Doctor Wine’s future

During the preparation of our new Essential Guide to Italian wine , we thought the time had come to take stock in what the future holds for Doctor Wine. This because this year will probably be publishing the guide ourselves without the support of Mondadori, which had been every important for the first two editions, due to differences which were small for us but enormous for them.

We have been working on the DoctorWine  project for over five years and the site has grown significantly, while the guide is positioning itself well despite and even bucking the current trend in this category, which may explain our publisher’s reluctance to continue our adventure together. Fortunately, we have not turned into some kind of prize-awarding machine nor a travel agency nor just an organizer of events for wine producers. This year we will host our usual guide presentation events in Milan (Octorber 8th) and Rome (October 23rd)  as well as one in the United States. What we would like to do is go where no one has gone before, open new horizons and discover new opportunities for our guide’s English edition and those producers who wish to follow us. In the coming year we will begin to publish paper editions of books and pamphlets on wine and DoctorWine has begun to establish relations with the most important Italian professional associations in the wine sector.

First among these is the National Wine Tasters’ Organization (ONAV) and many of its leading members have begun to collaborate with us and we with them. I, for example, and with the fundamental support of Alessandro Brizi, have become the editor of L’Assaggiatore (The Taster), ONAV’s house organ, and my first two issues sparked the enthusiasm of many organization members. With a circulation of around 11,000 copies, the magazine is one of the most important publications in Italy dealing with wine. Aside from this, I/we will try to enhance our relationship with the world of wine by offering pertinent and informative articles on wine and winemaking without falling into the trap of reporting gossip or taking sides with sector movements. We believe in science and research and consider them to be both important and democratic. We seek to inform without creating obstacles between us and a public of readers who want to approach the world of wine without being frustrated by the confusing terminology or the views of wine ‘gurus’ who think they know all. Obviously, in order to grow and continue in our quest we increasingly need the support of all our readers and to involve them as much as possible, inviting precise and even crucial feedback on our articles and reviews. These thoughts came to mind on a summer’s night, hot but not torrid, during a break from editing the new guide and its wine reviews. I would very much like hear your suggestions in order to feel that you readers are, in a way, also our accomplices. It would be nice to know that the many wine lovers, producers and sector operators who follow us are not cold and distant readers. All of us at Doctor Wine began as wine lovers, in love with a world that, at times, can be plagued by polemics and divisions but remains one of the best we have ever seen.