Above: A screen capture of Fulvio Bressan’s Facebook, taken yesterday shortly after 3 p.m. CST.
Racially charged comments posted on Facebook yesterday by Friulian grape grower and winemaker Fulvio Bressan have sparked outrage in the online food and wine community.
In a statement evidently addressed to Italian integration minister Cécile Kyenge — Italy’s first African-Italian minister — Bressan offered his opinion on a recently implemented government program that provides temporary housing for undocumented immigrants.
A transcription of his post (subsequently removed by him) and an English translation (mine) follow:
- hei… sporca SCIMMIA Nera… io NON PAGO le TASSE per mettere i tuoi amici GORILLA in HOTEL… per favore portateli a casa tua, dove puoi fare la grande con i tuoi soldi… Ops… Non sono tuoi neanche quelli… perché te li danno gli Italiani… NEGRA MANTENUTA di MERDA…
hey, dirty Black MONKEY, I DON’T PAY TAXES to put your GORILLA friends up at a HOTEL. Please take them to your house where you can be the big shot with all that money of yours. Oops. That money isn’t even yours. Because Italians give you that money. YOU SHITTY NEGRO GOLD DIGGER.
The post was first brought to the attention of U.S.-based wine bloggers in a tweet posted late yesterday by Italian wine educator Hande Leimer who works and resides in Rome.
In a Facebook note posted today, Ms. Leimer shared a screen capture of Bressan’s comments with Facebook users.
By the early afternoon in Italy, the note had generated nearly eighty comments. Most were by outraged readers who condemned Bressan’s statements.
“Dear Mr. Bressan, you disgust me,” wrote one Facebook user. “What you wrote about Dr. Kyenge is unspeakable. I too will boycott your wines. Vergogna [shame on you]!”
Do Bianchi 
This decidedly bums me out. One of my favorite wineries producing some of my favorite wines and, in Fulvio, someone who I’ve met on several occasions – whose family I’ve met – and and felt friendship with. Man.
You should choose your ” friends” more carefully . His wines may be good ( I do not know and never will ! ) but he is racist scum and in my small way I will make sure I or none of my friends ever buy this ” dirty ” wine ever.
I’m glad I got the opportunity to enjoy Fulvio’s wines previously because after reading these comments, I can’t see myself supporting him any longer.
This make me so sad. It’s shocking and deeply disturbing to learn that the man behind some of my most favorite wines can’t see the beauty in humanity that we see (saw) in his wines.
Nothing easier than skip to drink his wines, it’s a pity because one or two are good wines bit this sentence is unacceptable
Bummer. I’ve enjoyed his wines in the past. I won’t be doing so in the future.
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Vergona indeed!
Bressan must have been bombed to let his true nature show – a disgusting and sad thing. We have removed his wines from our inventory.
Great choice Jamie! It’s really sad as Italian to share my country with someone like this.
I guess this sort of makes him the Ty Cobb of the wine world.
I am old enough and grown up enough to be responsible for my actions. My FB rant was offensive… sure it was as it wanted to be! If people expects an apology from me… they can keep waiting.
I speak my mind always and freely as I am a free man. And as such I hate mostly of all hypocrites.
And since my comments created a lot of noise there is no better occasion to add couple of notes and explain myself better; and if this as a result will get rid of some low brained false people that is truly welcome to me.
By any means I do not distinguish between people by wealth sex race or religion. I have friends of different races I have people of different races working with me… so I do not believe I am a racist. But to all the scandalized people about that comment… you definitely do. I am enraged toward a person that uses public money, MY money!, in a state of financial distress of my country, by helping illegal immigrations and criminals while the regular ones and the citizens are suffering. And I will use whatever word I want to express myself. So if I compare someone to an animal and they get offended so be it. My target indeed was to use the most offensive word I could use on that person. And I do not regret having use it.
I feel that this is a world that is becoming way too politically correct and where you can say whatever you want to certain people but not to others. If ever there is a reverse racism If you are fine with people that prevaricates your rights that is your problem not mine.
And since I am talking to people from the other side of the big pond and of which I thank you for having bought my wines in the past and maybe no more I have some words for you too.
First of all , grow some balls since it seems you are missing them as well as a free mind ..
If you are offended by my rants… just don’t read them. But if you do, stop using those as a pathetic low way of promoting and marketing yourself. And I am particularly talking to you, yes you are one of the many, but is easy to pick on you, Mr. “well-dressed” Bobby Stuckey: I truly despise you.
You claim that you will remove the wines from your list…. Such an honor!!!!! I would be very surprised if you bought a six packs every three years, would be also awesome if you weren’t charging close to 500% on your cost to put it on the list, that would be really great. But what pisses me off is that you do just to fill up a line on the wine list because you have to… while what you really want is shoveling down the throat that frigging chemical shit bomb that you have someone making for you and that you dare calling a wine from Friuli ; an offense to my land, an offense to the vineyards of Friuli, not to mention to the producers that work this land from generations, like me: only appropriate decision is the name Scarpetta, because no hands or brain has been used to make that wine but it surely “fatto con i piedi” (Don’t worry you will make the James Beard final next year as well…).
And I could keep going… I have some for everyone… if you dare. So if you don’t like me please DON’T buy my wines; remove me from the list and talk to your other bubble heads friends how bad I am; just don’t use my wines and my vines for your personal interest, cowards! You are just a crowd of sheeps that accept everything and more… sometimes I wonder how it is possible…. But then I see that you have a president that always says one thing and does just the opposite… that kills without due process foreigners and his own citizens with drones, that spies on them while denies doing so, that keeps torturing people while says that he is shutting down such operations, that shows his wife growing an organic garden home but then elects Monsanto executives to run FDA and to approve and jug on your plates GMO all over… but whatever he does it it’s fine…. (not to mention that he got a Nobel Prize to his intention it would be like me saying I am going to make the best wine of the world and getting 100 points in advance of making it)…. If he were of another race you will be ask impeachment! But again I am the bad person. Fine with me. And to me you are the ones offensive and close minded, you are racist.
Just a final note; boycotting my wines will not hurt me or relatively speaking very little so. I make wines for few; already the majority of the people who drink my wines cannot understand them. I am wealthy enough to be, have and do what I want. Boycotting my wines will hurt the people in this business that buy and resell my wines; at least for a short period. They and I will find others who are not so close minded and fake that look for reality not formality.
Fulvio Luca Bressan of Bressan Mastri Vinai.
Sei un bastardo (ti sei offeso?) Uno scimmione leghista..I tuoi vini out forever. Se ti incontro alla prossima fiera con mio figlio(misto) te lo dico in faccia e se continui ti sfondo.You’re a bastard ,i’ll boycott your wines forever and if i’ll meet you in the next wine fair, with my son (black with alovely wonderfoul black girl) i’ll ….you..Sheetman. (uomo di merda).I’m glad that this it’s what a lot of italians are going to do it.If you’re offended for this comment i’ll repeat it in your white monkey face.Di mastro non hai nulla sei uno stronzo.
Eroe, perché non ti firmi?
Fulvio,
Nothing in any of your unapologetic, post-facto rants justifies the fact that you could easily have made your politically-motivated comment without a single one of the racially-charged epithets you decided to include (presumably for emphasis but clearly without regard to what reasonable people would find offensive or hurtful). The right thing to do – the ballsy, mature, adult thing to do – would be to issue a formal apology immediately.
Your reply confirms that not only you are an offensive character but more broadly sound like a perfect a.. h…e with a weird high opinion of himself . Get lost and stuff your wines up your bum . That should hopefully hurt more .
Ma che cosa dici buffone. Non capisci la differenza tra esprimere un’idea e offendere oltre i limiti della legge, della decenza e del senso civico. I tuoi vini li puoi colare giu’ nella tazza del cesso. Spero tutti facciano la stessa cosa.
Fulvio Luca Bressan of Bressan Mastri Vinai,. thank you for your comments sir and I will search to find where I can buy your wines. My hope is that by drinking them I will gain the courage and forthrightness that you display
Aye! You look stupid, I didn’t think it could get any worse… Then you opened your mouth, man you are one stupid human being…
So let me get this straight… Your fore-parents left some wealth for you, you grew into a man and didn’t do anything for yourself, because obviously by the way you look and sound (forget about the cigarette) you are a LOSER!
It appears you dump everything from the refrigerator into your gut, and someone opened you skull top and dumped garbage into it. What an ASSHOLE!
Fulvio,
I’m apalled. What a disaster of a response to a completely inexcusable rant to begin with. Your refusal to apologize to the person most due your apology is telling. Democracy means tolerating the opinions and actions of others even when you disagree with them. Who among us actually likes our politicians all of the time? Disagreement with policy is no excuse for racist character assassination.
Mr. Bressan,
Thank you for clarifying that you are truly a racist, There are a million labels produced every year, as such consumers have choices, and have the opportunity to support or reject what you espose.. Whether the marketplace chooses to drink bottles of your bile, remains to be seen
All the best,
Nannette Eaton
I loved his wines at Vinitaly, they’ve been in my mind on and off ever since, but I’ll never drink another. I think it would leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
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And who’s the coward who took his comments down after the firestorm, Fulvio?
There are racists, and then there are the mentally ill. Bressan manages both. He shames everyone in the wine business. And we are all responsible for making certain his wines never see the light of day.
It is always the gambit of the paranoid and psychotic to shout “Hypocrite” at their detractors. No one hears you, Fulvio, because you’re nuts.
Thank you, Jeremy, for outing this moron. I eagerly anticipate his obituary.
If you have surmised correctly then Fulvio is in dire need of help. If it is a psychotic break then the final outcome may mitigate the circumstances. But it will not erase the racist implications regardless of how many darkly pigmented people he calls friends or colleagues.
Although, if it is just a full-throated expression of hate and prejudice without mental defect then a steep price will be paid. His wines will ultimately reflect the bitterness and inhumanity of its producer. The market for such swill is small indeed.
Fulvio is entitled to his rant. He is basically expressing what racist
Americans say about the immigrants in America. lots of hypocrisy out there and this guy is not having it. Was it wrong to blast someone based on their race that they have no control over? yes that’s terrible just like people that treat women different just for being women. They cant help it if they were born a woman or black or asian or whatever. However this guy has ranted and is not giving insincere apologies. I rather have him stick to his rant than apologize and we all know he would only apologize for his career’s sake… ahem! Paula Deen.
I am venetian, and from one side I understand (but ABSOLUTELY not agree with ) this. I mean, north of Italy is well notorious for his racist tendency. Late economy and political groups like Padania are very influential on middle class people and the response to this, instead of an analysis of the situation and finding real solutions (like increasing the working hours to adapt to a worldwide market for exporting companies I’d say), people are often directing their frustration to minorities.
If you walk into an average “piazza” (town square) bar those kind of externalizations are part of the daily basis.
Luckily the rest of the world have a different reaction, and there is a better understanding of what “Global” means.
But if you walk into a north of Italy bar, the rich north, the one of the big money companies, of the genius man that in 1 generation gave life to big industries, you will still find an old and classist and obsolete mentality, bigot and ignorant on the big scheme. And that was the reason why I have lived in London for the last 7 years.
If you say negro to somebody in Uk, people will stone you on the street, if you say negro to someone where I use to live in Italy, people will probably clap you and still say “there was less problems before those people arrived to steal our job”. That is the true reality people, listen to me, ignorant mentality is killing the Italian economy, we have a lot of weapons now to survive the crisis, facebook and social marketing are two of them.
No matter how small is your room, if your face is notorious and your profile is public, when you shoot on facebook you shoot globally and the community will punish you.
Well done people, make some noise against this shame!
Ma ti rendi conto che stai parlando ai discendenti di quelli che hanno fatto i negrieri, i mercanti di schiavi, gli schiavizzatori nelle piantagioni di cotone?
Ti senti emancipato e moderno a scrivere queste cazzate?
Non ho capito bene tu come la pensi. MA se vuoi dimmi dove contattarti in privato e ti daro’ i miei dati se ho capito bene e quello che vuoi?
Gran risposta. Fanno tutti i moralisti da weekend così vengono “accettati” e conformano bene coi loro amici.
Ciò mona, prova ndare a stare par na s-cianta de mesi in Francia o in teronia e pidopo, forse, te capisi che chi da noialtri el rasismo el xè poco poco.
Post che solo tu capisci.. forse e’ meglio.. L’italia va a fondo agli occhi del mondo e noi ci chiudiamo a chiave nella cantinetta dove siamo “Re nudo” senza scettro e senza trono. Aprite gli occhi. Il razzismo fa schifo. Punto e basta
First of all, Bressan acts as if Kyenge is the first Italian minister to ever spend public money on immigrants. Why is his outrage specific to HER and why does the outrage then have to be about race and not about political decisions,
Second of all, Italy has one of the highest levels of tax evasion in the OECD. I’m pretty sure those numbers include many more Italians evading taxes than they include illegal immigrants evading… So who is it actually that is putting the most burden on Italy’s public coffers? Maybe he has derogatory remarks about his fellow tax evading Italians too… But he was quite specific in identifying apes as being the cause of the problems…
Third of all, are all the immigrants to this country black? I mean, it seems as though he has a particular axe to grind with BLACK people. I’m black. I live in Italy. I pay taxes every year with no deductions. I pay for his friends who evade taxes because they are actually the ones who are dragging down this country…
Fourth, Bressan acts as though this country is not overburdened with politicians, cough cough Berlusconi, who are guilty of all the stuff he is screaming about– where is the anger against the president of Lazio region and all his friends who were making close to half a million dollars by RIPPING OFF tax payers.
I could almost get behind the rationale Bressan offers for his rant if it followed a logical process and were equal opportunity, because the stuff he cites is not limited to black illegal immigrants, nor is it unique to Kyenge.
If he’s going to hate for those reasons, he needs to hate on everyone who fits the bill, not pick and choose. Otherwise, he’s just being racist.
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bad news make always more noise than good news.. but believe me this is italy where the people on the beach helps boat people http://www.paroladiugo.it/2013/08/17/a-pachino-siracusa-i-bagnanti-salvano-gli-immigrati-foto/. hello to all
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I hope the collective memory of the wine industry is long enough to make a real point about Fulvio Bressan’s racism and intolerance…There should be a boycott and this story should be blasted for all to see. He is a disgrace and a shame.
F- this guy and the crappy Enya track on his website.
There is far too much great wine in this world made by people who are not total fckn’ fcks.
Did this Fulvio Bressan post a comment in this thread? Or was that pasted in from his facebook page? I am curious if he is reading blogs to do his form of damage control (which translates to cementing his racism and making things worse).
There is a load of appalling invective here, and I will boycott Bressan’s products, too, but my immediate reaction to one post above is why Ms Carey thinks women and/or people of color should help it if they could? It sounds like there is something wrong with it. Poor us? If only we could become white males? That can’t be right.
Dedicated to the ones that are looking to make scandal with news without paying attention to the facts:
With calm mind I would like to explain my position:
First I APOLOGIZE for the words used to that person… but I point out that they were dictated by Rage in seeing PUBLIC MONEY thrown away by this Minister, paid by Italians.
It is true as well that if I see Minister Kyenge in distress in a treacherous sea, I would be the first one to jump to rescue her… but after I make sure she is safe I will reiterate what I personally believe of her doing…
This to make clear that I am far away from any RACISM, to the point that in my close friends group there are black, Jews and other races.
Again my words have been HEAVY but when someone acts with passion there is no middle way.
Let’s rewind and see the reason of my burst:
6 months ago the new Italian Government was born in a dramatic economic situation … bankruptcy +29%, businesses shutting down +32%, real estate market shut… people ending up killing themselves as they could not make it to the end of the month…. People losing their houses and living out in the car… businessmen that lit themselves on fire at the in front of the tax bureaus… a situation becoming every day heavier and heavier… more and more… but no one says anything no one does anything…
In this scenario the Minister Kyenge has nothing better to do than announcing that to enter illegally in Italy is not a felony…
http://voxnews.info/2013/08/22/polizia-contro-kyenge-cie-pieni-di-clandestini-criminali-devastano-e-il-cittadino-paga/
and she gets immediately sued by the competent authorities….
http://voxnews.info/2013/07/23/kyenge-denunciata-per-istigazione-a-delinquere/?fb_action_ids=1408722179350775&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
…but she doesn’t stop and actually goes even further regarding the question of the Islamic veil, by proposing to force Catholic Nouns to take their veil off.
Well dear Sirs is someone comes to your country and start criticizing your culture your uses and traditions and acts without reasonable doubt in order to disadvantage the citizen of that nation in favor of illegal and undocumented immigrants I would like to see your reaction….
http://voxnews.info/2013/08/23/procura-siracusa-contro-kyenge-organizzazioni-mafiose-composte-da-immigrati-dietro-gli-sbarchi/
if ever that is reverse racism, we need to pay attention on how we express our rage to certain groups of people but that cannot happens from them they can say whatever they want with no offense of the public opinion.
To shout scandal to my outburst without even asking why, covering with the hypocrisy of the right minded that all justify and then they go home to their pretty house protected by fences and alarm systems and that they chat with the other high income right minded… did ever these people stopped and spent time to talk to the poor guy down the road that breaks his /her back every day in the open fields?
To the ones that love and respect their own land and that they try to protect from the whoever wants to poison it with chemicals and despite the efforts more often than not cannot defend it… well defending my land is for me also defending the country where is situated, the people that walk on that, they work and sweat on it…
I am of emigrants (… my grandfather from my mother side and his brothers..) they always taught me respect for the others… even if they had to work in places where there were plates saying at the bars “dogs and Italians are not allowed”… that never would have dreamt to say something bad about the country that host them… even if the police was checking them out every time they were coming home from work… they would have never tried to change the culture or to criticize the local tradition because they knew that was a different country with different traditions…
That is RESPECT… not a person that says that is not an Italian (…as Ministro Kyenge) and dilapidates Public Money… so scarce in this terrible state our country verses…
Also I am so racist that I married an alien… and after 3 years of marriage police was still checking on us to see if we lived together or not instead of hunting felons… easy to target the law abiding citizen… I thought that these controls were useful but instead it was a joke … when they built a Centre for Helping Emigrants from Africa near my house… despite the continuous happening of small theft … no one went controlling them… I need to close always everything now cannot work in peace anymore…
That is the environment where I live and thanks to Miss Kyenge I am a foreigner in my own home… so those words were for her and just for her not to all black people …
If an Italian does something illegal in a foreign country becomes immediately a shitty mafia man… right no one scandalizes about that… so stop this fake permissivism and respect… my words are a cry of pain as I see myself becoming stateless in my own home.
I didn’t use alias, like some do, to say what I believe.
The coherence and integrity that I use in my saying I use on everything… cannot find clean water at the end of a river need to go to the spring.
Sorry again if I am not a hypocrite permissivist and treacherously sincere…
Fulvio L. Bressan
Mr.Bressan, think before speak.Please.
You apologize? I think is too late
E’ tardi?Vallo a dire al ministro che ci prende per il culo ogni giorno….e prende per il culo gli immigrati onesti….
Fulvio,
“my words are a cry of pain as I see myself becoming stateless in my own home”
Understood, but everything you detail about the plights within your home country can obviously be stated **without including any reference to race or disparagingly comparing that race to animals**. Your rage, even if justified politically, in no way justifies the addition of racially-charged epithets in your remarks. The fact that you’ve not acknowledged this, and that you have not apologized to Cécile Kyenge by name, makes this apology (which, by the way, constitutes 10 words out of nearly 900 in your response – about 1%) ring hollow.
To all those good, decent folk,
Hear hear. It never fails to amaze me how those individuals who spread hatred do so through a veil of half-truths and ‘perceived reason.’ No different than the KKK message that the rape and murder of an innocent white woman by assailants of another race justifies the condemnation of that entire race. That it was said ‘in anger’ (I believe “In passion there is no middle way” is the correct quote) show ones’ true colors. We heard the ‘I have black friends, therefore I’m not racist’ defense 50 years ago, and it will continue to come up time and time again. So pathetic.
Mr. Bressan,
Didn’t work for Paula Deen. It won’t work for you, either. When the dust settles, when the endorsements go away, when restaurants and retailers have no need or desire for you to come to their establishments and promote your wares, the irony will be this:
You won’t have to pay taxes to this corrupt government, when you have no income.
Cheers,
William
Wow, you are an angry little man.
I understand the troubles your country is going through, the corruption, unemployment, etc.. Many countries are going through problems at the moment, many are much worst than Italy. We all have our issues. I’m Mexican so I can understand when people look down on you or make racist comments about yourself or your own people. However, your comments were racist and you keep re iterating it with all your replies.
The fact that you married an alien, or that you employ people from different countries/races, or that you come from emigrants, says nothing. You are racist, and you are saying it with your comments. Admit it.
Bressan, you doth protest too much. You simply blew it with your racial slurs. Had you posted this instead… no problem.
Hey, ASSHOLE, I DON’T PAY TAXES to put your friends up at a HOTEL. Please take them to your house where you can be the big shot with all that money of yours. Oops. That money isn’t even yours. Because Italians give you that money. YOU SHITTY GOLD DIGGER.
See… just as scathing but no scandal. :-)
I actually Goggled the guy and I couldn’t help but noticed he looked like something that lived on the Serengeti Plain… A water buffalo maybe!? Nasty, dirty man.
Mr. Bressan my Italian husband recalls those same signs regarding No dogs or Italian inside while vacationing in Austria, and yet he is not a racist would never use such hateful language. ? If you are so discontented with the system why not DO something instead of using FB to spew your filth. Better yet, just stop.
When I lived in Germany I was spit on for being a Jew but I dont hate Germans. Yes, Italy is in a crisis, due, mostly to corruption not poor immigramts who come here and do jobs Italians wont do!!! Perhaps a first step would be incentives to keep skilled and educated Italians in Italy.
Your fellow country mates will have to pay for your fat/smoking ass soon enough. So enough complaining about spending your taxes on others. If I use your logic, you should be hated on for being a fat ass, hence costing your country and its people money. Have fun when you get diabetes, your county mates will take care of it.
Immigrants? You’re in country full of immigrants. Sicilians, Sardians, Austrians in Alto Adige, Campanians, and so on. You probably decend from immigrants you ungrateful fat fuck.
Obama is far from perfect, but I sure would rather have him representing me that %100 percent of Italy’s leadership. Uh huh… Burlusconi.
It is amazing that you never once address all of the tax evasion, laws created by Italians which permit tax evasion and fraud, laws created by Italians which have caused all of the misery in your country, public mismanagement of funds which have created mismanagement in your country. Your crooked politicians cost you much more than the “clandestini” you are screaming about. The latest ISTAT figures show that the number of asylum cases granted for humanitarian reasons went down by 50% over last year, to fewer than 25,000 cases. The number of politicians stealing the bread off your table and the money for the public has not decreased by even .0001% and the number of Italians who don’t pay taxes to support their own people is in the millions. You can’t possibly think that the pennies spent on a few immigrants who do jobs that an Italian would rather starve before doing is what is dragging down your country… And you can’t possibly believe that if the government DIDN’T spend that money, your country would miraculously turn around. One last note– Kyenge didn’t set her ministry’s budget, your parliament did. If you really are that angry about it, you shouldn’t be calling her racist and offensive names, you should be calling the OTHER 944 ITALIANS names for approving the budget. I actually am starting to believe you’re not Italian at all, judging by the total ignorance you show of your own country’s laws, cultural, and political fabric.
Do Bianchi – please clarify if Bressan is writing in this blog or if you created an account for him to paste in his facebook posts. It is very helpful if you are pasting them in, to keep his replies circulating – but it should be clear, so that we don’t reply here as if speaking to Bressan if he is not actually on this blog. Please clarify!
It is Bressan. Brilliant comment above, by the way, “Is Bressan really this dumb or is it an act?”
Yes, I ask that you do please continue posting/translating Mr. Bressan’s comments. We are circulating them among the distributors and retailers of his wine in the USA for the purposes of removing his wines from every shop, restaurant, and bar in this country.
I would add that there’s no reasoning with one as blind as Mr. Bressan. We may be incapable of redeeming this man, but surely it is incumbent upon us to reject him.
Mr. Bressan’s comments are certainly consistent with a particular POV but they are clearly out of place in the world most of the folks commenting here (including me) want to live in. The real test will be in a week, a month, a year. We complain about our elected representatives and then re-elect them. We moan about pollution and then throw litter out the car window. So will everyone condemning Mr. Bressan’s words stay active in this fight over time? I have my doubts.
Has Mr. Bressan ever considered therapy? His comments about Bobby Stuckey is beyond the pale and show a combination of immaturity, ego and insecurity.
HAY I know where he might fit in…the TEA party…he’d fit in perfectly with Gohmert, Cruz, Lee and all the others.
while I despise this fat arse, what about all the other italian wine producers who are probably worse than him but live in silence? http://goo.gl/JnX2Ev
Yeah! And what about all the french, spanish, austrian, south african, american, german, australian..? Better stop drinkin’ wine altogether.
Let’s not go overboard here. You can’t indict the whole country on the strength of two wankers.
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That there are other racists in the world, in the wine world, does not forgive Bressan or make his comments acceptable.
In wine, we try to judge wine, not person, but when the person makes himself the issue, then we must also judge the person, and that is why Bressan is condemned.
He could well have objected to the policies surrounding immigrants in Italy without being a bully, a bloated bastard and an arrogant, self-righteous ass.
Too bad, because now we can know longer judge his wines for themselves even though we might want to. He has made himself the issue.
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Mr. Bressan obviously has issues with anger and a very immatire and phallocentric way of responding. But then he picks up so clearly on what is wrong in American food culture. Makes me think he has destroyed the illusion that everyone working in sustainable food and wine is like minded, but we are not.
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His fat ass and tar filled lungs are taxing his country’s social medicine. His soon to be diabetic status will cost his very new country money, why aren’t people ranting about that? Then he has the gall to call out Obama? Look at their illustrious list of leaders…
Not that I care, but using his logic, that is a conclusion I reach.
Thank you Jeremy for posting all this!!
Bressan…you’re a twat and the shame is that there are too many like you in Italy!
I wouldn’t take this so seriously….Italy is a terrible mess both financially and socially as of now and these reactions are to be expected, especially when Kyenge is not exactly “uncontroversial” in Italy. As much as I am not a racist, I always try to disconnect myself and examine things from an objective and unemotional manner. We cannot expect and take for granted that the values and “rules” we have in America apply to the entire planet. Consequentially it is quite presumptuous of us in a way to use our criteria as “universal law”. Italy has always been quite a racist country…even between themselves (North to South, Islands to mainland…) they discriminate. I believe we must contextualize. When I was in Cyprus the Cyprians HATED Turks…and they had reasons…if you go to Palestine, it becomes troublesome to just preach peace with Israelis…things are not so black and white. I feel Bressan’s rant represents the exhaustion of a country facing a definite collapse…and we could talk for days on the “whys”. I would not be so personally aggravated. Words are like farts, they are carried away by the wind.
I posted this comment to Facebook this morning regarding my decision not to taste Bressan’s wines:
Good morning from beautiful California, I have a few final thoughts on the Bressan affair for those who have asked:
The wines of Fulvio Bressan have never been officially reviewed in The Wine Advocate. I have no idea why previous Italian reviewers decided to skip his wines, but they did. That is in their right because at The Wine Advocate we personally select the wines we’d like to include in our reports and we are not obliged to taste every wine made in a specific territory. In most cases, a review in The Wine Advocate is in itself a recommendation and an invitation to participate is part of the selection process.
If you look at our masthead, it reads: “The Independent Consumer’s Guide to Fine Wines.” It doesn’t say all wines. As the Italian Reviewer, I decide.
Had this horrible situation not occurred, I would have most definitely asked Bressan to submit samples for my upcoming Friuli report. Had he consented, it could have been the first time he would appear in The Wine Advocate. This is what I had written on the eRobertParker Bulletin Board: “His wines, those terrific territory-specific nuances, the excruciatingly long macerations, the maniacal vineyard care have always impressed me.” In my previous role as Italian Editor with the Wine Enthusiast, I gave his 2003 Pinot Grigio 93 points. Published in 2006, that review remains the highest score ever awarded to an Italian Pinot Grigio in that magazine.
I have visited with Bressan, been on his rant-filled mailing list for years, and tasted his wines regularly over the past decade. I felt a degree of “simpatia” for the guy: I know that Bressan’s opinions have the subtly of a sledgehammer, but that’s what I liked about him. I also liked that his strength of character shows so clearly in his wines. The Bressan signature touch transcends blind tasting, open tasting, any formal tasting really, because no one makes wines quite like him. They are quintessentially “personality-driven” expressions.
But after reading that he had called Italy’s first Italian-African minister “a dirty black monkey,” (it doesn’t get more textbook racist than that) I knew those wines would leave a sour taste in this critic’s mouth. The proverbial line had been crossed.
The decision not to review Bressan in my upcoming Friuli report was not taken lightly and was discussed in detail over four long days on the http://www.erobertparker.com Bulletin Board. In fact, the thread I started Aug. 26th entitled “Bressan and Racism” has been the top topic of conversation ever since with thousands of views and more than 100 carefully considered comments from our subscribers. The overwhelming majority expressed – on no uncertain terms – that they wanted nothing to do with Bressan’s wines. My obligation is to my reader, and together we concluded that wines made by someone with such extreme racist views were not of interest to our vibrant community of fine wine lovers and leaders.
The decision was simple and it makes me feel good on a basic, human level.
As I am doing here, I will add a line to my introductory text explaining why I have excluded Bressan from my tasting to address the concerns of readers who may not have followed this discussion. That way, readers can make an informed decision whether they are still interesting in seeking out Bressan’s wines. As for Bressan, I’m sure he will survive this dark phase and perhaps he will emerge a better man.
Let him macerate on his own skin so to speak, for a long, long time…
Best,
Monica Larner
Everyone constantly rapping at him don’t realize that you are promoting him even more. Especially the journalists. There is no such thing as “bad publicity”. I have been told already by at least 5 different people that they bought his wines these days since everyone is talking about the name and they don’t care about his comments.
Outraged by this idiot’s stupidity! Here is some practical action taken by our dear friend chef Jacob Kenedy at his London restaurant Bocca di Lupo… Others should follow the example!
This is just silly…it’s using someone else’s controversial post to promote yourself.
Promote myself? I design buildings, my dear friend….
I don’t think he meant you who posted the video…but the metro-sexual fellow who made it.
Dude…for real ? A little youtube video of the guy and his buddies clapping as he acts out his little theater scene breaking bottles on the ground ? What is he trying to prove ? …or to obtain for that matter. I hope at least after that he felt emancipated and “modern”…and mopped up the glass from the street too.
Oh and I love the very CASUAL and COINCIDENTAL filming of the nice big restaurant name at the end…just so all the aggravated modern and emancipated people can then flock to his business and give him more money. You see how ridiculous this is ?
Diverting the attention from the real topic of this blog doesn’t really help your case: rather than concentrating on a name of a restaurant (even if? good on them for putting their name clearly on the line rather than hiding then behind a nickname) we should be here talking about a series of stupid idiot comments made by someone who should be ashamed to call himself an Italian… He is another of the few who are putting to the eyes of the World a whole nation to shame…. The good people of Italy are not like this, I want to say it loud and clear…. Shame on him and shame on anyone else who can even contemplate the possibility of remotely justifying any of the things he said…. As someone said, you have lost a good chance to keep your mouth shut! …. Having a different opinion on immigration laws is understandable, using a string of insults and racial comments is sad and stupid to say the least…
Have a great day all..
“good” people, “bad” people…who are we to judge. More accurate to say “people like us”, “people not like us”. I refuse to be a moralist and feel like I am a “good person”, or “better” than others, no matter how I disagree with words used by Bressan.
What is sad..is people like this clown in the video, usurping a controversial topic to serve his benefit….and by doing so, actually proves Bressan right on his post above over 2 weeks ago : “…just don’t use my wines and my vines for your personal interest, cowards!”
What is sad is people like you not sparing a single word condemning racial abuses … And with this I rest my case, can’t see any point in carrying on having an argument with you… P.S. between being a clown and an ignorant racist I definetly opt for the first… At least I can make some people laughing rather than sadden them with a medieval way of thinking… Cheers! I raise my glass to hope, hope that one day men will see in diversity something not to be afraid of but something that can enrich their life… Cheers to you and to Bressan, cause after all you are just the result of the society and environment you are soaked in…. Have a lovely evening, peace and love :-)
Excuse me…I’ve actually condemned it many times. Just because I don’t embark in a crusade doesn’t mean I support his words. Let’s be balanced here please.
Luca Frasca, you may also want to read up on this article (UNEP study). I think you’ll understand the Bressan-affaire better…
http://www.unep.org/gc/gc21/NR%20_18.doc
Ah Diego you are using the worst means to create an apology for such scum. I am Italian and totally ashamed. Buy all the wine from Mr Bressan and drink it yourself. Cheers
Ma ce l’hai su con tutti quelli che non la pensano come te ?
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Softer, gentler on ratche ass racists never! I’ll give them only a taste of their own poison! Fuck softer and gentler! Africans at home and abroad need to put a collective curse on the heads of all those racist, fascist dickless, baby boy fuckers! My parents should have prepared me better to deal with this racist bullshit! All Im seeing is red. And this asshole is wearing it! No more fucking misses nice girl regarding this issue! Italians want Africans out of Italy then those hairy apes need to get the duck out of Africa and the country Africa built with their blood sweat and tears! Europeans want to go live in everybody else’s country but they want Africans out of theirs! This fascist audacity makes me wanna take some action against this sweaty punk ass bitch. Africa begins at Rome muthafucker. Your grandfather was an Africa you dirty pussyhole cock sucker!
From 1912 to 1927, Italian North Africa (Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica) was an entity to itself, and from 1934 to 1941, Italian North Africa was united into the single colony of Italian Libya. But in 1939 coastal Italian Libya was added to metropolitan Italy, while Saharan Italian Libya remained as a colonial territory under military control.
From 1942 to 1943 Tunisia was added, and was administered as part of the Fourth Shore of Italy.
great post… :-\
Please please please don’t speak on behalf of an entire nation, this is why racism exists. “Italians want Africans out of their country…” you can’t generalize a whole nation based on a few people’s actions. That is how racism continues to exist. We (all people who aren’t ignorant and have common sense) must hold the individuals who commit these heinous acts of hate accountable – NOT condemn an entire nation because of those evil people.
I’m Italian and highly ashamed of these racist people – my family is mixed and things like this should NOT divide races, it should bring the good people (of all races) together to fight it. Calling Italians dirty hairy apes, is no better than Bressan’s comments. It’s the exact same thing!!!
You’re just continuing the vicious cycle of hate and racism and adding gas to the fire – by fighting hate with hate. We’re ALL upset and angry over this situation – you can see for yourself above. I’m an immigrant as well, in Canada from Italy, and I believe whole-heartedly in immigration. People should be dispersed all over the world and more racial integration needs to happen – so we can all grow together. The ideas that countries belonging to a certain people should exist! The earth belongs to us all and we all deserve respect and should give equal respect in return. I understand you’re upset, but “Italians want Africans out of Italy” is a false statement because I certainly don’t and I know many more Italians who have no issue with immigration.
Italy has some of the most lenient immigration laws in the European Union – with most coming from Eastern Europe and Africa. Italy accepts boat loads of people on a daily basis from neighboring countries, unlike America where Mexicans get shot (legally) if they try to cross the Texas border for a better life. Boat loads of people coming into Italy is not a rare thing and yes it hurts the government and the citizens of the country, since there is already a crisis. But the Italian people are not monsters – just some of them and monsters exist in every color and on every piece of soil, regardless what country you’re in. However, that is no excuse for racism and ignorance. There IS no excuse for that – no matter how upset you are.
To Bressan, I came to Canada and took some jobs here that Canadians could have benefited from – but my family came here for a better life and Canada has treated me well – apart from some discrimination against Italians. Canada is made of immigrants and it’s a such a beautiful thing. People wanting to come to Italy for a better life should be flattering. Italy had problem BEFORE immigration and rather than fighting those who want a better life, why don’t you start by attacking the infestation of corruption that has poisoned and crippled the republic of Italy instead? If Italy had its stuff together, then they would be more equipped to handle immigration while balancing unemployment.
This is all too sad.
Bressan’s wines taste bad.Very bad
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