ACTIVITY

I’m not the only one in my family who has been working in the wine field. 

 

In the early 1900’s, my grandfather Olinto built the homonymous wine-cellar for winemaking and bottling and was able to export big quantities of wine.

 

The “wine special train” reproduced in the home page represents a train leaving the Carpi train station for Switzerland on June 1, 1924.

 

Subsequently, in 1935, my grandfather established the Meschiari Olinto wine-cellar in Addis Abeba for bottling and distributing bulk wines imported from Italy.

 

The Company also imported estate-bottled wines, among which for example the Chianti Ruffino, and my father Daniele was responsible for selling all of these wines in the Italian colonies in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

My uncle D’Annunzio spent all his professional life as the director and oenologist of the local Limidi and Sozzigalli wine-cellars, which are among the most important production units in the heart of the Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC district.

 

I graduated in oenology in Conegliano Veneto in 1971, and I started to work in the Italian wines exportation field in 1974, selling for the first time in Canada (British Columbia monopoly), England (to several local importers and supermarkets), Japan (Monte Bussan and Kokubu), Sweden (Vin & Sprit, as well as Systembolaget monopolies, Enosvezia/Enjoy. Mero Wines), Iceland (ATVR monopoly), Australia (Combined Wines), Korea (Jinro), etc.

 

In the late 1970’s, without even knowing it, I became the pioneer of the new era of modern reliable Italian wine both in Japan and in Sweden.

 

At that time, in those markets, the exportation of Italian wine was synonymous with low quality, low prices and low reliability which created a poor image of the Italian wine market.

 

I am proud to have followed my belief with no compromise and to have given Japanese and Swedish people the chance to know a new side of Italy, which was capable to produce good, modern, serious and reliable wines while offering a good value for money.

 

Finally, Italian wines were something to be proud of and they strongly contributed to improve the global image of Italy abroad.  All these things might sound obvious today…