WINE DOGS: THE IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS IN WINE HOSPITALITY
Having a winery dog increases the attractiveness of tourist wineries and wine tourists with a leash are definitely multiplying. In half of the Italian houses there is an animal, often a wine dog
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Wine dog Felix with Violante Gardini Fattoria del Colle
A few years ago books on wine dogs began to come out and then those on wine cats becoming a real trend. The pioneer was the Australian photographer Craig McGill to whom we owe a sort of encyclopaedia of dogs from wineries around the world.
Together with his wife Susan Elliott, he has published books and posts about wine dogs and cats. The second edition of the book on dogs from Californian cellars contains over 120 portraits of the faithful furry friends – from thoroughbreds to mutts – along with short essays by Robert Parker Jr, Nick Ryan, Eve Bushman, Sam Neill and Max Allen. A true celebration of the role of dogs in wine production.
PUBLICATIONS AND REPERTOIRES ON WINE DOGS
In addition to books and calendars, there are Instagram accounts and Facebook pages about wine dogs. In California there are rankings of the most dog friendly wineries. A bestiary so numerous as to suggest that all US wineries have a dog and that it is almost more famous than the wine maker.
The Wine Spectator column has consecrated a liaison between four-legged furry friends and wine lovers. In 2021 subscribers to the famous American wine magazine received this announcement <<In the March 31 issue, on sale next week, we will highlight one of the best parts of the wineries that can be visited: their dogs>>. Well in November 2021 the dog section of the Wine Spectator already contained photos of 1570 readers’ dogs.
MORE AND MORE WINE LOVERS ARRIVE WITH DOGS
As motorcyclists gladly go to the cellar of the producer who concedes to be photographed next to visitors two wheels, so dog lovers prefer cellars with wine dogs. It is not a marginal element because in Italy, according to the Coop Report 2020,
one in two houses contain a pet (52% against 34% of Britons who traditionally adore quadrupeds) and the expenditure on the pet has exceeded that for children.
So it is much more likely to receive visitors in the cellar with a leash rather than with a stroller. Don’t worry, just a bowl of water to show yourself to be welcoming but it is a thing to have it.
To tell the truth, there are dog wines and even dog champagne, that is soft drinks based on organic raw materials, added with vitamins ($ 10 for a package as large as one of fruit juice) for which dogs go crazy, and there is also the Pet Winery Pet Bar. It should not be mistaken for The Winery Dogs which is a super hard rock band formed in 2012 in New York.