Speaking of small artisanal producers, Daniele Cernilli reminds us how “small is beautiful” is primarily an Italian concept. And it is good to remember that small producers are more subject to various difficulties, climatic and market, bureaucratic and cost of supplies than medium-sized companies.
The idea of a small producer, who makes wine only from his own grapes to obtain no more than tens of thousands of bottles Is something that, as an idea, many people like. One finds authenticity in it, an artisanal way of working, with transparency and honesty.
It is agreed that he interprets his land, that he also practices some biodiversity, because he has a vegetable garden, or he makes honey, or extra virgin olive oil, or he takes care of the woods next to the vineyards, the dry stone walls, the dirt road that runs alongside the small property.
Some of them have become real stars. I think of Gianfranco Fino in Manduria, Michele Perillo in Castelfranci, Enrico Angeli in Capo di Ponte, Teobaldo Rivella in Barbaresco. And these are just a few examples.
But here in Italy, in the wine world and beyond, the idea that small is also beautiful is a widespread concept. Elsewhere this is not the case. In Australia has been boutique winery up to a production of half a million bottles. In California, with a few significant exceptions, like Screaming Eagle, it’s almost the same thing. And the big companies, over there, but also in France, they are big in earnest. Gallo Winery produces more than a billion bottles, Dom Pérignon does not state how many it makes, but numbers between six and seven million are rumored. If a hypothetical Italian sparkling wine maker made similar numbers of one of his classic methods, he would be singled out as a industrial bieco, I’m afraid.
Returning to “small is beautiful,” it must be said that there are many reasons in favor, but also some shadows. In unlucky vintages, no matter how good a winemaker is, it can happen that he cannot do much good. That is the vineyard and that is where the grapes come from. Then the costs of barrels, of various equipment, of cellar rooms, have to be spread over a small number of bottles. So the wines will fatally cost more.
Finally, for artisanal producers distribution and sales Are undoubtedly more complicated. Finding importers abroad is more difficult and more delicate. Dealing with the bureaucracy related to wine production more challenging.
It is not enough to be able to run a vineyard and know how to make wine, in short. Some people manage to do all this, and have in some cases even become famous and even wealthy. Rightly so, I might add. But it is a difficult path and in times of crisis such as we are experiencing, which includes even climate change, even dangerous for the lives of tiny wineries. Therefore, we who write about these things, and all the enthusiasts who read us, try as much as we can to remember them and, as much as we can, to support them. There is a need.
