Top-notch Italian wine maker Allegrini will offer a bottle of wine (to be drunk at a later date) to the driver offering to get friends who have imbibed home.
The designated driver promotion doesn’t include the vineyard’s most expensive wines, but the Allegrini red called Palazzo della Torre (a “baby Amarone“), a well-respected nectar of the grape that retails for at least $18 USD, depending on the vintage. The promotion, aimed at Italian restaurants, was launched on the eve of the Vinitaly wine fair.
Nice idea, though if you’re a teetotaler and have spent time in Italy you’ll understand the underlying assumption. For Italians, people aren’t really abstemious, but for some strange reason, they’re just not drinking right now. (That said, for most Italians, moderation is key, check out our face-saving wine vocab.)
The ad promoting the un-drunk driver getting a bottle of wine recites, “We like to offer a drink to those who don’t drive. Later. Thank, you driver. Allegrini.”
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I love that Palazzo della Torre wine! Too bad I (so far) refuse to drive in Italy. 😉
That’s brilliant… only recently I was telling my husband about many American bars offering free non-alcoholic drinks the the DD, and in Ireland some country pubs have an end-of-night free shuttle service.
Italians do drink with more moderation than some other nationalities, however I also notice people seem to be a bit lax in their judgement when they’re on vacation here- especially around the beach cities. As if when you’re on holiday, the normal rules don’t apply.
I guess what I like about it is that it doesn’t assume because you’re the DD you might not like a nice bottle of wine for another night…Agree about people on vacation — part of the problem is that wine and drinks tend to cost a lot less in Italy than other places…