The Art of Wine Storytelling is the latest contribution in the prolific career of our very own Professor Attilio Scienza. Made possible through the generous support of Terra Moretti, The Art of Wine Storytelling is a bilingual book (English and Italian) published earlier this year to coincide with the Professor’s 80th birthday.
Despite his advancing years, Professor Scienza remains one of the most hardworking and in-demand voices on the Italian wine scene. In a recent interview with Giulio Somma, editor of Il Corriere Vinicolo, Professor Scienza expanded on some of the core themes of the book, including the ancient secrets of effective storytelling.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has listened to Scienza speak on the subject of wine in recent years that he believes that wine storytelling must take an approach that is both scientific and humanities-based. Indeed, the ability to communicate in a way that reflects both science and the arts is a key theme of The Art of Wine Storytelling.
“The first mission of a communicator”, Scienza explains, “is to tell the story of the origins, vocations, dramas and successes of the producer and those who work there…” . And, according to Scienza, one of the most powerful rhetorical tools for doing so is the metaphor. Whether that be the cult of the hero, the drama of the journey, the conflict and opportunity of the border, or the pain and suffering of anguish, metaphors have long been used in storytelling, not least the story of wine.
But Scienza also believes this is“a historic moment to reconsider the rhetoric of wine”, and emphasizes the importance of digital technology, of blogs, photos, videos and podcasts, for communicating ideas and telling the story of a brand, which, he says, can have a “strong emotional impact”.
Indeed, in a recent episode of Everybody Needs a Bit of Scienza on the Italian Wine Podcast (Episode 2292), Scienza responded to a question about the use of AI in the winemaking process, emphasizing that there were many different types of AI being deployed in the vineyard but that it is an “ancillary relationship” in which AI can help the wine maker confront issues like climate change and plant disease. In the same episode, Stevie Kim also took the opportunity to question Scienza about The Art of Wine Storytelling, to which he responded by emphasizing the ancient history of storytelling before setting out his “secrets” to being an effective wine storyteller.
Top Scienza hack: to get the most from ENBS if you’re not a native speaker, reduce the playback speed to 0.8 and see how much you can understand!
Remember, if you’ve got a question for Professor Scienza drop us a line at: info@italianwinepodcast.com.
The Art of Wine Storytelling is available now from Mamma Jumbo Shrimp.
