I'm Expecting You at Dinner for a Toast to Italian Wine
When ViaSarfatti25 interviewed him about his role as President and CEO of Cantine Ferrari, Matteo Bruno Lunelli, a class of 1998 graduate in Economics, he told how, during a phone call, in a matter of seconds he had to make the decision to leave his career in finance abroad, and return to Italy to lead the family business. An anecdote that the wine entrepreneur will retell on May 15, when he recounts his professional story in dinner speech organized by the Bocconi Alumni Association (BAA).
In the occasion of that interview, Lunelli had also remarked how the international experience gained as manager in Zurich, London and New York had left him with confidence in himself and taught him how to deal with people of all over the world: «And that's a fundamental thing, because bringing wine to the world means telling a story, and in order to to do so, you have to do your best to know who you are really talking to,» the entrepreneur explains.
Exploring his own story is also an occasion for Matteo Lunelli to reflect on the concept of the family company, an important topic for the whole of the Italian economy, given that family businesses account for 85% of all Italian firms: "A family has a long-term time horizon and in the world of wine this is important," he explains. "When a new vineyard is planted it takes years to get the permits, prepare the soil, then graft the vines, so that it takes at least 7/8 years to reap the early fruits of excellence. The resulting wine will then be left to age, so that it can become a great reserve wine. All in all, twenty years can pass from the first step to the final sale. Only a family firm can think in terms of such multi-generational perspective».
Discussing his family business, he will also touch on the hot topic of generational succession: "Today our family pact regulates the circulation of stakes in the company, the entry of external members in the company board, the entry of new family members in the firms", the CEO of Cantine Ferrari continues. "These are rules that have been written for our children, as well as the heirs to come".
Above all, the dinner with Bocconi alumni is an opportunity to take stock of the state of the wine industry, a sector that in Italy is still rather fragmented: "A great wine is always an expression of the territory," says Lunelli, "but at the same time, you have to sell it all over the world. That's why I believe that a consolidation of the industry can only be positive. We try to do this by aggregating brands that are expressions of local excellence, such as the Trento region Spumante for which we are famous, Umbria's still wine Sagrantino di Montefalco, Bisol for Prosecco wines, or the Surgiva bottled water, for those who really can't bring themselves to drink wine."
The idea behind dinner speeches, a formula introduced at Bocconi several years ago, is to provide an informal environment where prominent managers and entrepreneurs can tell their personal experiences to the audience gathered around the table. BAA dinner speeches are amicable affairs that over the years have seen as guests of honor businesspeople like Alberto Cribiore, Marco De Benedetti, Oscar Farinetti, Luca Mignini, Stefano Sassi, and many others.