basin”, from Tuscany to the Gold Coast of Bordeaux.
Once the center of wheat maturation, the fertile and sunny hills of Panzano in Chianti since the 1950s have been dedicated to the production of wine and olive oil.
Every year, Chianti Classico winemakers organize wine festivals in September and October, and this year many have adapted to the reality of Covid, after months of final tasting rooms and oenological restaurants.
Since 1995, the occasion “Vino al Vino” in Panzano has been developed in the main square of the city, in the center of largely biological vineyards, this time in the wineries.
Armed with his wine glass bag and tasting book, one of the rs, Giovanni, is very happy with Covid’s savings. “Normally, we pay 20 euros for the glass, this year we paid 10 euros, and this makes us be in 22 vineyards. . “
Participants adhere to the routes on a map of Vino Al Vino, along the venous network of Caminos del Chianti.
“It’s an exceptional strategy in very difficult times to keep others from rushing,” says Janmario Hero Reina, CEO of Renzo Marinai.
“The New York Times names us one of the top five wine festivals in the world. This year, there are no Canadians, no Americans, not even Europeans, so it’s difficult. Most of the time we see tourists from Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland and Belgium, in addition to Austrians and Spaniards. “
“It was not vital to succeed in the number of other years, but the fact that we can simply continue,” says Monia Piccini from the nearby town of Il Palagio di Panzano, a member of the committee of the Unione di Viticoltori di Panzano, the arrangement of local winemakers for the event.
Cosimo Gericke, from the Greve in Chianti winery, Fattoria di Rignana, is the president. The delight of immersive wine at this year’s festival has brought a strong non-public touch, he says.
“Thousands of enthusiasts challenged the winding dirt roads to interact directly with manufacturers and enjoy a glass of wine while admiring the landscape firsthand, just imagining it.
At Palagio, more than a dozen masked tasters line the basement, before sitting at social tables on the lawn.
“We are satisfied that many regulars come to the vineyards to see the producers,” Piccini says. “It’s an opportunity, because when you’re in the square, you see the faces, it spices up the wine, you know the new vintages, yet you miss the cellarArray . . . Here we welcome our visitors to the vineyard. “
It’s comfortable and quiet, he says, but “the atmosphere you live in in the city square is unique. “This impression of Piccini can replace the occasions of the coming years, in an aggregate of in the square and in the vineyards. .
“I advised that we organize two occasions of Wine wine in the future,” Reina says. “One in spring with visits to the wineries, the other in the square on September 3rd. For now, all Panzano manufacturers are satisfied with the participation rate ».
“The regulations of Chianti Classico are that you will have to have at least 80% of Sangiovese and the remaining 20% can be from other red grape varieties,” he says. “The Sangiovese grape is very attractive because it is very influenced by the place where it is grown and there are many microclimates in Chianti. In Panzano, the maximum wines are full-bodied and fruity.
“In Conca d’Oro, Cabernet Sauvignon matures very well in all the sun, while in France it wants much more maturation in the bottle.
The “golden shell” receives its call from the form of amphitheatre of the vines.
The winemakers here are also mixed with styles of wine, which Chianti Classico.
During the closing months, restaurants did not buy from Chianti wineries. The company has been supported through personal consumers and online sales, says Reina, of which Americans are part.
“We had a general blackout between March and May. We didn’t sell a singles bottle, just personal sales. It’s a very tense moment. European buyers also did not buy wine, as all restaurants were closed. “
International online sales have been a savior, he says. “Personal sales in the United States are incredible. Of online sales, they account for the majority. We pay part of the shipment to American consumers and it’s a general success. “
We are the vineyard of Panzano that sells the maximum wine of all competitors”.
Even since the reopening of restaurants, Reina has detected a phenomenon: more and more people are engaged in high quality wines.
“After closing, some restaurants did not place orders because they had to put an end to existing stock. We are now promoting wine again in restaurants in Italy and Europe, but the most fundamental and low-priced wines dominate sales.
“While for personal customers, it’s quite the opposite. Because other people stay at home, they don’t go to restaurants, save cash and spend it on 3 times more expensive wines. “
Therefore, even when Covid struck the wine in the denominations Gallo Nero, the Black Italian retaliated.
For Giovanni Manetti, president of the Chianti Classico consortium and winemaker of Panzano’s Fontodi estate, the virus is also “a blessing in disguise”.
“Our winemakers had nowhere to go, so Array . . . have concentrated all their efforts on their vines,” he told the AFP. As a result, they probably would never have been so beautiful.
With the harvest of “vendemmia” starting a week earlier than next Sunday due to unusually warm weather, Manetti says winemakers are expecting a harvest.
Additional readings: four of Chianti’s organic wine farms
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I have 3 decades of experience as a journalist, foreign correspondent and writer-photographer, working for print, virtual and radio media on 4 continents,
I have 3 decades of experience as a journalist, foreign correspondent and travel writer-photographer. Working for print, virtual and radio media on 4 continents, I am also an experienced hotel journalist and writer of travel guides and cultural stories in Australia, France. , Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Borneo. Very on the way between my Parisian and Australian bases, I write for Forbes with a globetrotting attitude and a subjective theme about travel, culture, hotels, art and architecture. My hobby is capturing the only people, situations and occasions I encounter along the way, whether in words or images. I have a degree in professional writing from the University of Canberra, a master’s degree in European journalism from Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers: Love for My Wild Local Island of Tasmania fuels my commitment to sustainable travel and conservation.