Ruenza Santandrea is the first woman to preside over the Consorzio Vini di Romagna since its foundation in 1962. We asked her three simple questions to better understand the role of a revolutionary body, which has united almost 120 producers for a production that exceeds 110 million bottles per year, almost 80% of all the wine produced in the region.
President Santandrea, why was the Consorzio Vini di Romagna born and with what objectives?
Local history tells us of a land in constant evolution, crossed by deep divisions. The Romans and the Goths first, the Lombards and the Byzantines then, finally the struggles between the Papal State and the Lords. There is no doubt that a social dimension has been stratified in Romagna characterized by the presence of strong parochialism and proud identities. A fortune for the richness and cultural diversity, but often a stumbling block to common, wide-ranging planning. The Consortium was created to promote the many Romagna wines under the name "Romagna". It was one of the first Italian consortia to combine different types of wine. Not with the intention of homogenizing them, but to fully enhance the differences starting from a common matrix: the extraordinary landscape and cultural mosaic of the Romagna lands. The Consortium gave a new unity of intent to the producers and really managed to bring many wines of this land to a reputation never achieved before.
In your opinion, what are the main goals achieved by the Consortium today?
One of the greatest achievements is that of having contributed to creating a common ground for talking about Romagna wines, tracing a sort of identity card of the enological Romagna. Defining Romagna has always been difficult, as well as tracing its borders. Yet today we have managed to create a precise map of the subzones of our Sangiovese. In this way we helped to get to know the incredible pedoclimatic variety of Romagna, demonstrating that the identity of wines really changes according to their territory of origin. It can be said that we have shown the depth of the Romagna winemaking soul by bringing out its thousand different nuances.
What are the most pressing challenges for the near future? And what projects are you putting in place?
The first is to increase the knowledge of the Sangiovese sub-areas to give commercial value to a long and tiring process of zoning. The second is to talk about the territory, as we are also doing through the Postcards from Romagna - Mosaic of Life project. Make Romagna really known, beyond its sea and its coasts. I am convinced that we cannot talk about wine without talking about the territory. And Romagna has as many territories as wines: landscapes, villages, hills, mountains and wonderful natural areas that deserve to be discovered and recognized. I am sure that by knowing more about the cultural background of Romagna, we can better appreciate the qualitative efforts of our wine producers.