#Storytelling at Enologica 2016

by Adua Villa 01/10/17 |

For years, Bologna for me has meant:

#November
#Winter
#Rain
#Cold
#Tortellini
#Sangiovese (& co.)

But above all

#Enologica

This year you could even add

#JustinBieber

who performed at the Baglioni (next to my hotel) during his Italian tour, surrounded by countless policemen and I was mistaken for one of his

#Fan

whereas I was only trying to get a taxi, but that is another story…

And then there was the festival of

#Chocolate

but above all there was being part of

#Enologica 2016.

What is the difference between a Narrator and a Storyteller? None, the key is always the story, only the platform is different.

And what would be an event without the people taking part? Nothing, because no one would know what went on and thus there would be no Narration.

This is the strong point of Enologica. This year’s edition saw 5,000 people in Bologna experience and talk about it for three days.

What is Enologica? According to Pierluigi Sciolette, the president of the Enoteca Regionale Emilia Romagna which organized and promoted the event, “Enologica is a trade fair for wine and other typical Emilia Romagna products which for years has been held in Bologna during the third week of November. This year, over 110 producers, producer associations and wineries took part in seminars and theme tastings in the central Palazzo Re Enzo where there was the Teatro dei Cuochi (Chefs’ Theatre) as well. There was also the first edition of Carta Canta which gave prizes to the best restaurant wine lists of Emilia Romagna wines and was a big success. The initiative saw the support and participation of every sector, starting with the Enoteca Regionale together with the various associations of restauranteurs, wine shops, bathing establishments and so on. This was only the first edition and yet everyone was involved in order to give visibility to the wines of this region and, above all, this event. Our involvement was to encourage everyone to continue to seek to do better in the interest of all”.

Enologica by now has an established format but every year there is something new. This year’s theme was masks, while last year it was Tarot Cards which was truly amazing, with an original paring of wine and food. The event’s curator for years has been Giorgio Melandri, a journalist and lover and expert of his region who has for years been a taster for the wine guide from Gambero Rosso. Every year he gives the event a detail catalogue and chooses its theme. With his irresistible charm and Faentino accent he explained to us: “Enologica 2016 interprets Emilia Romagna’s identity through puppets invented by the best puppeteers who are the descendants of the great tradition of Commedia dell’Arte. The personalities of the puppet characters are those of the people of Emilia Romagna and thus also their food and wine. Identity is once again a key to talking about food and wine, the only element that makes these products unique and recognizable. And thus the challenge facing us was to get ourselves known and establish the connection between the wines and foods and the places and towns they were made in. Each puppet’s character represents a perfect pairing and by doing this we can underscore how in Emilia-Romagna the connection between wine and food is extraordinary and indissoluble”

According to Emilia-Romagna’s regional minister for agriculture, Simona Caselli: “Enologica has a strongly cultural connotation which as a region we want to continue to promote and enhance. It is an active link between the territory, wine and food producers and restauranteurs who come together here in a constructive way. The advances our wines have made must be made known and every year Enologica gives a snapshot of the state of our excellent, varied and heterogeneous production”. Here is a charismatic and pragmatic woman who would like to do much more and we all have our fingers crossed.

Many foreign journalists and buyers took part in this year’s edition of Enologica and aside from taking part in the events at Palazzo Re Enzo they took advantage of the occasion to get a better idea of the region by visiting the various wine and food-producing areas.

The most wonderful thing about Enologica is to see various cooperatives, associations, small and very small producers, all with different needs, philosophies and approaches, working side by side together. Some were initially were suspicious and somewhat prejudicial but this soon disappeared because they were intelligent enough to understand that if everyone is participating in favor of the region, to promote it and allow each of them to narrate their own personal realities and stories, then it will allow them to understand each other’s work. Special mention to the Consorzio Vini di Romagna, #RiminiDOP for the great promotional efforts they have made and above all those related to particular zones.

Among the many snapshots made one in particular stood out, the one Francesco Mattucci posted in his Instagram profile Kichensuspension of Dadi that showed Emilia Romagna’s typical wines and culinary dishes, the symbol of last November’s event.

And until the next edition, we can look back at the last one under the hashtags