MONTALCINO - "IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!" Indeed: wonderful.
What, sorry, Ms Mariani? One imagines that so much enthusiasm is for a budget asset, for a contract. Besides, the desk of this charming American lady is cluttered with reports, prospectuses, proposals.
With the phone that sounds like a metronome. Every ten seconds a ring. "But no, it's beautiful the rainbow".
The only thing missing is Judy Garland singing... The atmosphere, however, is really a bit magical. It is the enthusiasm that only a girl born in the shadow of Manhattan's skyscrapers can feel when absolute Tuscan panoramas appear in front of her window: the cypress trees, the olive groves, the hills of Monte dei Lecci and the expanse of vineyards that surround Castello Banfi. "Here," explains Cristina Mariani, president of Castello Banfi: 55 million turnover, 10.5 million bottles of which 60% are sold abroad, "the fascination of making wine, of dealing with wine, is enclosed in that rainbow.
But the crisis? But the Brunello case?
"Things happen,' replies Cristina, who has golden hair and a sweet gaze, even though in the company they say she is an efficiency maniac and divides her time between the two sides of the Atlantic; and between a family of three children and a husband and a company with hundreds of employees, 'but the real value is this landscape, this territory, and the possibility of working with the land. The crisis is passing, Brunello, moreover, is selling very well'.
Do her American friends envy her?
'Yes. Maybe they are top managers, maybe they have a lot of dollars, maybe they are happy, but when I tell them about my Tuscany, my Montalcino, my wine the expression is always one of wonder. I seem to hear them whisper: blessed are you'.
Is Made in Tuscany still a strong value in America?
'Absolutely. In America it is a kind of fatal attraction, but also in the rest of the world when you say that you are Italian and that you make wine in Italy they look at you with the sweet eyes of astonishment'.
Excuse me, but she is not exactly Italian. She was born in America, studied in America, sells wine mainly in America...
'But I have an Italian surname, I live in Italy, I love Italy, I make one of the best wines, Brunello di Montalcino, in the world in Italy. And if I have to tell the truth now I feel more Italian than American. And then I live in the land of Dante, Botticelli, Galilei, Michelangelo, Puccini and Verdi. When I remind my American friends of this, I seem to see my children when I used to tell them fairy tales'.
One hears that Italy's image is tarnished. To listen to you, it doesn't sound like it...
"For work I go from New York to Singapore, from Rio to Shanghai and I have never found anyone who was not fascinated by Italy. It may be because I tell them in English, but the perception of Italy in the world is of absolute quality in production and a lifestyle to which everyone aspires. And these are the values that are needed to sell wine. The image of the territories is fundamental and the image of Italy is at the top'.
Vinitaly opens in just over a week: what are the prospects for the wine economy?
"Excellent on foreign markets, a little less so on the domestic market. In the USA we are selling very well, in Germany, which remains the first market for Italian wine, the recovery is strong. And it is not at all true that high-priced wines do not sell. They sell if you are able to convey the true value of these bottles. In Italy things are slower, but the consumer, even if he has become much more selective than before, knows how to recognise quality. What no longer works is selling smoke. All over the world today people sell, they know how to make people appreciate the quality of the product'.
But isn't it worth asking whether wine marketing is old?
"I am convinced of that. Today we need direct communication with the consumer, we have to make the consumer perceive the value of the investment that he who buys a bottle of wine is making. It is an investment of feeling, sensation and pleasure. From this point of view, wine tourism plays a fundamental role. Those who come to Montalcino, perhaps those who come to our Castle that is also a relais and restaurant, have an authentic perception of the value of our wine that is also given by the beauty of our land. And this I believe is the right recipe for the whole of wine Italy. And not only'.
Excuse me, Ms Mariani, but it is strange that you should be saying this: an American....
"No, it is not strange. I am a woman who is aware that in the world of wine, women today have a prominent place: there are very good winemakers, excellent businesswomen, superb tasters who have brought an extra touch of charm, creativity and passion to wine. And I am an American-born woman who had a dream: Italy. That is why a rainbow moves me'.
