Allarme Vino

We like to have our say on Ireland's recent issue of labeling the so-called HEALTH WARNINGS, those terrorist-type messages that in fact equate wine to a pack of cigarettes. We will find in Ireland, perhaps, writing on the bottle such as "alcohol and fatal tumors are directly connected" or "wine is harmful to the liver". The EU effectively endorsed the Irish request by not intervening with an opposition to the law notified to the European Commission last June and despite the opposing opinions of Italy, France and Spain and six other EU countries.
It is true that alcoholism is a problem in Nordic societies, but above all in young people this phenomenon is linked to the consumption of spirits, which is on the rise. For years now, wineries and the entire HORECA sector have been addressing young people with training and awareness campaigns on moderate consumption that will certainly be increasingly implemented. Every year our Sommeliers, fresh from professional courses, make a good impression in restaurants, hotel bistros in Italy and abroad. So it certainly cannot be said that the culture of conscious consumption has not been followed.
But let's remember another important aspect of the culture of food and wine: they are the history of our lands, of our farmers who are now wine entrepreneurs, they bring the savoir faire of our tradition. The terroirs, that magical mix of soil, climate, human work, vines represents a heritage of our whole Mediterranean. One gets the strong impression that we are dealing with a smear campaign by Brussels against a product, wine, widely integrated into our Mediterranean diet. Our agri-food sector has been suffering attacks from everywhere for years but now the EU's decision appears truly irresponsible. The problem of alcoholism certainly cannot be solved with a label on the bottle but certainly this "shame" would label all of our Mediterranean culture as dangerous.