Gaspare Baiata, 56 years old, is a “professional” of wine. An authority in this sector. He is the head of the Paolini Cellars, one of the most important co-operative cellars of the Island. When he heard that the region wanted to fight the “poverty” of some wine growers, encouraging them to establish associations, he wasn’t very happy, explaining that this road map would have destroyed the Sicilian wine sector instead of helping it. Let’s try to understand why.
“They say: make associations so you can earn more money and can stay on the market. But this is nonsense for two reasons. If you put together four “bankrupt companies”, they can only give one result, a greater bankruptcy. And then everyone thinks that their wine is the best and work on their own. Hopefully these ideas exists, otherwise the Sicilian wine diversity would disappear”.
So, why would it disappear, professor Baiata?
We must compete on quality, helping those who are not able to . Human beings mean oxygen, not production. We must be brave enough to make useful choices, otherwise we go back to abuse of the welfare state, that has already damaged the wine sector”.
Which were the worst consequences of the welfare state help?
“The cellars have been working following the indications of the European market, that awarded distilleries, short stockings and enrichment. So no one worried about quality or the market. Result? Sicily made bad products, which were sold in tetra pack”.
But now Europe wants more.
"Right. In the new WTO there is no help, just market. The cellars that have already foreseen it, won’t have great problems, but the ones that produce must or distilled wines will be cut out. Real problems still have to come and they will be enormous”.
What kind of problems?
We have many handicaps. We are not capitalized and a change would be very difficult. Investments? Impossible. The cold techniques and technology. We are still at the beginning. Let’s take the case of the province of Trapani, maybe the most important in Italy. 90% of the production goes to cellars, which are around fifty. If the sector dies, wine growing will also. It is a social problem, and it will concern the environment also…”.
We still haven’t understood what the problem is.
"The new European politics. Farmers have debts of one thousand Euros a year for every hectare cultivated. 90% of farmers that sent their products to my cellar are professionals or retired …”.
So what does it mean?
“Easy, it means that if they cannot sustain costs, they close. Ten per cent stays in, the rest abandons. Abandoned land is a big problem. In the province of Trapani there are about ninety thousand hectare of uncultivated land…”
Is there a way to avoid this collapse?
“As I was saying from the beginning, we must be determined. We must help the companies that can manage to overcome the crisis, but not all of them. Within two or three years, Sicily will produce two million hectolitres of wine against the eight produced today, because of debts”.
So could a team work help?
“Absolutely not. At the moment we are in a sort of mental hospital…”
What do you mean?
"Sicilian wine growers are awarded if they abandon production. From six thousand Euros per hectare. But the same wine growers would also receive a prize if they planted again. So this is real schizophrenia”.
So, a desperate picture…
“No, not really. We must create a common brand on every bottle. It must be always present on a large retail scale . And then we must cut off the dead branches that just cause a waste of resources”.
And bureaucracy?
“The Consortium of which my cellar is part has been held back. We presented a project, but we didn’t present it correctly, following the indications. Instead of calling it project or programme we used the word “Measure”. Instead of presenting three petitions, we presented just one for everything. Result? They gave us a third. There was nothing to be done… “
This is the bad cholesterol, but there is also the good one…
“Yes, there is a management that is on the same level as the situation. The Wine and Vine Institute made a good job in Verona. Perfect organization, an elegant location, we gave a good impression”.
Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute
