1 March 2009
Cristina Inganni - Lands
THE STYLE OF AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE WINE INDUSTRY, WHO DOES NOT FOLLOW THE RULES OF THE MARKET, BUT PRODUCES WHAT SHE LIKES BEST, RELYING ON HER OWN ABILITIES.
It is easy to fall into banality or rhetoric. A woman entrepreneur, a woman who “makes” wine, and give rise to a whole series of clichés, even if ennobled by the best of intentions. The antidote, however, is just as easy to find: it is enough to listen to Cristina Inganni as she talks about her projects, so that one focuses on the substance, forgetting formalism.
substance, forget formalism. In a phase of Italian viticulture in which the search for indigenous grape varieties is almost exploding, her choices seem, at first glance, to go against the tide: she achieves great results with Sauvignon, Semillon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling ... But the answer is immediate: “In my opinion, it is easier to identify the “terroir”, the identity of the territory, in international vines,“ as happens with people who come from distant countries to places that, little by little, transform them, adding, modifying traits and ways until they become something unique, hybrids charged with a singular charm. And consideration does not clash with typicality, indeed “native vines are a heritage, a heritage to be protected”, but it is from confrontation, from the plurality of choices that we can enrich the world of wine. Now everyone talks about “real wines” and indigenous vines, and as always, alongside those who have truly made these words their creed, many are riding the wave, following what can easily and dangerously turn into fashion: “The market is cyclical, I do what I like to do, believing in what I do and spasmodically seeking a corporate identity, at the cost of being penalised by the market itself. Alongside
respect for the land, for the raw material, which we must know well, it is ”the expression of myself, of the human component, of something that comes first in the head; by transferring my values, my characteristics, I obtain something unique and unrepeatable“. The opposite of those products resulting from the process of McDonaldization, a concept coined by George Ritzer, which creates models that can be reproduced exactly anywhere in our land. The creation of an identity presupposes an uninterrupted search, without finish, aimed at seeking ”our ideal“, charged with positive tension: a ”free exercise of style, free because I like to be free, exercise because I call my wines exercises, style because each of us possesses his own“. But the singularities do not stop at the approach, they follow their course with the longevity of the products. Whites and reds are made here to last over time, to evolve and be loaded with other sensations. A drama for drinkers and ”pushers“ of the latest vintage,
especially with whites. It is not that there is a lack of wines to drink ”in their youth“ in the vast Italian panorama, but there are others that are sacrificed on the unholy altar of ignorance, in the strict etymological sense of non-knowledge, and that would benefit greatly from our ability to wait. Unfortunately, waiting and patience are often vulgar words in the whirlwind of our times; forgetting then that whites often enjoy acidity capable of ensuring evolutions not possible for so many reds ... But public opinion created by certain wine ”media“ remains largely anchored to these stereotypes. ”Those in the sector who are prepared, who have passion and who really want to create happy pairings with their dishes do not fall into these preconceptions, unfortunately there is still a lack of culture on the subject. Proof of this can be seen when tasting a RINÈ 2006, a white wine made from Riesling, Chardonnay and, to a small extent, Incrocio Manzoni grapes, which has been in the bottle for almost two years, full of freshness and still searching for its maximum evolution.
interaction between the soil and the vineyard and I just respect that, it is my choice“.And the pairing? ”I like the idea of this wine with Mediterranean first courses, with an incisive flavour or with important fish, even a little fatty fish. We are in a field where, before selling, before proposing a wine, what is proposed is a precise and personal concept of it, I offer, in other words, an identity. (...)
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