Cronache di Gusto interviews Daniele Cernilli

If you ask him how many wines he has tasted in his life, the tally might not add up. But only in appearance, because Daniele Cernilli, one of the best wine tasters in Europe, now known as DoctorWine and a cursus honorum of all respect - passing also for being one of the editors of the Gambero Rosso Wine Guide and former editor of the same gastronomic periodical - has had as many wines pass through his palate as there are stars in the sky. So many, so many.

 

Cronache di Gusto: Tell us about your summer, we always imagine you surrounded by a few bottles yet to be discovered.

Daniele Cernilli: I've been in the editorial office, working. We are working at a relentless pace to bring out the Essential Guide to the Wines of Italy, so I stayed in Rome, which is in a way like taking a vacation.

 

DC: Rome is one of the Italian capitals of wine consumption but also of production. Just think of the Castelli Romani, the Piglio area, which have great tradition. Veliternum and Albalonga wines already existed in Roman times. Then if we go and read the poets or the lyrics of Roman folk songs we see that wine is always very prominent. Rome and taverns, bulk wine... and then the relationship with Roman gastronomy. This connection is fundamental. The Roman who does not drink wine is like a New Yorker who does not eat hamburgers. Especially whites, clearly, because this area is banchista, perhaps because of the climate. The fact that there is so much tourism in Rome and the fact that it is a cosmopolitan city has meant that you can drink wines from all over Italy and especially from the central south. Many wineries have had great success precisely because of the Roman market.

 

DC: I am very well because most of the wines I spit out, otherwise I could not tell the story. For this edition of the guide, I did over 4,000 tastings, then there are those of the contributors. I have arrived, between Gambero Rosso and Doctor Wine, at the thirty-fourth guide, and I have learned how to manage this aspect. Italian wine, on the other hand, is doing better than expected. Exports are actually growing and companies are selling well for the domestic market as well. Wine travels, it is not like catering where you have to go and sit down to enjoy a dish. Wine is shipped and moves easily. The most important export markets are Germany, Britain, the United States and Canada. Countries that have not been affected by major crises. The only problem that there may be in the near future mainly concerns materials that are related to wine. Glass, for example, also came from Ukraine, paper costs more, not to mention the increase in energy cost. Wine prices, however, cannot be raised beyond certain limits. At the moment, the market is holding up quite well.

 

CdG: What have you been drinking lately?
DC: As a good Roman I'm more of a bianchista, then it's also very hot so I love to drink whites. Not too many wines actually. I have the gynecologist syndrome. Wine is a point of analysis. Reason for study and not mainly for pleasure. Of course I also have passion for it, 2021 I must say was an important vintage. Very good Fiano wines from Campania, as well as Carricante wines from Etna. Then I have passion for Friuli and Alto Adige. Also some Verdicchio and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, I'm passionate about. Then there are wines that are coming or re-emerging like Timorasso from Tortona. Gavi also, very popular in England from Cortese grapes. Among the new areas I was surprised by the border between Tuscany and Liguria. Then there is no shortage of great classics, such as Bianco di Custoza. On the reds what can I say, I drink bottles that are not too full-bodied and imposing to be enjoyed at somewhat lower temperatures. Wines like Santa Maddalena, from Alto Adige, or lesser-known Tuscans like Morellino di Scanzano or Cerasuolo di Vittoria to name a Sicilian or Bardolino from Veneto. These are drunk with pleasantness. Maybe at 14 degrees and not 18, to be paired with fish with tomatoes and not just great roasts.
CdG: What books do you keep on your bedside table, however, a man who, like you, creates books?
DC: I am passionate about history, as a philosophy graduate former teacher. I am reading "The Normans of the South" by John Julius Norwich, an English historian and diplomat, published by Sellerio. Interesting book because it tells the birth of that kingdom.

CdG: On your website you often talk about wine tourism, do you think you can one day make tourism by putting your hands on harvesting or pruning, for example?
DC: Wine tourism is flourishing more and more, thanks to the hospitality and catering offered by wineries. As far as processing is concerned, one has to be careful because there would be both union and safety aspects to consider, so I see us more of educational tours where we can observe how things are done. But it is a world that can be experienced equally fully and also not spending too much, a little bit all over Italy.

(To learn about accommodations within wineries, see the guide Eating and Sleeping in the Vineyards by DoctorWine, n.d.r.)