The Wine World Today Meets Pope Francis

E' stato fissato oggi l'incontro tra il Papa Francesco Bergoglio e i sommelier, produttori, enologi e viticoltori del territorio italiano, circa 180 persone un'occasione unica nella storia del vino.

The wine world is closely tied to the history of the Catholic Church, a symbolic bond traced back above all to the Last Supper, when Jesus distributed bread as a symbol of his body and wine as the symbol of his blood, offered for the sacrifice of all humanity – a ritual re-enacted at every Eucharistic celebration.

But Papa Francesco Bergoglio is not strongly connected to wine solely as a symbol of Christianity, but also because he is the grandson of a Piedmontese winegrower, which is why he often draws on wine-world references even during his homilies. The wine world has indeed paid tribute to the Pope through an audience open to various representatives of vino italiano, an absolutely special and exceptional event given the meeting with the Holy Father.

Today is the scheduled appointment between Papa Francesco and the finest sommelier, producers, enologists and winegrowers of the Italian territory – all will attend an audience at the Vatican on January 21st, a unique opportunity for the companies that will have the chance to meet the Pope.

"The Pope loves wine" – these are the words of Franco Ricci, president of the Fondazione Italiana Sommelier that organized the meeting, having conceived this particular gathering precisely from the Pope's love for wine, valued not only for its Christian symbolism but also for its hedonistic dimension.

At the audience with the Pope there will be as many as 180 people; the sommeliers present will gift the Pope a tastevin – the silver cup used by sommeliers for wine tasting – the symbol of the sommelier, which they will wear along with their traditional uniform for the occasion. At the audience with the Pope there will also be more than 50 prominent producers from the Italian wine scene, such as Angelo Gaja, Nicolò Incisa, and enologists such as Riccardo Cotarella, as well as representatives from Slow Food and Gambero Rosso.