Twenty years. DiWineTaste officially enters its twentieth year, twenty years
since – for the first time – DiWineTaste became a reality and the first issue
was introduced to the Internet readers which, at that time, was only
available in PDF format. Very far from what DiWineTaste has become today, that
first issue was the realization of my idea of how to tell and write about wine.
It however was a successful event – that first issue – which went way beyond
my most optimistic forecasts. The novelty of a new publication was
certainly also because of the fact, by choice and from the very beginning, it
was published on the Internet only. That first issue, available in PDF format
only, was in fact downloaded, by counting the total of the two Italian and
English editions, by over 6000 readers. Many will notice this is the umpteenth
time I am telling about this primordial event of DiWineTaste, and often on the
occasion of special events, however it is an undeniable fact it was a
significant event.
I always like to recall the moment when DiWineTaste began its journey,
officially started with the publication of our Internet website. It was
September 9th, 2002 at 10:10PM: a simple command sent from my computer, and
DiWineTaste website was made visible to the enonauts of cyberspace. The
wine chosen for the inaugural toast of that event – not surprisingly – was
what Admiral Horace Nelson called victory wine and one of my absolute
favorites: Marsala. Specifically, it was a 1987 Marsala Vergine. Talking about
wine on the Internet, in 2002, was really something still very far from the
enoic invasion of our days. There were already websites dedicated to wine,
published in various ways and forms, a periodical publication like DiWineTaste
– which had in its primary goal to do independent wine review – definitely
was a one-of-a-kind event. The choice – my choice – to make a publication
dedicated to wine and available on the Internet only was, in 2002, something
absolutely new and probably well ahead of its time.
Twenty years in the course of which thousands of wines and hundreds of spirits
have been poured into our glasses, evaluated by the judgment of our senses.
Moreover, the events – currently suspended due to the socio-health condition
imposed by the pandemic from Covid-19 – with which we brought hundreds of
wines and spirits produced by the wineries reviewed in DiWineTaste into the
glasses of our readers. To these should be added the countless courses and
classes dedicated to the tasting and sensorial analysis of wine and spirits,
including those about enogastronomy and pairing with food. Sometimes we have
covered the subject of beer, by also dedicating to the beverage of Ceres some
of our events and our sensorial analysis classes. I have always been convinced
the best way to understand a wine or a distillate – and the same is for
food and beer – is to have it in your glass, the training in subjects related
to sensorial and organoleptic evaluation have been a fundamental part of the
development of DiWineTaste.
After all, I have never made any secret of what my primary interest is, also
and above all in the professional field, relating to wine, spirits and food,
mainly made by technical aspect linked to the sensorial analysis and
physico-chemical characteristics. This has strongly influenced the editorial
line of DiWineTaste, therefore based on subjects about organoleptic and
sensorial evaluation, preferably relating to technical matters. These are the
reasons which have always seen me scarcely and relatively interested in the
sensationalist side of wine, including the extreme trivialization of
certain topics which, despite being for many linked to the primary expression
of wine, to me, they have little meaning to the effective and real
understanding of wine. I am of course aware that, in any case, the emotional
aspect is an important part of wine, spirits and food, I however believe these
are aspects of simplification useful for describing wines according to basic
narrative schemes and in a way that – I believe – in the end they tell very
little or nothing about what a wine really is.
It is with this vision that we have tried to tell – over these twenty
years – wine as a subject and all the wines and spirits that have been poured
in our glasses. The very same vision with which we have always tried to
describe wines, spirits and beers during our events and our sensorial and
organoleptic evaluation classes. Of course, it is difficult to predict what
DiWineTaste's next years will be like, starting from this twentieth, however I
believe the way to evaluate and tell the wines will remain practically
unchanged. There will certainly be things that will change – after all, in
the course of these twenty years, many things have changed in what we do –
however I am still convinced this is the way to describe a wine or distillate.
Because I am convinced that, first and foremost, wine speaks with its own
words, those emerging from the glass and that we listen with our primary
senses.
This is because – substantially speaking – the aspects in which I am mainly
interested in wine and spirits are those related to technical, productive and
sensorial matters, the results of which are expressed by the glass, without
filters and evocative or fairy-tale expedients. Among the technical and
production aspects, of course, I also include the fundamental and essential
environmental, agronomic and human factors, clearly indispensable and decisive
for the production of wine and spirits. I am also convinced, for the sake of
clarity, wine and spirits are very effective and extraordinary vectors of
emotions, flawless creators of sensations, not least, magnificent and
indispensable elements to celebrate good company, especially at the table. As
far as I am concerned, I always neglect these important roles of wine and
spirits whenever I deal with sensorial and analytical tasting, likewise, I
neglect these latter elements whenever I am in good company and cheered by good
wine and spirits.
The twenty years of DiWineTaste – without a shadow of a doubt – have also
been possible thanks to the support and presence of our readers from all
over the world and that, by considering the two editions in Italian and
English languages, they are a little under 160.000 every month. To them, there
is no doubt, my and our personal gratitude for having helped us to get here,
both with their love and with the many suggestions that in all these years have
been useful to improve DiWineTaste. A dutiful and equal thanks undeniably goes
to all producers, winemakers, vintners, distillers, wineries and distilleries
who have allowed us to talk about their wines and spirits in our pages and
guides, many of them have also personally taken part to our events and courses.
Twenty years, therefore, which we ideally celebrate with you all and which
represent an important milestone for us, with the hope of sharing with you all,
again and soon, endless glasses of good wine and fine spirits. Ad
maiora! (Towards greater things!)
Antonello Biancalana
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