Gregory Perrucci
Felline Agricola srl
Manduria
Italia Italia ”
IN ENGLISH
NO Tariffs on Wine. NO Tariffs on Culture.
The Honorable Robert Lighthizer
U.S. Trade Representative
Executive Office of the President
600 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Re: Opposition to Imported Wine Tariffs
Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:
My name is Gregory Perrucci. I represent the third generation of a family wine business in Puglia. We don’t make “just another wine”, one of the many european wines that could be hurt by the new tariffs your Government intends to apply as of 2020.
We produce Primitivo di Manduria, the “twin brother” of your Californian Zinfandel.
I would start by this coincidence to explane why your intention to put tariffs on wine is deeply wrong and unfair.
The purpose of the tariffs is to retaliate Europe for the Airbus affair which involves a few european innovative high tech corporations, governments, space research centers, political lobbies and representatives.
But wine in Europe is not at all a similar “european” industry: the wine is the farest and naive business in terms of modern and sophisticated technological and capitalistic competition.
From millennia, still today, it is just the result of heart/plants/sun/man work yearly relationship.
Nonetheless, the wine is the main foundation of European Culture: it’s a product around which not only businesses, but even values, thoughts, principles, alliances have been developed along centuries. Most of them are still common heritage of Western Countries.
Culture cannot be the target for an economic retaliation.
We all stood up against Isis militants, haters of our Culture, devastating and damaging historical monuments in Middle East.
The attack to European Wine, is an attack to our Culture. And not only. It is the attack to your own Culture too, as wine is part of our common civilization.
Of course, your tariffs would dramatically impact on thousands of European family businesses, like mine, that – established in their own land – oversee the sensitive balance between agriculture and climate by making a product loved by passionate and enthusiast consumers.
The same people who love, study, drink and compare the “two twin brothers” Primitivo and Zinfandel all over the world. You may think to take advantage by killing one of the brother?
It would be a great mistake as european wines are closely linked to California, Oregon, Washinghton, Virginia wines: they have the same cultural roots and live thank to the same lively and aware audience of consumers devoted to pairing good wines to tasty and healthy “mangiare”.
For this reason I would extend this claim also to all european food products: most of whom are original, traditional, safe because intimately linked to a growing sustainable and organic agriculture. Also these new agricultural models are adopted and implemented by your innovative producers. If you hurt European Food & Wine, you will hurt the entire Cultural heritage America draw from. And we are not simply talking about economic numbers, but mainly about quality of what we and next generations will feed ourselves.
Please, take your time and think about it. Hopefully having a glass of Zinfandel/Primitivo.
Gregory Perrucci
Felline Agricola srl
Manduria
ITALY
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