Page 9 - Code de Vino, #4/09, a/w 2009

8 Wine club
Palazzo Antinori does not pass, it seems
not a single tour of Florence
Coat of arms Antinori
Code de Vino #4 Code de Vino #4 A Talk with Marchese Piero Antinori 9
— The Antinori family has been producing wine for — Wine has been a part
twenty-six generations. Who do you think among your of people's lives for thousands
ancestors made the greatest contribution to the family of years. Indeed, it is one
business? of the main basic components
of culture. This fact allows me
— Every generation bestows its own unique input upon it. to claim that wine is a very
Sometimes several members of the family have been in the civilized beverage that can
process, sometimes it was just one person, while the other make a person's life better.
brothers devoted their lives to the army or church. In the It has the power to help people
past, this was typical in other families as well. understand each other and
be more tolerant, which
At the same time, I believe the last three generations have is extremely important.
done a lot to make this business thrive. My grandfather
Piero (my namesake) together with his brother Ludovico Sure enough, drinking quality
(named the same as my brother) lit a new fire under the wine calls for certain rituals.
family business and made great strides in the company's This is very important, as wine
reorganization. They modernized its sales management isn't an industrially produced
and wineries, and created new vineyards in specific places. beverage. It's a gift of nature.
The winemaking process
Then my father focused his energies on the family business, demands a lot of passion,
and despite difficult periods in his life — I mean the two patience and effort. As a drink,
world wars here — he was always very active and loved it depends on Mother Nature
what he was doing with a passion. And finally, our current and the unique harvests of every
generation because we are in this business during a very year. So I don't think wine is
exciting period of time: a time for qualitative changes. a beverage you can just open
up and guzzle down. One must
pay attention to wine, enjoy it... The dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is visible from everywhere
— And you're right in the heart of all these changes.
Tell me though, do you consider yourself a
revolutionary? If so, what's your idea of the revolution? — Do you mean that people have
a responsibility in terms of wine?
— I don't really know if I can call myself a revolutionary.
I'm not sure that it's quite the right word. Here's what I think: — Exactly! You're absolutely right.
in a certain moment of my life during the late 60s, I was very And by rituals I mean what quality depends
curious and inquisitive. I really wanted to understand what on, i.e. it should be wine of a certain class,
people did in the countries famous for their wine, and how the bottle must be opened carefully, and
high quality wine was produced. So I began to travel to the wine drank at the right temperature.
certain regions, for example, Bordeaux, Burgundy and One should never treat wine carelessly,
other wine regions in France. I met people there involved as it is a serious product and a lot of care
in winemaking who shared their experiences with me, and and work is put into it. Wine absorbs
I arrived at the conclusion that in Italy, after many years in everything, which I think is important
of focusing on quantity instead of quality, we must take to remember when drinking it. One must
the opportunity to form the right conditions for producing pay attention to all the details accompanying
top quality wines. So I started working towards these goals, the process of wine drinking. That's why
and many other producers followed suit. That was the start quality wine, and Antinori wine in particular,
of this significant shift. Those 30—40 years were an intense demands a special approach.
and interesting period of my life, during which the Italian
wine industry changed dramatically. And note that this
all occurred over a relatively short timespan. — In your opinion, what does wine
mean to an aristocrat? Wine culture
The famous English wine writer Hugh Johnson always says is currently at a stage of active
there have been more changes in Italy (and not just there) development in Russia, but many
over the last 30—40 years than over the last three or four people are experiencing some
centuries. Can we call that a revolution? I'd say it's more discomfort at their lack of knowledge
like a renaissance of Italian winemaking. This may be just about what wine is, how it should
a coincidence, but the Renaissance of the 14th 15th be consumed... Can a real nobleman
centuries also began in Florence, in Tuscany. be the result of what wine means
to him?
— Tuscany used to be populated by the Etruscans, — I believe that a nobleman is someone
who were among the first peoples to ever turn wine with a special culture and sensibility,
drinking into a ritual. So you consider your wine part supported by traditions passed down
of a ritual? What would be the ritual of drinking from generation to generation. And above
Antinori wine? all else, it's someone with a noble soul...