Controversy over wine guides often stems from a territorial cheer that biases judgments. But awards are not about parochialism: what matters is widespread quality, critical recognition and the time it takes for an area to really establish itself. Daniele Cernilli discusses.
If you go and read the comments on the awards given by the various wine guides, about the presence or absence of specific regions and areas, you will see that the tifoseria is still quite present in many people’s mindsets. It depends on where they come from. Those from Campania feel that the presence of their region’s wines is less than they deserved, and so does everyone from Friuli, Veneto, Lazio, Sicily, etc.
The relationship between widespread quality and number of awards is interpreted differently depending on the origin of wines and people. Everyone “pulls water” to their own mill, perhaps only because of emotional ties to the territory, which are understandable, but not sufficient.
The established values of wine criticism
There are, and have been for decades, some established values, for which Langa or Montalcino carry more weight than other areas. Just read the international criticism, what has been done and written by Italian publications from the 1980s to the present. This is not a matter of underestimation or malice, but essentially of knowledge and shared opinions.
Discover new areas, but with clear criteria
Then, of course, discovering new producers and potentially interesting wine regions is crucial. But there must be reasons, adequate organoleptic value in the wines, sufficiently widespread quality. Of formidable small wineries there have been and there are many even in areas not so well known. But they are few and very often they are almost unique cases. They are not enough to “ennoble” an area, although they could represent some pioneering realities and very valid.
From emerging territories to established realities
I remember when in the Gambero Rosso more than 20 years ago I asked in an editorial meeting some of the contributors to do a report on the Eisack Valley andEtna, then half-unknown from a winemaking point of view. Now they are established realities. But it took decades.
Langhe and Montalcino, and Bolgheri, and Friuli, had been there for a long time. Then they came along as well. And more will come, but because of merits of the producers, because of a maturity also of a commercial nature, because of A level of quality that is recognizable and acknowledged especially beyond the production areas.
One swallow doesn’t make a summer, in short.
