Gianfranco, Why Are You Sniffing an Empty Glass?

Following a link from The Pour yesterday, I came across a funny sight that still mystifies me: a photo of a man pretending to sniff wine from an empty glass. The man was Gianfranco Soldera, and I swear to god,  not only did that glass have nothing in it, it had no appearance of ever having any red wine in it, at least any brunello di montalcino, which is what this man made. Now, this jovial and grandfatherly looking fellow makes rather expensive wine (as Eric mentions, and that’s why I followed his link, to check him out since we’re making sangiovese from the brunello clone)—the most I saw on a quick search was $350 for a 1991—so why this empty-glass photo?

My first impression: Why would any Italian producer of brunello di montalcino, no matter how genial appearing, be goofing on imagery associated with its sales and promotion given the ongoing backlash from Montalcino’s big grape fiasco/scandal (seriously, if people don’t trust that you—any producer, that is—used the proper grapes, do you think it helps consumers any more when you show yourself pretending to sniff an empty glass?). My second thought was just “Why?” Why would an accomplished guy who obviously has the goods and is making big bucks have such laughable imagery on his site? Did he think we wouldn’t notice? I won’t settle for the argument that he may not know about or care about the marketing particulars and how he leaves that to others blah blah because this man DID pose for the sniffing-a-clean-glass photo. I don’t get it. Help me out here.

It’s like those pictures of European countrysides on websites that clearly represent USA products. Or sleeping children who are clearly not asleep, but that’s what the camera wants you to think, and that’s what the company uses to sell. Aesthetic illusions that stand for what? Reality? How are these meant to be meaningful, when they’re not authentic? I just wonder, how prevalent is this “Emperor has no clothes” syndrome? Or maybe the question better asked is, why is it tolerated? And by so many? Because, besides the poor choice of “prop” our dear Gianfranco is set up with, just how many nose-in-the-wine-glass, or the contrived hold-up-the-wine-glass-and-smile, or fake dirty hand images do we need? Please forgive me for saying this, but all this feels like a whole bunch of lowest-common-denominator going on.

I’m probably mixing thought trains up now, the idea of aesthetic illusions and conformity; the idea of “idle chatter” showing up in imagery again and again; of dumbing down, and by extension homogenizing, the face a company shows to the public because that’s what “they” SAY sells, instead of a company making it their own, uncopyable and distinct. But so be it. (Baby Sam still wakes me up each night and let’s just say my focus is not as sharp as I’d like.) Anyway, that’s what I wondered about. All from that empty-glass sniffing. I think I need to revisit Heidegger (it’s been many years since my under-grad days), get a little different perspective on the world around me. But with a FULL glass of something by my side.