Patrizio Cencioni, Winemaker and owner of Capanna Winery was elected the Chairman of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino ( B.M. Wine Producers Association) last week, two days after Francesco Marone-Cinzano, President of Col d'Orcia winery resigned on June 9.
This was supposedly because the Italian Ministry of Agriculture issued a decree that essentially stripped the Consortium of its powers to oversee the monitoring and certification of the appellation wines.
The rift between the producers, consortium and the government seems to be escalating at the moment with seven producers including Barbi and Salicutti leaving the consortium.
A Guarantee Committee was set up in the last few days by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies to certify that all the wines confirm to the specifications of Brunello di Montalcino. The US had given an ultimatum till June 9, which has been extended to June 23rd when the government will decide whether to accept the Italian side's views or not.
Super Brunello di Montalcino DOC Wine
It is in this scenario that we recommend the creation of a new wine- a DOC wine to be named as Super Brunello di Montalcino. Among the many reasons cited for the 'manipulation' of the wine resulting in the current standoff with the US has been that there was a shortage of Brunello clone in 2003 due to the unprecedented heat forcing a few producers to add some Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon.
Another plausible reason forwarded has been the need to add a small quantity of other grapes to give more powerful and bolder wine than the classic style which the US consumers- the biggest export market hogging 25% of exports, prefer. The magistrate of Siena seems to have cried 'Fraud' when surely he meant 'foul.'
The new Super Brunello, we recommend, will allow the producers to use a minimum of 85% Brunello and the rest can be Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz and other allowed varieties from the specified region to give freedom to the winemaker to change the style and pricing according to the US market, the biggest single potential customer.
In order to avoid labelling of the wine as IGT, as Argiano, one of the producers whose wine has been held by the US, has planned to have a portion of the wine declassified and sell it as an IGT wine al lower price, the new classification can be helpful to the producers.
This step will not be unprecedented. Chianti Classico, the neighbouring appellation has benefitted after the DOCG appellation changed the rules about 20 years ago, banning the use of white grapes being used then and allowing the possibility of 100% Sangiovese.
Chianti Classico now permits the use of minimum of only 75% Sangiovese, with 10% of Canaiolo and 15% of allowed grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
It must not be forgotten that the US government is being unrelentingly tough; one cannot blame them if they smell fraud and want only to ensure the consumer is not cheated. However, their own appellations, the AVA systems allows 15% of the grapes to come from outside the region. For varietals, only 75% of the grapes can be the specified grapes, balance can be any varietals..
Therefore, for them to raise such a fuss does not seem to make sense- unless it means blindly following the end quality against the specs, which would go to their credit. The new specifications will make it mandatory for producers to use 85-100% of the Brunello grape. If some producer comes down to below 85% of Brunello, he may be treated as fraudulent and his wine may be confiscated-this power can be with the consorzio with the magistrates of Siena having the final power.
Americans are super people- they love the Super Bowl; they loved the Super Tuscans. Surely, they will love the Super Brunellos especially since it will be crafted for them and it will be bold and beautiful. The only problem would be that according to the Italian law, it would have to be DOC for at least 5 years after which it can be considered a DOCG. With Brunello being almost a national heritage cutting across the political party affiliations, it would surely be feasible.
Allowing grapes other than Brunello in the blend is nothing new. Before 1968, when the DOC regulations were written largely by Biondi Santi making it compulsory to purely use the Brunello grape(a special clone of Sangiovese, planted only in Montalcino), it was a common practice to add a few other varieties of red grapes from the region.
In fact, it may be interesting to note what the famous author Jancis Robinson MW has to say in her Oxford Companion Third edition (2006) regarding Brunello production laws. On page 106 she writes, 'Following the earlier tradition, some producers currently add Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to their wines in order to give them an appeal that they have been unable to achieve in either their vineyard or the cellar.'
Therefore, Super Brunello di Montalcino, anyone?
Subhash Arora
This column normally recommends wines available in the Indian market. A deviation is being made as Brunello is a fine wine already being imported by fine wine importers and the discerning hotels and our readers would find the story very interesting -editor |