Do you know what your wine of the heart is?
It’s that special wine capable of moving you—perhaps because of its incredible taste, or because it brings back memories of when you first tasted it, or of the emotions you were feeling at that moment, or for a thousand other reasons.
In short, that wine—or rather, those wines (because there is never just one)—that go beyond the idea of a simple alcoholic beverage and become a true liquid emotion, capable of making you feel at home. This is exactly the principle behind the project and the guide I Vini del Cuore, a project that in recent weeks I have had the pleasure of being involved in.
We are in Genoa, at the Diocesan Museum, for the third edition of “I Vini del Cuore.” A rather unusual location for an event dedicated to wine. The museum is a beautiful cloister enriched with frescoed ceilings and, I must say, I had never before tasted wine in a historic loft while standing just a few centimeters away from 12th-century frescoes (a wonderful situation, but at the same time one that creates a certain tension—there is always the fear of tripping over some invisible obstacle and accidentally launching a glass of what would presumably be red wine straight at a fresco).
Given the sheer number of wine events taking place in this period, and the unwanted weather alert in Genoa, I would never have expected to take part in an event so full of wine lovers and curious visitors. Yet it is clear that these circumstances did not interfere in any way with the success of the event.
But the event “I Vini del Cuore” is only one part of this project. Following these two days in Genoa, the guide I Vini del Cuore will be released—a guide for which I will have the pleasure, together with other wine enthusiasts, of sharing my own “wines of the heart.”
This two-day experience comes to a close having had the chance to meet my future “fellow guide contributors”: professionals and enthusiasts eager to exchange ideas, enjoy good company, and talk (not only about wine) together with those producers who have always embraced the idea that wine is also about emotion.
For me it has been—and will continue to be—a wonderful experience.
Thank you, Olga Sofia. It was tiring, but it was worth it.
