The praise from foreign newspapers for Italy and all that concerns it continues. Tributes have been made to our villages, to the beautiful lakes and the paths that cross the Belpaese. And today, it is the turn of our local wine that Forbes, a prestigious American magazine, widely celebrates.
“Italy, we miss you” is Cathy Huyghe‘s piece on Italian wine. And she does so because, in this pandemic period, the journalist asked herself, her friends, and her colleagues, what was experience they were most nostalgic for and couldn’t wait to get back to.
And in the answers received, no doubts emerged: the travel destination most sought after by the Americans is Italy. In particular, the people you asked the fateful question wanted to land in destinations like Sicily, Siena, and Sardinia as soon as possible.
The same journalist said that during the speeches she made on the Boot, a little bit of everything emerged, from the Ligurian Vermentino to the Piedmontese Chardonnay. Every answer always led to the same conclusion: “if it’s Italian, it’s right.”
Surprised of his nodding in front of speeches that were a little too broad, Huyghe realized the most important thing: what they were commenting on – and smiling about – was the indelible memory of Italy and the experience of drinking wine in our country.
They can’t wait to experience that way of life again, that feeling of Italianness that, more than any specific bottle or city or winery, the Americans miss the most.
The journalist also pointed out that it is possible to drink Italian wine and share it with friends without being physically present in Italy, even in the States. However, this is not what they want. She quotes a friend of hers who said: “drinking Italian wine during Covid-19 is like the style of call and response singing, except that there is no response to the call”.
But the truth, concludes Cathy Huyghe is that “for wine lovers and travel enthusiasts, that lack of adrenaline and inspiration given by the departures and that Italy can skillfully offer to its visitors, does not make people themselves or at least not the ones they used to recognize more often in the mirror.”
In short, everyone misses traveling, and the Americans particularly miss Italy and the wine we produce.