Some curiosities about wine: from the traditions of the past to today

Wine is an important and fundamental part of our history, traditions and culture. We grew up hearing our grandparents repeat that wine makes good blood; seeing them having breakfast and a snack with slices of bread sprinkled with wine and sprinkled with generous doses of sugar.

In the minds of many, the memories of the great large families of the past come back to mind, who, to enrich their diet, integrated a good piece of bread soaked in wine into their meals; and in the winter, after a good snowfall, they collected the snow and mixing it with a little sugar and wine, they invented wonderful and healthy granitas.

Today, as now, wine and health have often gone hand in hand, becoming part of our healthy daily life; the rolling hills of the Italian territory are in fact dotted with numerous vines that draw our landscape and make it characteristic and famous all over the world.

It is Italy that in fact has the world record as the country that possesses the largest number of vines, with over 350 varieties. And it is always our country that ranks first in the world as a wine producing country with a production that in 2020 amounted to 49.1 billion hectoliters (source Oiv); the most productive Italian region is Veneto, followed by Puglia and with a slight detachment from Emilia Romagna.

Together with Italy among the major producers, we find France on the podium in second place with 46.6 m / hl, followed by Spain with 40.7m / hl. It is interesting to know that these three countries together account for 53% of global wine production, despite the fact that today wine is produced in many countries around the world. From the point of view of consumption, after France and the United States, we find once again at the top of the ranking, the Italian peninsula with a consumption that is around 24.5 m / hl in 2020. Made in Italy is also a leader in terms of volume in wine exports; the greatest admirers and consumers to which our products are directed are the US, German and British countries.

We have therefore seen that even today, as in the past, the world of wine is very present in our cultural and social reality; a good bottle of wine is in fact a daily presence on our tables to the point of becoming even obvious.

Following the lockdown that occurred in 2020 due to the Sars-Cov-2 virus pandemic, the Italian wine scene, where closing times have been longer and more restrictive than in other countries, has experienced a strong surge and consumption of wine during the quarantine changed. The greatest consents and increases are derived from occasional drinkers; many of whom have rediscovered or even started to appreciate a good glass during this forced closure at their homes.

Today consumption is stable, but the attention and passion for this magnificent drink continues to grow; for some it has become a hobby, characterized by a great desire to discover and become cultured through training and tasting courses; for others it has led to the point of transformation even at work. The common denominator remains for all the interest in a world in continuous evolution, with a thousand scents and flavors, all to be discovered and savored.

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