The adventures of DoctorWine

A very difficult year is drawing to a close, one of high inflation and an economic crisis at home, along with wars and an environmental crisis abroad. It wasn’t easy for anyone but we at DoctorWine can be satisfied over what we were able to achieve, in a hedonistic sector like wine, where we have been active for decades and which we know very well.

This horrible 2023 is almost over, a year filled with wars, a climate gone mad and economic crises and so perhaps the time has come to draw some conclusions. In regard to our activities and despite a host of problems, we were able to end the year on a surprisingly positive note, totally bucking the general trend. We were able, for example, to stage some lovely presentations of our Essential Guide to Italian Wine, between September and October. We also published and presented three booklets, Wines for the Summer, Eating and Sleeping in the Vineyards and Wines for All Budgets, with their relative presentations in various Italian cities. And finally we got the App up and running for our guide (the 2023 edition, however) and the Eating and Sleeping in the Vineyards booklet. In a few days a new version of our website will also be available.

Our social media platforms, on Facebook and Instagram, are doing quite well with 97,000 followers on the former and over 34,000 on the latter. And while the numbers may not seem extraordinary, they are quite good for the wine sector. Then there were the presentations of the English version of the Guide in London, Zurich, Vienna, Munich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Brussels, where we will return in 2024. Looking back, we realize that we held it together throughout the whole period of the pandemic, organizing, as always, our presentations in Italy and Europe even in those difficult times.

A few days ago, and this regards just your truly, the national enologists association Assoenologi named me Communicator of the Year for Italy and awarded me, the first journalist in their 76-year history, with a citation as Honorary Member, while the Italian Sommeliers’ Association made me a member “ad honorem” way back in 2007.

We have also initiated a collaboration with the Panorama weekly and continue the one with Men’s Health and I am still proud to be the editor-in-chief of L’Assaggiatore, the official organ of ONAC, Italy’s National Wine Tasters Organization. Furthermore, next year will see the publication of On the Trail of Gallo Nero, a book that tells the 100-year history of the Chianti Classico producers’ Consortium. It was a very demanding effort for which I was able to count on the important collaboration of Paolo De Cristofaro, one of my “boys” back in the days of Gambero Rosso.

All this has been possible because DoctorWine is not just me. It is above all a team, an editorial staff, an administrative and business organization in which many qualified people collaborate to get all this done. From Marina Thompson, the CEO; to Stefania Vinciquerra, the managing editor; to Iolanda Maggio, editorial assistant; Stefania Serra, graphic artist; Paola Bacchetti, sales and events manager; Consuelo Biasini, the “soul” of the administration; Filippo Greco Garattini, our social media coordinator; and Isabella Rittore, Paola’s right-hand.

Then there are the collaborators for the website and the Essential Guide: Ricardo Viscardi, deputy chief editor; Antonella Amodio, Dario Cappelloni and Sissi Baratella, our special collaborators. I cannot, obviously, name everyone here but you can fine their names in the Guide’s colophon. Many women are involved, something quite rare in the world of wine and related publishing, and this is not for some strange demands for “quotas” but because they are all professionals, as are the men. And this is because we practice gender equality with facts and not just words.