WHAT TURNS A GRAPE GROWER INTO A GREAT WINE PRODUCER?
WHERE DO STAR WINE PRODUCERS AND LARGE WINERIES COME FROM? PERSONAL TALENT, INNOVATION, VISION OF FUTURE MARKET TRENDS, OR WHAT?
What transforms a grape grower into a great wine producer, Alessandro Mori Il Marroneto
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Casato Prime Donne Montalcino, Fattoria del Colle Trequanda
In Montalcino, as in Barolo, there are many wine producers born into farming families who have become international winemaking stars. I’ve always wondered whether this growth was the result of production spurred by innovation or commercial insight… or whether it arose from the ability to interpret the gifts of the land like a sculptor does with marble.
BEING A GREAT PRODUCERS MEANS PRODUCING GREAT QUALITY OR GREAT NUMBERS
How does the transformation from grape grower to successful entrepreneur happen?
Obviously, the great winemakers—and I’m thinking of people like Bepi Quintarelli, Alessandro Mori from Il Marroneto, or Elena Fucci—raise attention to their territory with their splendid wines, setting an example and opening the market to other producers as well.
Their success seems to be tied to their personal talent and their ability to make it visible.
Then there are the successful producers who transform from grape growers into great entrepreneurs, and this is what I’d like to focus on.
In books, the transformation from artisan to entrepreneur is described as the shift from making things to managing production and planning long-term strategies, “from working in the lab to working on the lab.” Translating this concept to wine, we could say that a wine producer becomes an entrepreneur when he stops thinking only about the vineyard and begins to think in terms of project, market, and value.