DiWineTaste: Tenth Year, Eleventh Year

 October 2002, October 2012. Ten years have passed, we are about to enter our eleventh year of activity. We walked a long way, and we have to walk a lot more: there is still a long road ahead. I am very proud for what we have done so far, while being aware it is just one “stage” of this journey, a reason for new challenges, new things to do, while looking forward and trying to grow up the experience and the emotions which have accompanied us so far. In this moment, it is impossible not to think about that September 9th, 2002, when at 10:10PM, together with my friend Stefano Passerini, with a mouse click, DiWineTaste WEB site and the first issue of the magazine were officially brought to “life”, delivered to the immensity of Internet cyberspace. And it is also unavoidable to remember the toast following that moment: Marsala Vergine Baglio Florio 1987. A great wine - and great is Marsala indeed: whoever know me, also know my passion for this immense wine - made in the historical Florio winery, which was brought to life also thanks to the talent and remarkable wine making knowledge of my dear friend Carlo Casavecchia. Thanks Florio, thanks dear Carlo, my friend, that night you were here with us.

 In ten years, a short period of time for sure, however significant, have been happened many things, a lot of satisfactions and exciting challenges not always easy to face. I am into wine and enogastronomy - as well as tea, beer, coffee, cheese and olive oil - for more than 20 years now, an activity I ran together with my past software development business, now belonging to the past, also in this case very rich of remarkable satisfaction and success. I however did not abandon the activity of software developer - this is something I cannot help: I cannot live without writing computer programs, developing software, studying algorithms and operating systems - after all, if DiWineTaste was born this way and I made the choice, since the beginning, of distributing it on the Internet only, the choice was strongly dependent on my computer business, which however accompanied my life for 25 years. And it continues to do so, of course. After ten years I am still convinced the choice of publishing DiWineTaste on the Internet only was the right one.

 Result of my past computer business certainly is the Android application we published one month ago. A new way to access the contents and Guides available on our site, DiWineTaste Mobile is being quite successful and receiving the appreciation of our readers and Android users. Also in this case, there is still a long way to go, just like any other software project. The launch of the Android application has been followed by a flow or mails, both of appreciation from the ones who downloaded it and are using it, as well as “complains” from the other system's users for the fact they cannot use it on their phones. We are aware of your disappointment: don't be afraid, DiWineTaste Mobile will be available for other systems and devices as well, it is just a matter of time. On this regard, there will be many new things to come, as I personally believe Internet is an excellent way to spread wine culture, also by means of mobile devices, and this is one of our primary goals. In other words, we are entering our eleventh year by thinking about new challenges, new adventures. DiWineTaste Mobile, in case you did not download it yet, can be found at Google Play Store.

 In the first moments of DiWineTaste life, at the end of September 2002, our site - in just twenty-one days - counted the visit of about 1,600 wine lovers. What existed in that primordial stage of our job, today has grown up and changed in a way that, no doubt about this, we could not imagine. After ten years, that site has grown up, changed, totally transformed, enriched with new tools and services for our readers, today counting an average of 155,000 readers a month for the magazine only, divided between the WEB and PDF edition, both in Italian and English. The first remarkable change was introduced in February 2003, with the release of the “Wine Guide”, in which are found the reviews of all the wines tasted in ten years, at the moment of the writing of this text, there are more than 4,100 wines and more than 630 producers. All the wines have been singularly tasted and all rigorously tasted with the “blind tasting” method, the only I consider essential in order to ensure a reliable and trustworthy result, with no interference or influence.

 The WEB site receives its substantial job of restyling one year later, October 2003, with the release of new services, including the EnoGames, still today very successful among our readers, with an average number of 1,800 players each day. Meanwhile, we receive a growing appreciation from wineries, which send their wines to us, therefore allowing us to taste their products and to review them in the column “Wines of the Month” and in our Guide. The support and appreciation of wineries - small or big, famous or unknown - is growing up also thanks to the activity of event organization: monthly occasion for our readers, in which it is possible to personally meet the producers and their wines. I am in fact strongly convinced this is the most effective way to spread wine culture. We can talk about wine for months, even years, of its virtues and good quality, to make conjectures and suppositions, but as long as we do not uncork the bottle, pour it in a glass, smell it and listening to the story of a wine, we will never understand it fully.

 Ten years have just passed, many new challenges and new things are waiting ahead. I am watching to the things done so far and, despite the fact some of them - by considering facts - should have been done differently, I am however happy of this journey and the way we walked so far. I see the things done so far as one step of a journey, as the journey certainly is a long one, nothing is perfect and the “best” does not exist - I certainly am not such as well as not what we have done so far - but just things bringing other things, believing in patience and the humbleness of listening and growing up. For the moment, after ten years of hard work and with some good results achieved, I take a break - but only for a moment - and contemplate with satisfaction what we have done so far. It has been an amazing journey, generous of remarkable experiences, rich in new friendships, of mutual esteem, a lot of people who shared with me their experience of a life spent making wine. To make and live a wine with facts, every day, from vineyard to winery. From each of them I learnt a lot, each one of them gave me his or her way of seeing and telling a wine, vineyard, grapes and territories: treasures of endless value. And it is to all of them and to all of my reader that today, after ten years, I say thank you. If DiWineTaste has got so far, I also owe this, and in particular, to all of them and to all of you who are reading these words of mine. Happy tenth year, DiWineTaste!