The approved guarantee procedures are to be applied by an official Guarantee Board. It will include representatives of the Ministry of Agricultural Policies, the Chamber of Commerce of Siena and the Consortium of producers. The objective will be to certify the purity of Sangiovese grape used to produce the Brunello wine, viticulture and winemaking norms as approved and declared by the appellation, that also include maturity in the wooden barrels and origin of grapes.
This is the first time, an Italian appellation has been obliged to adopt such procedure. The problem started after supplies from five producers were confiscated by the magistrate of Siena on the reports that a few shipments of the 2003 vintage released in January ( Brunello can be released only on January 1, five years after the vintage) contained a small quantity of other varietals as well.
A few shipments of various producers including Banfi and Antinori, two of the highly respected producers were confiscated pending investigations. In the meantime, US requested the Italians to make available a report of guarantee regarding the authenticity of wine. On May 9 they had given an ultimatum to the producers giving them a month's notice after which they threatened to refuse all shipments without these certificates of guarantee.
Later a two-week extension was agreed upon by the US at the request from Italy which was able to come up with the procedure of guarantees on May 31. Unless the proposed procedure is accepted by the U S authorities, the U.S. Treasury Department, which for months has been seeking information on the case with no success, has threatened to ban all imports of the wine by June 23.
The issue is one of truth in labelling," Arthur Resnick of the U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said in a phone interview. "If there are bottles being produced and being labelled something they're not, we can't let them in."
The Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino believes the adopted decision is a satisfactory response to the requests made by the US ATB regarding the protection of the guarantee for the distribution of the 2003 vintage in the US market.
The ATB has agreed to send investigators to Montalcino to meet on Tuesday with Italian officials who know the details. U.S. trade authorities also are suggesting extensive laboratory analysis of the suspect wine.
US has threatened to ban Brunello di Montalcino imports unless Italy also hands over the names of producers it is investigating for fraud. A ban could cripple some producers, with a quarter of Brunello wines exported to the US.
Brunello di Montalcino is a DOCG wine from the Montalcino town in Tuscany and is considered one of the top Italian wines. It commands heavy premium, especially due to its immense popularity in the US and like in Champagne it has limited production resulting in regular price increases.
Wineries under a cloud are big-name wineries like Argiano; Castelgiocondo; Pian delle Vigne, owned by Antinori; and Castello Banfi. While those wineries have acknowledged an inquiry, the number involved could be in dozens, some producers say.
"The number I've heard ranges from 12 to 30 to 80," said Lars Leicht, a vice president of Castello Banfi, the leading producer of Brunello in the region. "In our case, the Guardia di Finanza went over our records and wine reports. They weren't completely happy with what they found."
But Leicht declared that "we've decided to stand our ground. We believe in the integrity of our wine."
According to a report in Chicago Tribune, Tiziana Frescobaldi, a board-member of the family-owned Castelgiocondo, said the winery had told the Brunello Consorzio, responsible for monitoring standards in the region, that 50 of its 370 acres of land were now planted with merlot, grapes Frescobaldi blends into wines known as "super-Tuscans."
The sale of Brunello is going very strong this year despite the judicial investigation, says Francesco Cinzano, President of the Consorzio Brunello de Montalcino. He did admit to a magazine that there were some rotten apples which need to be thrown out.
After talking to several producers or people in the know of the business, delwine discovered that many producrs are also sympathetic to the Brunello producers. There was a shortage of Sangiovese yield during the hot 2003 resulting in burning of grapes so the producers took the short cut of adding some other varietals like Merlot, they say. Another school of thought reasons that the Americans like big and powerful wines and these producers added varietals to make them more fruit forward.
The purists frown on the very thought of changing the structure of the classic wine, whereas many producers feel that there should be some flexibility like that granted by the neighbouring Chianti Classico region which started making more popular wines after giving the winemakers some elbow space.
Brunello di Montalcino already finds itself in premium listings at most of the discerning 5-star hotels in India. Unfortunately, due to high customer-end prices it is not easily available in the retail shops. Brindco, Sonarys, Ace Beveragez, are a few of the importers already distributing it while other premium wine importers are looking into the possibilities. Rosso di Montalcino is cheaper, can be drunk younger and is a more readily available and saleable in the Indian market.
Indian Wine Academy has organised a trip for importers and journalists across India to Montalcino, which is going to leave India shortly. DelWine shall report on the latest situation directly after meeting the producers and the government authorities-editor |