WINE AND HAPPINESS: ANGELO PERETTI AT THE CAFFÈ DANTE IN VERONA WITH HIS NEW BOOK

With the autumn resumption of Incontri d'Autore , the venue in Piazza dei Signori returns to offering events open to the city, bringing together culture and people.

On Wednesday, September 30, at 6:30 pm , Angelo Peretti , journalist, food and wine critic, and author of the book Il profumo del bicchiere mezzo pieno (Ampelos Editions), will be the speaker. The author will be in conversation with Silvia Franceschini . The free event will conclude with a toast accompanied by wines from the Vicentini Agostino winery.

The book

With The Scent of a Half-Full Glass , Angelo Peretti signs his most personal and courageous book, choosing to rewrite the language of wine through an intimate, narrative and profoundly human perspective.

No scores, tasting notes, technicalities, or rankings. At the heart is a simple and radical question: " Will we ever be happy? " It's a line from a song by the young singer-songwriter Emma Nolde, heard at the Tenco Prize, which prompts Peretti to reopen the folders of notes accumulated over nearly forty years of activity. From those pages, an unexpected truth emerges: his notes on wine are, in reality, a long and uninterrupted reflection on happiness.

Even the empty part of the glass thus takes on a new meaning. It doesn't represent what's missing, but the space for oxygen, the invisible element thanks to which the wine can release its aromas. Without that emptiness, the beauty of fullness would remain unexpressed. Just like in work, in relationships, and in all those moments when stopping finally allows things to breathe.

Page after page, the book becomes a manifesto against the "disease of haste" and an invitation to recognize happiness in ordinary moments: in mountain blooms, on dirt country roads, in a car parked at the edge of a vineyard, in a quarter of an hour of idleness. Or in a rainy walk in Treviso, when the silent gait of an elegant woman resurfaces, weeks later, in the scent of a Mosel Riesling.

Stories to read life through wine

The volume brings together 99 short, self-contained texts , each built around a guiding theme. The result is a fresco in which wine becomes a tool for observing reality, slowing down, and rediscovering the meaning of things.

Unexpected and seemingly distant references enter the story: the last words recorded by Leonard Cohen, the images of Wim Wenders' Perfect Days , the dribbling of Maradona, Alda Merini, Patti Smith and Simone de Beauvoir.

The common thread is the suggestion of almost two hundred bottles from all over the world : Italy, Bolivia, France, Latvia, Mexico, Chile and Japan.

A gallery of stories and characters, including Claudio Zanoni, musician of the Ridillo group, who created Avamata wine with the youth of a social cooperative: a bottle that, Peretti writes, smells " of the intrinsic goodness of beautiful people ." Then there's Francesco Ricasoli, who took over the family business, a wine producer since 1141, and who, during a charity auction, defended a Bianchi bicycle with that same number, rather than let it leave the Chianti region. And there are bottles capable of challenging all snobbery: the French bag-in-box from Puech-Haut and the screw-cap Riesling from Kunstler.

The book reminds us that happiness is not a goal to be achieved , but a succession of small moments to be recognized. Like the scent that rises from a freshly poured glass: it lasts a moment, then fades, but leaves something indelible.

Peretti describes a concept of wine that's far removed from the usual rankings: the best wine is the one drunk with the right people, at the right time, without the need to explain it at all costs: "How wonderful, the light-hearted spirit, that's where the delicious aroma of the glass half full lies."

Designed for wine readers and the crossover book audience, the volume speaks to oenophiles tired of technical manuals and to those looking for a narrative capable of simply intertwining tastings, memories, art, literature, philosophy and pop culture.

Angelo Peretti is one of the most authoritative voices in Italian wine criticism. He has been covering wine for nearly forty years as a journalist, writer, and author of strategic plans for wine consortia. He directs the online newspaper The Internet Gourmet . For his book , Spiritual Exercises for Wine Drinkers (Ampelos Editions) received the Michele D'Innella award ( Vinibuoni d'Italia – Touring Club Italiano ) and was named “author of the year” by the Wine Travel Awards at the London Wine Fair.