Page 154 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

hon. ermete realacci

controls were intensified, standards of productions were set, new laws were pas-
sed, and wine production started to be controlled. There was also an answer from
the production system, the culture systems, and the social system: in other words,
they went from large quantity at low prices to quality linked to the territory.

Today we can say we are able to make wine: this was learned all over Italy.
Back then, with the exception of some areas in the Centre-North of the Country,
we were not able to make wine. Below the Gothic line our wines were of extre-
mely bad quality, whereas now when people go to Sicily they can find some excel-
lent wines which have contributed in the creation of a breath-taking landscape.
The nice landscape in Italy cannot be compared to Yellowstone: it originates from
towns, hamlets, culture, in other words from a deep Italian identity which keeps
on producing beauty, always in the process of creating and not of embalming.

What is the final outcome? Nowadays our wine production is reduced by
50% compared to what we produced in the mid Eighties, but its value is much
higher. In those years, converting the figures into the current currency, we were
exporting 700-800 million Euros in wine, last year we exported wine for the
value of 5 billion and 400 million Euros and managed to beat the emerging
foreign wine producers: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, and
California. France exports slightly less but their wine has even more value. We
achieved that result because we succeeded in guaranteeing legality and controls.

Our wine has more controls than the one from other countries, as it happens
with many other products. Our diversity and our identity have become raw mate-
rials, we have given value to our territory: producing a Cabernet Sauvignon in the
Region Piemonte is not the same as making it in Sicilia or Sardegna. We also mana-
ged to salvage many native grape varieties, many biodiversities, deriving from our
old tradition. Wine was produced by ancient Greeks, Etruscans, ancient Romans,
and Carthaginians: an historical memory but, at the same time, a challenge for the
future. Italy can be strong if we use its chromosomes for tomorrow’s challenges.
These chromosomes need two ingredients: legality and passion for the territory,
for our land, for our homeland. Coelho wrote: “A true warrior doesn’t fight becau-
se he hates who is before him but because loves who is behind him”. We shall win
our fight for the environment only we really love our Country and our future.

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