Het verhaal van een getroffen wijnboer

Via Facebook maakte ik recent kennis met Ben van der Velden, schrijver van het boek Casanova’s Plumpudding en oud-journalist voor het NRC Handelsblad. Ben vertelde me over wijnboer Paolo Orlandi, in Piemonte, die prachtige wijnen maakt, maar ze vanwege de economische crisis niet meer kwijt kan aan zijn afnemers. Ben mailde mij in juni: “Ik kom al enkele jaren bij Paolo Orlandi, in de buurt van Roddi, bij het stadje Alba. Dan proeven we samen op zijn terras met uitzicht op de wijngaarden en de hazelaars. Toen ik twee weken geleden bij Orlandi kwam, was hij diep in de put. Als gevolg van de economische crisis zijn al zijn exportcontracten naar Noord-Europa en de VS geannuleerd. Nu moet hij kostte wat het kost zijn kelder leeg krijgen. Hij gaf mij zijn volle Barbera d’Alba 2007 mee voor 3,50 euro per fles. Deze kleine zelfstandige wijnboer heeft geen grote financierders achter zich, en kan zo’n crisis niet lang uitzingen.”

Rond de vorige eeuwwisseling besloten Orlandi en zijn vrouw een oud vervallen familiebezit op te knappen, er gastenkamers te bouwen en wijn te gaan maken. Al snel draaide agriturismo Il Cavagnin goed. Bovendien werden de wijnen van Azienda Agricola La Cà, Orlandi’s wijngoed, prima ontvangen. Maar dat een start als wijnboer niet altijd loopt zoals gepland en dat het leven in de wijnwereld niet altijd zo rooskleurig is als wel wordt voorgeschoteld, illustreert Orlandi’s verhaal. De economische crisis sloeg toe en noodgedwongen verkoopt Orlandi zijn flessen voor een habbekrats.
Geïntrigeerd besloot ik Orlandi via e-mail te interviewen, om meer te horen over zijn problemen met de afzet. Hieronder zijn verhaal, in eigen woorden.

 

“My parents and grandparents were not vinegrowers. They owned some estates near the city of Alba, in Southern Piedmonte, but they did not make wine. For me, however, wine producing is a family business. In fact, my wife and I began to cultivate a small vineyard of 1 hectare in the year 2000. Later, we enlarged our property; now we own some 3,5 hectares of vineyards. It has been demanding work, of choosing hillsides and exposures, and of selecting soils and vines too.

The vineyards are spread over 1.5 hectare near the city of Alba and 2 hectare a near the village of Barolo, where they make Barolo, a famous wine all over the world. We grow no other crops but grapes. We have some more land, but we will not plant it with vines yet.

Piemontese wines
We make four kinds of typical Piedmontese wines: Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo and last but not least Barolo. My work is my passion. Only excellent vineyards give excellent wines, of course! So, when we began to renovate and enlarge the vineyards on our property, we did not waste some old vines – about 6000 sqm – that have been growing from 1960 on a hill just on the side of our winery in Roddi. We pick excellent grapes from this vineyard, which has a very low yield (6000 kg per hectare). All my wines destify both of the enviroment and the personality of the wine maker.

I think Piedmonte is one of the best areas in the world to produce outstanding wines, thanks to its climate, and the soil, and the wine producers’ know-how – in one word, thanks to its terroir.

 

My production is only 8500 bottles per year, but it’s difficult for me to sell all of them! Production is equally splitted among the wines – 2500 bottles each for Dolcetto and Barbera and Nebbiolo and only 1000 bottles for Barolo.

Steep drop in demand
Selling my bottles abroad is very difficult at the moment. In 2009, I sold a few hundred bottles in Northern Europe. Because of a steep drop in demand, I can’t sell them any more. The reasons for the drop in demand are, I think, threefold:
– my winery is not well-known neither in Italy nor abroad, because I am a relative newcomer;
– there are a lot of competitors that have entered the market many years ago;
– due to the world economic crisis wine merchants sell less bottles to consumers now than they did some years ago.

I’ve already made several attempts to sell my bottles in the USA and in Canada. But my winery is not well known by traders as well as the start-up charges are very high. So, in spite of all my efforts, I don’t succeed in selling wine in Northern America.

Selling inside of Italy is less difficult. I sold several hundred bottles here, in Piedmonte, and in some other Italian regions. My customers are both private people and tourists that appreciate very much fine wines having a high standard of quality without compromises. It is hard for me to sell in shops, to get the wine merchants (either retailers or wholesailers) to purchase my bottles – I think just because my winery is not well known as well as there is a lot of competitors in Italian wine market.

Stocks are piling up
And so the stocks are piling up in my cellar and I do not have enough space for the coming harvest. Next Autumn, I will be compelled to sell my grapes to some wholesalers and not to produce wine this year. On the other side, both in Northern and in Southern Piedmont, some small wine producers have given up cultivating their vineyards – they are going to rent out their small properties or are compelled to transfer their vineyards to big landowners. Many people say that, for Italian agriculture and viticulture, this crisis is the worst one after the World War II. And we don’t know whether and when it will come to an end.”

Paolo Orlandi, Azienda Agricola La Cà
Località Ravinali 25 – 12060 Roddi CN – Italy