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!
Antonello Biancalana
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