Enoteca Italiana

Before DOC

Less than 50 years ago, the wine world was very different; from some points of view, it was completely unrecognizable from today’s market. There were no systematic regulations governing it, and one could find just about anything on the market.

In many cities, people who drank wine daily preferred to buy it out of town, straight from the vintner, convinced that they would be spending less and getting a genuine product.

You often saw cars with demijohns tied to the roof. This tradition didn't have the same connotation as touring wineries nowadays. It was akin to purchasing food supplies; whether it was bulk wine, crates of fruit or sacks of potato made little difference. In those days, entire wine districts lost part of their credibility because the demijohns they filled were often of ordinary wine, fine for slaking the thirst but certainly not for high-quality tasting.

On the other hand, more fortunate (or less naïve) consumers were able to find small-scale vintners, most of the time reluctant to sell their wine, from whom they might manage to wrest a couple of dozen bottles. Today's market is totally different. Asking around a little or consulting a good wine guide is sufficient to know where to buy good wine. Certainly, the atmosphere is very different from yesteryear, when a vintner didn't open his cellars to everyone and would price his wine depending on how much he liked the customer.
Although today's market is more impersonal, quality is within everyone's reach.