Born in 1943 in France, OENOFRANCE® is a protagonist in the history of world enology and since 2010 it has also had its own offices in Italy with a complete range of products covering the entire wine production chain.
“Enology in a changing planet: 1943-2023, what's next?
The anniversary was embellished by the talk show moderated by Fabio Piccoli, Managing Director of Wine Meridian, entitled: “Enology in a changing planet: 1943-2023, what's next?” which took place at
the Gran Guardia Auditorium in Verona.
An important opportunity to understand how much current changes, both climatic and socio-economic, are impacting on the wine sector and what the most appropriate responses might be.
The interventions of the speakers
Ramon Bel, Director SOFRALAB® opened the talk show by drawing the picture of a multinational group, a point of reference in the market of oenological products and associated services, of which OENOFRANCE® is an integral part together with 3 other brands: MARTIN VIALATTE®, STATION OENOTECHNIQUE DE CHAMPAGNE® and OENOTERRIS®.
“The SOFRALAB® group is a global company with 190 employees, we are present in 47 countries. Our turnover reaches 55 million euros (40% coming from exports) and we can count on 11 laboratories and 4 centers of expertise” declared Bel. “The Group has always focused on the research and development sector, the climate is changing and we work every day to be able to give a concrete response to these changes”.
Enrico Farinazzo, Commercial Director of OENOFRANCE® Italy, expressed his satisfaction: “Seeing gathered here in Verona, my hometown, an audience made up of colleagues and customers from all over the globe (Lebanon, India, Canada to name a few ) is a unique emotion. For the occasion, we have chosen to develop very current issues by integrating various points of view, thanks to highly qualified speakers from different sectors". The satisfaction was also shared by Guilhem Marty, (Sales Director France SOFRALAB®) and by Adrien Moreau (Export Director SOFRALAB®).
Gabriele Gorelli, the first Italian Master of Wine, analyzed the current trends and evolutions in the perception of wines: “The freshest wines are a real trend that must be codified, every trend when it is codified is functional to an evolution. The problem is how wine is positioned in the field of alcoholic beverages, in relation to new categories and new generations".
“The pandemic acted as an accelerator of change” continued Gorelli, “people were informed and trained at home during the months of lockdown. The producers themselves have gone to meet the evolved consumers, it is no longer enough to focus only on the "gustatory" or "sensorial" point of view. Wine tourism is an example of this, because it allows you to connect the territory, corporate values and human resources to wine, but above all the desire to "train" on the part of consumers. This goal can only be achieved if companies have the ability to design a personal enriching experience for consumers".
Andrea Lonardi, chief operating officer of the Angelini Wine Estates Group focused on developing skills in terms of multidisciplinarity and continuous training. Producing wine is a profession that requires more and more figures capable of having transversal visions, it is no longer sufficient to exclusively produce quality wine.
According to Lonardi, this multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach should also be used in relation to climate change: “I see many more opportunities than criticalities. Until now, we have too often approached the problem of climate change with a one-dimensional and not a multi-dimensional approach”.
Francesco Saverio Russo, Wine Divulgator, intervened on the relationship between climate change and wine changes: “The wines are changing because the raw material is changing, the technical approach has changed. We are in a compensation phase, we weren't prepared for this climate variability. Today we live in a sort of short circuit because the technicians are asked to remove”.
Daniele Pizzinato, R&D technical and products specialist OENOFRANCE® presented the OENOTERRIS® project and the concept of "reasoned agro-enology" at the service of companies: "The main challenge of the OENOTERRIS® project is to find new answers to new problems related to climate change that we are facing. Balance is our goal: the right product, at the right dosage, at the right time.
Simone Agostinelli, Purchasing and Sustainable Agriculture Projects Manager of the Barilla Group focused his speech on the theme of sustainable procurement: “Today we have no alternative to sustainable procurement, the upstream advantage is to ensure that the farmer becomes an agricultural entrepreneur. The entrepreneur must adapt to new technologies and only the supply chain can give him these tools”.
In closing, three young researchers Jacopo Cometti, Edoardo de Cal and Giulia Sironi, creators of an innovative start-up in the agritech field, awarded in the competition organized by the National Youth Agency in collaboration with Ashoka Italy, spoke . Their project concerns a digital platform called WOP (Water Optimization Protocol), whose primary objective is to provide a useful and easy-to-use tool to deal with the dramatic water crisis that is affecting the entire agricultural sector.
“We approached the agricultural sector because it is a sector that needs innovation, it has a very important weight in our country and climate change has and will have a very strong impact on our food supply” commented Jacopo Cometti.
