Sucking Grapes

Italy’s national values may be staunchly conservative and traditional, but the reaction to the reactionary is never far away, and never fails to find enough support to become a voice, even if it is initially underground. Curiously, Italy is also the country, which performs the miracle act of converging the reactionary with the progressive. In this case, its seemingly innate sense of tradition and conservatism is the basis of one of Italy’s, and possibly the world’s, most innovative trends: that of the production of “natural wine”. (more…)

Oltrepò Pavese, located south of Milan in the south of Lombardy, remains one of Italy’s most obscure wine regions. Sandwiched between Piemonte and Emilia-Romagna, and with the majority of its vineyards planted on the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines, it is responsible for 60% of Lombardy’s entire DOC output. The region has consistently presented itself as bulk producer of international grape varieties with substantial plantings of Pinot Noir (some 3,000 ha at the latest count and going up) followed by Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio. (more…)

Ten of the most influential producers of Amarone have teamed up to reverse what they call the ‘trading down’ of one of Italy’s most important wines, Amarone. The producers have formed an association, Le Famiglie dell’Amarone d’arte or Amarone Families, to voice their concern over what they see as the wine’s increasing loss of identity. (more…)

The recent decision of Bruno Giacosa not to bottle any of his Barolo or Barbaresco of the 2006 vintage has caused quite a stir in Italy. After the announcement, the estate’s English importer Armit was quick to point out that a stroke Giacosa suffered in the same year made it impossible for him to be in the vineyard or the cellar, suggesting his poor health was the main reason for the allegedly unusually low quality of the wines resulting in this financially tough decision. (more…)

The Consorzio of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, the regulating and protecting body of the wine from this Tuscan region, has proposed controversial changes to the disciplinary for the production of its wine. (more…)

THE CONSORZIO TUTELA PROSECCO CONEGLIANO VALDOBBIADENE CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF PROTECTED ORIGIN AND CARRIES THE PROSECCO GRAPE TO THE GRAVE

This year’s Vino in Villa, the annual presentation of Prosecco wines organised by the Consorzio of Producers of Italy’s most famous sparkler in the Province of Treviso, commemorated 40 years of DOC, the equivalent of France’s AOC and established in 1969. This large annual tasting, a stylish affair, not least due to its stunning location, the impressive Castello di Susegana, overlooking at one side the plain of Piave, the source of large volumes of cheap wine, and on the other the hills of Treviso towards the Alps, was also the inaugural event to introduce the highest quality designation, the so called DOCG, to the region just in time before the OCM kicks in this August. (more…)

Just in time for August, when the harmonisation of the European wine law will convert existing national wine denominations into a single system of DPOs, or Denominations of Protected Origin, the Consorzio per la Tutela del Vino Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene announces the elevation to DOCG for sparkling Prosecco wines produced in the historic area, beginning with the 2009 vintage. (more…)

IN THE BACK GARDEN OF NAPLES EUROPE’S OLDEST VINEYARD IS STILL GOING STRONG

It is not everyday that one stumbles upon 120 year old vines, and although Australia has it fair share of centenarian vineyards, mainly in areas unaffected by phyloxera (South Australia and Henschke’s Hill of Grace in particular immediately springs to mind), in Europe they tend to be extremely rare. Part of the explanation is that except for afore mentioned phyloxera, old vines produce less grapes, and yields can become so uneconomically low that the plants are uprooted and replaced. But often the lifespan of many vines is also unnecessarily shortened by the unreasonably high yields demanded of them, which literally wears the plant out. This is especially true for many of Italy’s vineyards, where high yields are responsible for diluting wine as well as reputation. (more…)