2021: The year ahead

It is difficult to be optimistic about the near future given the current situation but we have to push forward using our own means given that politicians of all stripes appear to have forgotten about “Italian excellency”.

More than ever, given the uncertainty and anxiety felt by many people especially in the world of wine, the so-called light at the end of the tunnel still seems far away, overshadowed by the tail end of this terrible 2020. Tourism, restaurants, companies that organize events and fairs and producers of quality wines and food are among the sectors hurt the most by the pandemic and, in many cases and perhaps due to an endemic under-evaluation of these sectors, they do not know what to expect, how things will work out, if they ever will, in the future.

All this does not seem to be of much concern to those who hold various political positions, belonging to parties of all stripes, who for years have touted the achievements of “Italian excellency”, in reference to the food and tourism sectors. They now seem to have for forgotten all this at a time when it is necessary to find efficient and quick “remedies” for these sectors, which are often composed of small and medium-size enterprises, many family-run, who have made sacrifices and gone the extra mile.

So what can we expect of the year to come? The first thing is that a way be found to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible. This to make the world safer so we can try to start over using our own forces, because I have the net impression that these are essentially only ones we can count on. Words are nice but we need to see what can be done, which is a whole different story.

It is disturbingly obvious that if we cannot begin to travel again, to move around, meet each other, it will be very difficult for the tourism and restaurant sectors to get back on their feet, which in turn regards all food production creating a domino effect toppling one enterprise after another. The wine sector has fared somewhat better than others because wine can travel and thus be shipped, exported and acquired. But if the HORECA world, in Italy and abroad, does not quickly recover, then the consequences will be dramatic, which for many they are already, because many small producers have seen sharp drops in sales and a lot of wine has gone unsold.

And this includes wines that were pompously cited as “Italian excellency” by many politicians, who seem so concerned about alliances and polemics but much less so when it comes to helping those who, for no fault of their own, find themselves in serious trouble.

So we all need to get back on our feet and this is my best wish for all of you in the year to come.