THIS YEAR AT FENAVIN THE POET PEDRO GONZÁLEZ MORENO WILL BE PRESENTING A LITERARY REFLECTION ON THE "POWERS OF WINE"

This reflection will be made at the 'Wine, Literature and Memory' conference that is to take place on May 11th at 6:00 p.m., during which prose and poetry will be interspersed

The National Trade Fair on Wine (FENAVIN), which will take place in Ciudad Real from May 10th to the 12th, will be hosting an interesting conference of literary, poetic and personal reflections on the world of wine by the Ciudad Real born writer and poet Pedro Antonio González Moreno.

During the 'Wine, Literature and Memory' conference, which will take place on May 11th at 6:00 p.m., González Moreno will be recreating the presence of wine in literature and its treatment by authors such as Cervantes in The Quixote, The Archpriest of Hita by Gonzalo de Berceo or in works by other Manchego authors such as Eladio Cabañero and Sagrario Torres, among others. The goal behind this conference, explained the writer, is to intersperse the presentation of the lecture with the reading of poems that are in keeping with the subject matter, which is the part of the lecture that will be carried out by the poet José María González Ortega, who has published two books of poems and who is well-known in the province of Ciudad Real.

On the one hand González Moreno will be recalling the importance that wine had in his Manchego childhood, "as I will be refreshing memories from my childhood years, with the constant hustle and bustle of carts to and from the wineries and the work carried out by my family members." During the second part of the event, the audience will be introduced to the recreation of wine in Spanish literature, this with the interspersing of beautiful and well-known verses.

In this respect he advanced a few of the topics that his conference will deal with, such as the fact that wine, in as far as literature is concerned, has a series of powers: curative and medicinal, "for both the body and soul;" the capacity to lose one's inhibitions, "liberating as it does all ties and yokes;" and its antioxidant power, which during the chat will be related with the myth of Faust and the promise of eternal youth.

Dionysian as opposed to Apollonian

He will also be reflecting on the diversity of the "architectures of wine", from the curve to the straight line. "The sense of wine, per se, is that which is Dionysian, that which is impulsive, the roundness: of the grape, of the amphorae, of the glass, etc., and not that which is balanced, that which is Apollonian, save the terrifying example of the tetra brik carton packages in which some wines are contained."

This year González Moreno will be participating at FENAVIN for the first time. In his opinion the trade fair is an event of great national and international relevance, "as it educates the wine makers and exhibitors in the culture of marketing." He also added that the trade fair represents the perfect showcase of the products of our land and country, "both the products that are enjoyed in a glass, as well as those that are read", hence saluting the culture of the vine and wine in the different arts."

Pedro Antonio González Moreno (Calzada de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, 1960) admits that as a Manchego he is indeed a great consumer of wine. Part of his poetic works are included in the anthology 'La erosion y sus formas' (Erosion and its forms), Madrid, Vitruvio, 2007. He is also the author of the essay 'Aproximación a la poesía manchega' (Getting to Know the Poetry of La Mancha), published by Biblioteca de Autores Manchegos. Among other awards, he has also received the consolation prize of the Adonais Awards for his work 'Pentagrama para escribir silencios' (Pentagram for the Writing of Silences).