‘Every bottle our Brunello di Montalcino 2003 has been cleared and the majority of total production has been cleared and confirmed as produced with 100% Sangiovese ‘brunello’ of Montalcino,’ said a spokesman for Castello Banfi.
The authorities had already released Antinori’s Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino over a month ago. Antinori had been the first producer to have been exonerated after afout a million liter of wine was impounded. Laboratory tests showed that the wine contained only Sangiovese, as required by the DOCG Brunello di Montalcino regulations.
Thus two of the main estates involved, where producers have been accused of using non-permitted grape varieties, have now been totally cleared. Antinori and Castello Banfi may continue to bottle and export their Brunello wines.
The wineries involved were some of Montalcino’s top producers such as Antinori, Argiano, Banfi, Col d’Orcia and Frescobaldi. In fact President of Consorzio Brunello del Montalcino, Francesco Marone Cinzano who owns Col d’Orcia was upset with the accusation and resigned from the chair in early June.
Piero Antinori, said that the Pian delle Vigne Brunello was subjected to analysis several times before being cleared. "We always knew there was no problem with the wines," said Antinori. "And we are really happy now, after three months of confusion."
Frescobaldi wines in the barrels have been cleared but the bottled wines have not been checked yet.
During a visit to Montalcino a few weeks ago, Patrizio Cencioni, the current President had vehemently denied any wrongdoings by the members. In fact, he said that the small acreage of vineyards found to have non-Sangiovese, non-permitted grapes were spotted during the inspection by the inspectors of the Consorzio only.
Argiano took permission and declassified its disputed wine in June and released it as a Toscana IGT, Il Duemilatre di Argiano (the IGT wine 2003 of Argiano) to avoid delays as the investigation was proceeding slowly.
"Every cloud has a silver lining," said Cristina Mariani , proprietor and member of the Castello Banfi family. "Though we feel our business was unjustly blocked and we were wrongly accused, at least the outcome is a further assurance to the consumer that our wine is genuine and its quality assured. We have always stood behind the integrity of each Castello Banfi estate wine and today feel a strong sense of vindication. |