Think about Nebbiolo-based wines from Piedmont, for example. The Barolo Boys of the 1980s looked to Burgundy and decided barriques were the future. The natural wine movement borrowed from Georgian qvevri traditions and Northern California iconoclasm in equal measure. Italians have been affected by outside influences from the early days of Rome, when the Greek aesthetic swayed the sculptors and artists to follow in the footsteps of their neighbors. But also, along the way, new expressions and modalities came about. And so, Italian wine has been changed — and changed itself — repeatedly.
I've seen it in my lifetime, having been witness to the post-World War II evolution Italian culture went through. You can see it in the films they made, from neorealism to present day dramas. In the cars, the fashion, the food. The tomato — that most Italian of ingredients — came from the Americas. Pasta has debated origins the Italians have long since stopped caring about. What we take for granted as being Italian was often inspired by new ingredients brought from Asia, the Mid-East, the Americas, so that now we have an amalgam that is authentically Italian. It speaks, at least to this soul, to our connectedness globally.
"But what does that have to do with the Verdicchio I drink by the glass at my local bistro or trattoria in Kansas City?" Indeed. That is part of our taking-it-for-granted in a world that has found an interconnectedness thanks to modern transportation and supply chain sophistication.
Until a war threatens a halt to progress. Which is where we are right now.
In a couple of weeks, the deciders and creators in the world of Italian wine will convene in Verona, as they have done for decades — to go over the harvest, the wines, the plans, the economics and the general state of the world. It will be an exciting time to be there, as I witnessed countless times in my wine career.
For my part, I'm watching the river flow by my cabin, listening to the cascade of things. Being a little more reflective these days, I see boundless hope and energy. We will get through this time — what some call not the Dark Ages, but the Dim Ages. The light is still out there. We will appropriate and inspire. That's the Italian way. That's the human way.
