What is hope? I believe it is a positive message to give to someone when something is wrong. Hope can be appropriate for a big or small problem, it doesn't matter. Giving hope is telling someone that everything will be fineand it was exactly this phrase that enveloped people in an embrace from afar during the pandemic. Far away, but close, we all embraced each other in some way, sincerely. Fontanafredda wanted to dedicate a wine, the Barolo from the commune of Serralunga d'Alba 2018 'Reinassance'accompanied by 'illustrious words for a new humanity', to a neo-renaissance that we all feel a deep need for today more than ever.
As I wrote in the introduction to my dissertation:
“Italy is once again teetering on a boot with a too high heel, but despite this it is still walking. This too is extraordinary.
Let us not stop here, let us not aim for balance. Let us not resign ourselves to disasters, wars or pandemics.
Let us build a New Renaissance with man once again at the centre of life."Chiara Bassi
"It was the year 1992 when we released the first vintage of Barolo Serralunga d'Alba, 1988. After 30 years of this communal mention, we want to give new values to our Icon'. With these words opens the small book I received in an elegant blue tin box with an Art Nouveau flavour that I will be happy to use in my living room as storage.
They are two identical bottles, one 75 cl and one one litre. Since they have the same content, I tasted the 75 cl bottle and put the one-litre bottle to age in my cellar, promising to uncork it in a few years' time so we can see how it has evolved.
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Fontanafredda: the Green Renaissance
"2020. It has been a very strange few months: the world has stopped, but we have used the time to reflect on [...] how to create new possibilities. We became aware that catastrophes can happen. [...] Every action we take affects the planet we live on. Take for example the lockdown effect: for months the whole world came to a standstill and as a consequence the Earth breathed again. A silence was generated to which we were not accustomed, in entire cities, homes and offices, we watched motionless through our windows as nature quietly and unexpectedly began to move and make noise. In Venice the waters of the canals became crystal clear and full of fish again, [...] hares invaded the gardens of Milan and dolphins the port of Cagliari. We have experienced something we would never have imagined: a pandemic without borders, without limits of race, religion or country, which has erased all distances and differences. What has all this taught us?"
"We have realised that there is an urgency, and it is to change the paradigm of today's society, our future depends on it. Before this great pandemic, we did not hear the sound of a sore planet that was already facing a serious climate crisis, dictated by hyper-consumerism and self-centred human thinking. We have the good fortune to live in a wonderful place and the duty to care for it'.
"We have looked back and realised how many times in human history man has had the ability to stand up. [...] If the fundamental element then was to put Man at the centre of the Earth, today we need to reverse this model, putting the Earth at the centre of Man'.
This passage is beautiful, but I cannot agree with it. As I wrote in the introduction to my thesis, we must return to putting Man at the centre of life. Here we are confusing the selfishness of the few, who put their own interests at the centre, with the Renaissance anthropocentric vision that put Man, Man himself, at the centre of Man's concerns. The climate crisis arose from the more or less conscious choice to decentralise humanity. Man is an integral part of the planet on which he lives and not a separate organism. Big cities, smog, buildings, but also bars, restaurants, museums, factories... have provided new opportunities and at the same time wiped out the quality of life. The productions themselves, whether of a wine, a dress or a book, have forgotten the anthropocentricity of both the production chain and the consumer. Let me now give you an example that concerns me, in my own small way. My book 'Sommelier: the illustrated manual'. is printed today on standard paper by a foreign printer. So the paper comes from cut trees and also produces CO2 on the journey to Italy. This was unacceptable to me, even though it was necessary for volume reasons. So I made the uneconomical choice to have it printed (since May) by an Italian printer on Favini's Crush Uva paper, which is a Made in Italy paper that is made from wine waste (cover) and corn waste (inside pages). In addition to doing good for the planet, I have put man back at the centre of life as the end product has an enormous quality, capable of generating great value for those who receive it. And it is of incomparable beauty.
So I believe that the key to this 'Neo-Renaissance 2.0' (because in reality the Neo-Renaissance is already long gone as the term refers to an architectural current from the second half of the 19th century) is to put man back at the centre of life! Everyone can do something regardless of whether it is something big or something small. Everything is important.
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Book 'Sommelier: the Illustrated Manual' Special Edition 2022
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Fontanafredda, Barolo from the commune of Serralunga d'Alba 2018
The wine cellar. Founded in 1858 by the first king of Italy Victor Emmanuel II as a gift for the beloved Bella Rosina, was later named after the children Maria Vittoria and Emanuele Alberto, Count of Mirafiore and Fontanafredda. The king bought the first vineyard in Barolo in 1866 and since then many things have happened until 2008 when he bought it Oscar Farinetti. In 2018, Fontanafredda's 160th birthday coincides with the first harvest with certified organic grapes.
Wine. "Nebbiolo grapes take root in soils rich in limestone and grey marl alternating with sand. Fermentation is, as per tradition, effucted at a controlled temperature (27-28 °C) in stainless steel vats with a floating cap, for a duration of 15 days, with frequent pumping over to optimise the extraction of polyphenolic substances. After 24 months in oak barrels and 12 months in cement, the wine is ready to be bottled. A wine capable of expressing its qualitative characteristics immediately, with the capacity to last even 25/30 years".. In this regard, as I wrote above, I promised myself to forget the bottle of Barolo Reinassance 2018 from Fontanafredda in my cellar until our 10th wedding anniversary... this year we are celebrating our second, so it will be uncorked in 2030!
My tasting. Although it is objectively early to drink this wine, it is already very very enjoyable. Ruby red with transparent garnet hues, consistent. The nose is very very spicy with ripe fruit notes that make me suspect a slight over-ripening of the grapes was sought precisely with the intention of anticipating drinkability. There are clean notes of cocoa, resin, violets and tobacco leaves that intertwine in a balsamic finish. In the mouth, it is coherent, enveloping, warm, structured and tannic, with a long sip.
Of the book 'Hope, Illustrious Words for a New Humanity' by Fontanafredda, I am not reporting anything more because I don't want to spoil the surprise of reading it. But I tell you from the heart: read it. Read it while you taste this Barolo Reinassance 2018 by Fontanafreddaone glass after another. An organic wine for a project that puts Man back at the centre. A story by Marco Missiroli transformed into a beautiful label designed by Elisa Talentino.
I did it and I thank you because it gave me the will to believe that I can still fly. That we all can, no matter what that word really means to each of us.
I believe that the pursuit of happiness does not stop throughout life. It only changes faces, thoughts and paths.
Those who are no longer part of our path we carry in the eyes with which we look at life today.
Cheers 🍷
Chiara
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