Donna Vittori and Innovation in Agriculture

After Seoul and Korea, Brussels has also arrived! After Jennie Kim from Black Pink, who filmed the TV series “My Name is Maria” (read more) with us, the Honorable Dario Nardella from the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament arrived.

What he said: “Thank you for your hospitality and it seems to me that you are a company with a long history that goes father back in time than establishing Donna Vittori Borgo Agricolo only 3 years ago! One can see that there is love, enthusiasm and also strategy behind it.”

This compliment filled me with pride and left me recalling all the obstacles that we had to overcome over the years, many of which were clearly unnecessary. I don't know why, but I am always reminded of Hamlet's soliloquy when he had to decide whether to endure or confront his fate, “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

I learned Hamlet in English and always watched it played in English. So, I went and read the translation of “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” We are all a little bit of Hamlet when making decisions affecting our lives. As always when doing something exhilarating, satisfactions and disappointments are extremes.

This weekend, I reflected on the course we originally embarked upon almost unconsciously with a few friends and family members, with no previous knowledge about, or experience in, agriculture. We got caught up in Maria’s enthusiasm and her passion for wine.

Because of that, we made all the mistakes that could be made. To purchase a nice hill to plant the vineyard, we signed 25 different land purchase deeds!

We planted the vineyard in the driest season! There followed the rainiest season in recent history, which brought blight that killed the vines. The grapes and wheat we planted were often first enjoyed by wild boars, causing us to bemoan our fate.

We planted the vineyard in the driest season! There followed the rainiest season in recent history, which brought blight that killed the vines. The grapes and wheat we planted were often first enjoyed by wild boars, causing us to bemoan our fate.

But of all the problems that we faced, the agricultural problems and market positioning strategy of our Donna Vittori --the Borgo Agricolo with no previous history-- were the most challenging, even though in retrospect they turned out to be the easiest to address.

The real nightmare was and remain the official bureaucracy, starting with the funding that all young farmers routinely receive, which we were not granted because the Lazio region administration took three long years to publish the necessary notice. And by the time the notice finally was issued, we were too old under the rules (keeping in mind that Maria did not age prematurely!).

We also were prevented from participating in other calls for applications because some document or the other was always missing. I got to the point where I wondered about the real purpose of such a complex administrative machine, which in trying to be efficient, forgot to be effective. I could recount a thousand paradoxical episodes, but only over a good glass of Lettera, our Cesanese del Piglio DOCG.

We are a company that innovates in original ways. When I taught management engineering at Tor Vergata, the most exhilarating course was precisely about innovation. Often times we focus on technological innovation. However, the most compelling is the soft innovation that addresses the strategy of positioning and the relationship with the customer and the market.

The technological solution often has to be purchased, the soft one is achieved through days and nights of study, thought, and internal discussions.

For example:

Problem: although we are in the area of a DOCG, there is no widespread wine culture among people who do not understand the significance of a winery performing tastings that are open to the public. Significantly, no staff can be found who have the necessary knowledge about wine.

Solution: we organized introductory courses on Lazio wines, which imparted the necessary knowledge to people, and automatically to our staff.

Problem: a real restaurant hall has not yet been established, and thus, related services cannot be offered.

Solution: we organize tastings in the style of a club by making people feel at home and teaching them how to properly taste agricultural products. Many times, they tell us that we do tastings “just like in Tuscany.” I reply that we do them just like in Lazio!

Problem: ancient grains have low productivity but are particularly tasty, and we only have small plots that require crop rotation.

Solution: shift from selling the grain to selling the “grain experience.” Thus, the ancient grain becomes an element that adds value to the tourism experience and allows events to be built around its taste. The “grain experience” then must be enhanced with a coordinated cultural image such as a booklet, artistic packaging, and the kindness of welcoming visitors and tourists warmly, in multiple languages. Already two dissertations have been written on this solution: one, in Economics at UNICAS, and the other at the Gambero Rosso Academy.

Today, Donna Vittori is full of young people. When they come, they choose consciously what to drink and leave contented to have spent a happy time discovering about their area something that fills them with pride. And don't tell me any longer that kids don't drink wine. Perhaps we must learn to look at the world through their eyes.

Just ask Maria what she thinks!