The beauty of our Country according to Professor Luigi Moio

Professor Moio do you share the idea that Italian landscapes were also designed by vineyards?
Viticulture has given a very important contribution in designing Italian landscape. We have an incredible variety of climatic conditions from the Alps to Sicily. With an enormous range of geographical contexts and soils ranging from limestone, to volcanic ones, to those with clay rocks. There is everything: and a large number of vines have adapted to these different realities. The French ampelographic platform, on the other hand, rests on a dozen, maximum twelve vines, which then spreaded all over the world and therefore became the so-called “international vines”. We have many more and all exclusively Italic.

How would you define our Country?

I would say that Italy is an open-air museum of vines and farming systems. The man had to think one for each area. There are areas with “pergola” terraces, more flat areas where there is a sapling system, hills with row systems such as “guyot” and spurred cordon. We must use this moment of confinement to reflect on how much our Peninsula is beautiful. We have all always thought of traveling abroad, of taking air planes, often neglecting our Country which, as we all know, is the most beautiful in the world.

Is wine therefore beauty?

Italy is the Country of absolute beauty, of harmony. Just think of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli, cities, villages, mountains, hills, coasts. The world of wine reflects this beauty, that sometimes abroad is envied. The charm of wine is also given by its variability: there are actually no superimposable wines, similar to each other. They are related to different contexts. But also to the richness of Italian food. Our gastronomy has different and special characteristics throughout all the Peninsula and wine becomes fundamental because there is no doubt that no other alcoholic beverage in the world matches so perfectly with food. Wine is an absolute paradigm of diversity, or rather of biodiversity, and many passionates are probably attracted by this being “anti-standard” in an increasingly uniform and globalized world.

Which are your favorite wine territories?

Italy as a land of wine is all beautiful, from North to South. It is undeniable that some regions, over the years, have become a sort of “visiting card”, such as Piemonte and Tuscany, as well as Veneto, Trentino and Alto Adige. But aside from these which are already very famous, there is much more worth visiting. I would invite you to go down to the South-Center, starting from Umbria, Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche with Verdicchio, Campania which in recent years has produced very good white wines, with three varieties: Fiano, Greco and Falanghina. Not to mention Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy is truly incredible. Wine, which is produced in France in few areas, can be planted in Italy anywhere. And not only grapes. It is a Country that has the right climate for high quality agriculture. And all Italian agriculture, once this crisis is over, should really receive greater attention from national political programs.

Is there a link between wine and the beauty of the area?

Yes, this is especially true for the top quality wine. A great wine is a 360-degree aesthetic project. In evaluating a wine, in addition to some minimum requirements such as harmony of the taste and absolutely no olfactory deviation, the emotional aspect becomes fundamental. So a high quality wine in a beautiful landscape becomes even better. Basically, factors related to neuroscience and emotional world are involved.

So what is beautiful can also become good?

Exactly, I’ll give you a personal example. In recent years I have traveled a lot by train to present my book “Il Respiro del vino”. During the travelling, while looking out of the window, I am used to listen to classical music on headphones. And I noticed that some territories are quite neglected. However, I found that with beautiful music in my ears the vision of a not very pleasant landscape became more tolerable.

Does beauty influence other sensory aspects?

Of course, a beautiful cellar surrounded by a beautiful landscape prepares the mind to a positive judgment. The masters in this are the French with their Châteaux de Bordeaux, that have attention to the smallest details. The Château, that is a beautiful representative residence, surrounded by vineyards treated as gardens, creates an environmental context that conveys pleasure and tranquility, becoming a formidable amplifier of the beauty of wine.

Can the memory of a landscape also predispose the mind to a positive judgment?

This is another important aspect and is one of the reasons why wine places should be visited even more. If I taste a wine in a beautiful place I will bring the memory of that wine and that territory to me. It is as if wine makes us travel virtually, recalling some places. By uncorking a Napa Valley wine, I immediately think of California and so, at the same time, those who are in California and taste an Irpinia wine, and have been here, will think about the company and the men who work there. It is therefore essential to see for yourself what is behind a bottle: the landscape, the vineyards, the cellar, the men and the emotions that leave the people they meet. All this must be shown, illustrated, edited and told to consumers with kindness and extreme simplicity and authenticity.

Luigi Moio
He is full professor of oenology at the Agriculture department of the Federico II University of Naples and vice-president of the OIV (World Organization of Wine and Vine). For nearly thirty years, he has been dealing with the sensorial, biochemical and technological aspects of wine and is the author of the best-selling book “Il Respiro del vino”. In 2001, together with his wife Laura, he founded the Quintodecimo winery in Irpinia.