UNLOCKED MESSAGE
“FORGET IT, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO DO IT”
FROM: INTERBLEND
TO: THE WORLD
Surely, there is something in common between you and us. And we believe that this: coming from a country of immigrants who, when they left their place of origin, carried with them that beautiful state of mind that arises when it is presented as ‘attainable’ what is desired.
Hope can be a very powerful force. There may not be real magic in it, but when we know what we want and hold it as a light inside, we can make things happen, almost as if it were true magic.
To us, life united us as inseparable friends, like brothers. Without realizing that today, after more than 20 years, we would be writing together the story of our lives.
It is difficult to summarize in a nutshell everything that is going on and how we got here today, Guillermo in Italy and Luis in Argentina, but we will try. In February 2014, in one of our many talks on Skype, sharing the dream of embarking on something together, arose the idea of elaborating a wine that could unite different origins, as well as, unite people. We talked about how interesting and powerful it would be to create a Cultural Blend, made from the Union of Wines from different Countries. It was then born what would become the origin of InterBlend.
That same year, celebrated in Mendoza, our hometown, was the 37° World Congress of the Organization of the Vine and Wine, and we thought it was the best place to objectively raise our idea against wine referents from all over the world. A proposal that initially consisted of certifying the processes of blending wines between countries so that any winery could produce an innovative product in a market already ripe for disruption, an idea that would drive teamwork between different cultures.
It was a stage of sacrifice, of learning, of going against the current as the industry handled other interests and, in addition, with the refusal to accede to more permissive legislation, but that did not discourage us.
In a way, our friendship and the passion for wine were part of our journey together, so we looked for other alternatives. Discovering what the different cultures have in common and, above all, there are shared visions; we asked the OIV Committee for permission and presented a project for Blending Wines Between Argentina and Chile to launch and see the reaction of the wine consumers, but we were not allowed to do so.
Without giving the arm to twist, and stubborn as we are, we think of Europe. We prepared another proposal: a Wine Between Argentina and Holland and another one Between Argentina and Italy. But the European Committee only allowed us to make it between countries of the European Community; They threw down our dream to unite countries around the world… to show true diversity.
It had already been two years of “looking around” and asking for permission. The phrase we heard everyone told us over and over again was “forget it, you won’t be able to do it.” And we kept working like ants, adding courage, day by day, to our idea.
We continued to look for other horizons. The laws of the United States allowed us to create a Blend of Wines from Different Countries. We found the “North” of our idea, we knew where to do it. That’s why we decided to move forward.
In that same time, we were only two “crazies” with this idea, but then we started to be three. Raymond joined the team. “An old Wolf” who with his experience knew how to support us in this new stage and made better understand the way. At times like this, it comes to mind what Steve Jobs once said: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only do it by looking back. Trusting that the dots would be connected in some way in the Future. Because believing that the dots will connect then somewhere along the way will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it drives you off the beaten path, and that will make all the difference.”
Francesca, Luis’s daughter, who at that time went through challenges in communication, was one of the triggers that fired the need to open new ways and to help understanding among people. Thus, intuitively, we decided that InterBlend, which from the outset promoted the Union not only of the wines but also of the cultures, should be somehow the bridge towards the understanding between cultures. Experience through which Guillermo lived in his own flesh being born in Argentina, but with his sons Pietro and Olivia, born in Italy, he believes in the intercultural Union and the dialogue as a path to understanding.
“InterBlend wines have to help the understanding between people”. We must know that in this World we are only passengers and that at the end of the story, we are all from nowhere and all sides a little. We are one, we said.
“You have to understand to give and give to understand, and for that reason, all our wines have to be a bit of sand to support those who need it most.”
Understanding is a possibility that comes from a dialogue where we agree on our common principles and our collective goals and never gives as much as when they give hope, hope to make a better world at a time of meeting, as wines usually do with people. Wine Unites People.
We understood and fought for it, but life continued to make his own plans…
Luis lost his wife, Agustina, after 17 years fighting cancer and the infinite sacrifice that took his family forward, without losing sight of their dreams, the reason we are here.
Life put us in front of another person who was a fundamental pillar in the development of InterBlend. His name was Felix, another entrepreneur who lived his life with spirituality as a flag, with a deeper sense than anyone else… He bet on us, on the project, and helped us grow. He was a great friend of Agustina in the last stage of her life. Unfortunately, he also had an illness, and just two months after Agustina, he let go and left this world.
Five years and six months had passed since that talk on Skype in February 2014, a lot of long-distance work that brought us many emotions, stressed us and, above all, the circumstances of life that touched our lives did not help, adding to that the loss of Ubaldo, Luis’s Father.
A thousand things went around in our heads, the loudest one being: “Perhaps they were right when they told us we would not be able to do it.”
Each one returned to “reality”, Guillermo became Sales Manager of an Argentinean Winery representing them around Europe, Luis took over a technology company, taking the position that once occupied Felix. And Raymond continued teaching in Latin America and representing the Swiss Consulate in Mendoza.
But as we said before, we trust that the Souls pact their destiny and each one has a purpose in this life if we know how to find it, and for that reason, after a few months, having always in our hearts to realize InterBlend, we made a pact, to which we call, a Covenant of Hope!
We are going to open the dialogue between people using wine as an Ambassador! We\’re going to do it! Because there is nothing like a dream to create the future. What we always wanted to leave to our children: an example to achieve it, with effort, commitment and to project big, whatever the result.
Six soldiers have passed through this team. Each one left a mark that helped us grow. Today, we are three. Raymond left us last November and we add Nico, young blood that comes with new impetus and renews us.
At the end of the day, as simple wine consumers, we were always attracted by what generates a bottle of wine when it is at a table surrounded by family, friends and loved ones.
Wine is the fruit of an effort, a dignified and beautiful work that is a common denominator in life, in the food of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The mere search for perfection in a wine is not interesting, what it generates is what interests us, wine unites people, leads them to open a dialogue and a possibility of understanding, and only through understanding, we can give…
Help us show that wine is more than wine, it is a declaration of life that embodies hopes and dreams. That\’s why we dare to speak to you. Directly. Someone we probably don\’t know in person. Someone with whom, we may never have met anywhere and with whom we may never find each other. For you perhaps we are just an unknown voice so far, black and white words with which you will share some ideas, some time and many possibilities. This apparent distance does not matter for our thought to flow and for our history and proposal to come out of the agreement and the joint reflection. Something that seems difficult but is essential to constitute a better world together.
“Today, as always and more than ever, we know that it is never given as much as when it gives hope.”
Guillermo and Luis.