Natural wine, of course, doesn’t exist. To paraphrase the late Maynard A. Amerine, America’s most famous oenologist and teacher, wine without the intervention of man or woman is nothing more than grape juice in the process of turning into vinegar. Nevertheless, the movement, or rather a large range of associations, wine fairs and producer groups that have sprung up in the last 10 years or so in Italy, is almost always referred to as “Vini Naturali”, natural wine, or “Vini Veri”, real wine. The latter is also the name of the most influential association of wine producers, who has defiantly turned its back on Italy’s largest winefair, Vinitaly, by staging its own gathering of a select group of likeminded wine producers at exactly the same time. Presided by the late Teobaldo Cappellano, the association soon faced a split off by several producers, headed by Angiolino Maule, calling itself “VinNatur”. These two groups only represent the top of the iceberg, with many other permanently or loosely organised groups, such as Triple “A” (Agricoltori Artigiani Artisti), La Sorgente del Vino, Vini di Vignaioli, and the brandnew Parlano i Vignaioli, an initiative from Italy’s most promising and yet most inert region, Campania coming to the fore.

Although most of Italy’s quality conscious producers are acutely aware of organic and biodynamic grape growing and wine making practices, the “natural wine” movement has not been ignited by worries concerning sustainability or consumer health in the first place. It is much more the result of a genuine longing back to traditional agricultural practices and times when agrochemicals were not known and international grape varieties and barriques had yet to appear in Italy’s vineyards and cellars. This heartfelt sentiment can be traced back as far as the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, and finds its main inspiration in Mario Soldati.

Soldati, one of Italy’s most respected writers and film directors until his death in 1999, was fascinated by the country’s food and wine culture. Between 1968 and 1975 he travelled extensively throughout Italy to record its ancient viticultural and winemaking practices. Considering himself a chronicler of this history, he wanted to witness it firsthand before it would inevitably disappear behind stainless steel and clonal selection. He published his observations in what was to become one of the Italian “real wine” movement’s handbooks, Vino al Vino. The work does not primarily documents wines of the highest quality, but is in search of the genuine, the “real”, embodied by wines that were the result of ancient agricultural practices. Wine not primarily representing nature but culture, and one Soldati feared was in danger of disappearing forever.

Soldati’s ideas may seem sentimental, but his book, recording historic and traditional methods, summarises the very way Italy experiences wine. Contrary to France’s terroir concept, which tends to explain wine’s identity as the result of plant, soil and climate more or less exclusive of human input, Italy sees wine’s identity as the result of history, culture and traditional practices, including vinification. It is the same concept that became the very basis of Italy’s DOC and DOCG’s.

Over the years Soldati’s enthusiasm for traditional practices as well as his concern for their disappearance, has gained a steady following and echoes of his ideas can still be heard, most notably last year May in an appeal, called “In difesa dell’identità del Vino Italiano” (In defense of the identity of Italian Wine). The appeal appeared online at the height of the Brunello scandal and was formulated by Porthos, a group of wine journalists, whose motto is “Ribelle Nobile Disperato” (desperate noble rebels). Named after Porthos, one of Alexandre Dumas’ Three Muscateers with an insatiable appetite for good wine and food, the group tried to mobilise public opinion against what they describe as an attack on the history of Italian wine.

Brunellogate, as the scandal also came to be known by, divided the Italian wine landscape into diametrically opposed camps. On the one side, a high profile group of consultant oenologists and wine makers argued the impossibility of following the word of the law in producing a 100% Brunello wine only, arguing that even if it would be possible, it would result in a wine that consumers would not appreciate.

The other camp, represented by the likes of Porthos, see the very suggestion of the problem not being fraud but the Italian law itself, which fails to accommodate market demands and preferences to render Italian wines more competitive, as an unacceptable attempt to bend the rules. According to Porthos, the other camp uses Italy’s highest denominations without any respect for its history and traditions, which were originally designed to safeguard and guarantee the identity and integrity of Italian wines. To restore some of the credibility of the DOC and DOCG disciplinaries, Porthos demands from the authorities a stricter implementation of rules and tighter controls.
It also demands stricter legislation concerning the use of chemicals and systemic products, and condemns cultured yeasts, enzymes and biotechnology in general, which are used to produce better wine, but in reality “make vain the concept of territoriality (sic)”. Porthos emotional appeal in defence of the identity of Italian wines was followed by an online petition, which the very first to sign were Teobaldo Cappellano for Vini Veri and Angiolino Maule for VinNatur.

Porthos voices the growing concern of many Italian wine producers who see Italian wine becoming more and more standardised in an effort to appeal to international markets. According to them not only the introduction of international grape varieties in Italy’s vineyards are to blame but also the omnipresence of technology in its cellars, introduced and endorsed by oenologists. These consultants regularly advise multiple wineries, while often lacking the time or the experience to understand each single terroir. Pressed for time many consultant oenologists will rely on the execution of their protocols or instructions, to be executed by staff in vineyard and cellar. Any risk is arguably undesirable, if the final wine is to bear the trademark of the consultant, in order to secure international attention and sales.

Aside from these protocol-like oenological practices, there is general concern of the use of chemicals in the vineyard and cultured yeast in the cellar. Great wines that reflect their origin should be the fruit of agricultural methods which now have almost disappeared, and which need very little or no intervention in vineyard or the cellar. Wines that practically “make themselves”. This adage has lead to a sense and urgency in experimentation not seen since the 1980s when Italy’s wine production took an enormous leap in quality forward, not in the least instigated by modernisation of its cellars and the introduction of stainless steel and temperature control. This new scene characterises itself by a relentless desire for experimentation to the point of total anarchy. Current trends are borne out of a reaction against the modernisations introduced in the recent past, and are often their complete antithesis.

The clearest leitmotiv between all associations and all wines is a growing commitment to indigenous grape varieties. Italy’s infatuation with international grape varieties, which in the past were glorified as an “amelioration”, may well have come to and end, now that it realises that a certain “sameness” in the wines can be counteracted most effectively by using indigenous ones. And lower yields and better vineyard site selection will heighten this even more.

But variety and site are not the only determining factors in the character of wine. Central to all these concepts is the idea that the way the grapes are processed and the juice fermented is all part of wine’s identity. Fermentations are generally without the use of cultured yeast, and temperature control is more often than not rejected. An enormous curiosity in any fermentation vessel other than stainless steel, be it amphora, large oak casks, cement vats or glass ballons, has led to a very strong laissez-faire policy during all phases of the vinification. As wine, now more than ever, has come to stand for something “natural”, “pure” and “genuine”, new oak barriques are avoided. Many producers opt for large old oak casks for fermentation as well as ageing, and the initial hints of vanilla in the wine is the sole compromise producers who threw out their stainless steel to start working with wood are willing to put up with during the first two years of their use.

The idea of wine “making itself” sees numerous different interpretations, from hardliners, who fearlessly reject any use of sulphur, as well as more moderate approaches, using as little sulphur as possible, and at the bottling stage only. Both views have resulted in an increased tolerance of winefaults in the resulting wines, the most common being oxidation, and high levels of volatile acidity. Although the organic movement seems to attract many untrained newcomers, this can only partially explains this tolerance, as even skilled and experienced wine makers show a forgivingness to winefaults unheard of before, while pushing the limits as far as they can.

While sulphur has become the new bête noire, the use of indigenous or ambient yeast is on the rise. Many of the aforementioned associations decline the use of cultured yeast altogether, arguing that natural yeast, which normally is present in the cellar as well as the vineyard, is part of the terroir. Although this being a very strong argument, it regularly leads to higher levels of residual sugars in the wines. In combination with a general rejection of stabilisation, filtration and sulphuring, a refermentation in the bottle can occur, which, again, is not seen as something faulty and undesirable, but the consequence of wine being a “living thing”, which also reflects itself in bottle variation.

Since “control” has become a dirty word for many producers, vatting times are greatly prolonged, with fermentation curves often going up and down depending on the ambient temperature of the season. Malolactic fermentation may occur or not (unsurprisingly, inoculation with lactic bacteria is out of the question) and the wines remain on skins and, more and more, stalks for as long as possible, as grapes regularly end up into the fermentation vessel without being destemmed. Vatting times are also greatly extended by long ageing on the lees. Especially “Triple A” considers a long lees contact fundamental to the wine’s health. Often, frequent batonnage is not considered essential, and there is surprisingly little fear for reduction on the part of many winemakers. Racking can be as little as once a year, and the resulting wines often seem to support the impression that this practice is executed more often out of routine than necessity in more conventional winemaking. After the wines have been bottled many producers think nothing of holding off their release for another 12 to 24 months, and regularly even longer. As the release date of the wines are often postponed for years, their elevated price tag comes as no surprise.

The most obvious trend, and one wholly unstoppable, is the fermentation of white wines on the grape skins during part or the entire period of the alcoholic fermentation. Gravner may have been one of the first to experiment with this, ending up with wines no longer white but distinctly orange in colour, but many producers have adopted this ancient practice, arguing that all the goodness is in the skin, whereas the pulp of the berries mostly contain water. Frequently these whites have a distinct aroma of apricots, and for the unaccustomed consumer many of them may smell the same, implying that distinct terroir characteristics have been sacrificed. But producers who use this technique are quick to point out that no one would ever say that about red wines, which are all fermented in this way. According to them it is just a question of experience and regular exposure to these wines that will make wine lovers become aware of a diversity of aromas and tastes never experienced before. They also argue that the method greatly increases the ageability of these wines, as the style is often oxidative and the maceration of the skin will have added some tannins to the wine, an indication that they may prove to be robust, if not everyone’s cup of tea.

Many of these “old new wave wines” are so unorthodox and without any precedent that hardly any of them manage to pass the official controls, and are regularly rejected as “untypical” and, ironically, “untraditional”. As in the past, some of the very best wines with a real heightened sense of place have no choice but to take refuge under the lowly IGT designation, as did the Super Tuscans in the past. This fact will invariably weaken the higher DOC and DOCG category further, as it is incapable of either honouring experiments nor recognising quality and therefore loses more and more any credibility or stimulus for high quality wine production.

Although the category of “natural” or “true wine” may seem niche, several of its unorthodox approaches and techniques are resonating in the wider vinous landscape. Notably Bisol started producing in tiny quantities a Prosecco called NoSo2, without any added sulphur. And more and more Prosecco producers are adding a line of bottle fermented Prosecco to their range, after examples from the completely organic CostadiLa estate appeared to be a much greater success than was initially expected from a niche product like this. Even something simple as Lambrusco can be had as a “metodo ancestrale” vintage wine as Bellei shows. The use of amphora for fermentation as well as ageing will become much more wide spread than is now the case, with especially COS showing the undiscovered potential with its Pithos Nero d’Avola, and Castello di Lispida in Veneto’s Colli Euganei using it to ferment Friulano and Merlot. And while conventional producers tend to shun any kind of collaboration out of fear of teaming up with the competition, the many “natural wine” associations and winefairs have created platforms for lively discussions and exchange of ideas and experiences, which are set to become a growing force in Italy’s winescape, and widen the horizon for producers and consumers alike.

While these measures aim at upgrading Oltrepò Pavese’s reputation, they continue to ignore its own indigenous grape varieties. It seems that it takes an outsider to ignite an interest in Oltrepò Pavese’s own grape varieties, and to save the rarest from oblivion. Dario Tiraboschi is such a person. He combines an administrative job in Bergamo, more than 170km north of Oltrepò Pavese, with running the Fattoria Mondo Antico, in the beautiful, secluded Rocca Susella.
Tiraboschi is a descendant of a family of cheesemakers, which has equipped him with a strong interest in anything agricultural, but he turned to wine by accident. Twenty years ago, one of Tiraboschi’s relatives, who was living in Oltrepò Pavese, mentioned he was interested in buying a farm which came with a vineyard. The initial interest of his relative ebbed away, but Dario decided to buy the property himself after having seen the magnificent Collina del Pernione, a steep hill with perfect south to south-west exposition.

Dario proceeded to divide the steep 5-ha slope, characterised by white terra bianca soil, rich in limestone and not unlike those found in Jerez, into several blocks using the different expositions to suit his grape varieties’ needs. The first is the south-facing slope planted with two local types of the Croatina variety, which Dario planted in 1993 to create Agenore, a wine which he wants to be a proper vehicle of terroir in a sea of indifferent Croatina blends pouring out of the region. Vigneto Chardonnay was planted the same year with the white burgundy grape and takes up the south-west-facing part of the hill producing. it produces Perpolio, an unoaked Chardonnay aged under the film-forming yeast flor (see your online Oxford Companion to Wine for more), while the top part is a minuscule 0.5 ha planted with four different clones of Pinot Noir.

Another plot of 1.7 ha right in front of the hill is the Vigneto Vigna Vecchia Rosso, a seemingly neglected vineyard full of old vines, most of them 60 years and older. Although its unkempt state would never suggest this, it is a true treasure trove of ancient and forgotten grape varieties. With the help of a viticulturist, Dario started to isolate, select and propagate the rarest and, from a quality point of view, most promising varieties.
The first grape he stumbled upon was the red Moradella. One of the region’s oldest grape varieties. nowadays it can be found only in old vineyards because, owing to some perverse act of fate, the variety is not officially registered in the Catalogo Nazionale delle Varietà di Vite (Italy’s official, but apparently not exhaustive, register of the nation’s grape varieties) and is therefore absent from the DOC regulations. There is, however, a general assumption, that the typical OP reds, Buttafuoco and the sweet Sangue di Giuda, mainly consisting of Barbera and Croatina, were much more interesting in the past when Moradella was still included in the blend. According to Dario, the variety has a thick skin and therefore shows good resistance to rot, which it needs, being a late ripener picked normally at the end of October.

As well as Moradella, Dario discovered a superior clone of small-berried Barbera and also the red Uva Cascina, considered practically extinct. This variety is apparently almost the total opposite of Moradella, ripening a full three weeks earlier, giving very perfumed, full-bodied red wines. Dario is convinced that all three varieties are of high quality because of their small, but not-too-compact bunches with tiny berries resulting in a good skin to juice ratio in the fermentation tank. He plans to vinify and bottle the varieties separately as an ongoing investigation into their peculiarities, with the first bottlings not expected before 2010.

In this museum of grapes, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir seem the odd ones out, and Dario is gradually replacing the ‘too international’ Chardonnay with the indigenous white Verdea, an ancient grape used in the past for making sweet wines, and Pinot Noir, for which he seems to have a genuine passion.

However, Mondo Antico’s Chardonnay is most unusual, not just because of its complete absence of oak, but because of the flor that develops after fermentation on the surface of the wine, which is then aged under it for a year. Dario discovered this style by chance while visiting a wine fair in France’s Jura. He followed the Jura practice by racking off the wine after fermentation and then leaving it in a vessel a third unfilled, in this case made of stainless steel rather than oak. After a couple of weeks, a fine film of yeast appeared on the surface. Normally when tanks or casks are not properly topped up, wine falls prey to oxidation and can turn into vinegar. Why this is not the case here, Dario is unable to explain.

It could be that part of the explanation for the occurrence of flor lies in the exceptionally white terra bianca, soil rich in potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, nutrients that yeasts thrive on. The high limestone content has excellent water-retaining capacity, soaking up winter precipitation. This forms a water reservoir the vines can dip into during the growing cycle, especially welcome on steep slopes. A disadvantage, however, is its low organic matter. To increase this, soy, mustard and fava beans are planted and then mowed in during the spring. This is complemented by spraying the biodynamic 500 preparation (the infamous dung-filled cowhorn) twice a year, in spring and immediately after the harvest.

Dario’s unorthodox approach, saturating the wine with oxygen during the entire vinification, may also be part of the explanation of the flor riddle. Throughout the fermentation he racks frequently, whites as well as reds. As he explains, it allows for a steady and quick fermentation, without having to rely too much on temperature control, and he even allows the temperature to go up to 20-24 ºC for his whites. The reds are more or less left to their own devices, but as Dario vinifies them in small epoxy tanks, the heat developed during fermentation can escape quickly and the wine never exceeds 30 ºC.

Dario has started to produce a still, unoaked Pinot Noir. In his cellar, which is dominated by small stainless-steel and epoxy-resin vessels, a couple of abandoned barriques stand in the corner. Dario tried them but found that the resulting wine was dominated by the taste of oak and dry tannins. He is convinced that his Collina can produce great Pinot Noir, but, as if to prove his seriousness of intent, he declassified all his 2007 because he was not happy with the level of ripeness. And neither is there any of the 2006 maiden vintage left. It was snapped up by a German importer, who came across it at Prowein in Düsseldorf and, after tasting it, bought the lot without a second thought.

Mondo Antico, Perpolio 2007 Oltrepò Pavese Chardonnay 16.5 Drink 2009-10?
The name Perpolio comes from Latin and signifies something ‘refined’. The yield per hectare for this wine was less than 40 hl. The wine is fermented in stainless steel. During the first month Dario does a closed remontage on the lees twice a week followed almost immediately by spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The whole process takes about four weeks, after which the wine is racked off the gross lees into another tank, which is filled to only 2/3 of its capacity, where after some 15 days a fine film of flor appears.
Light amber, indicating a late harvest of very ripe fruit and oxidative winemaking. At first intense apricot jam, with iodine notes and bruised apples, a touch creamy too. Less refined than its name indicates, but certainly fascinating, it has an almost wild quality to it. This also goes for the palate, showing opulent fruit with a fine citric edge and yeasty, bready impressions. Ends warm and a touch sweet (RS 5-6g/l). Very peculiar and in the ‘love-hate’ category. 13% (WS)

Mondo Antico, Sinodo 2006 Oltrepò Pavese Rosso 16.5 Drink 2009-12
From 60-year-old vines, this can be considered a classic Oltrepò Pavese blend uniting Barbera, Croatina, Uva della Cascina and Moradella, although this last is not officially allowed. The name of this wine comes form the Greek, meaning ‘assembly’ or ‘meeting’. The grapes stem from the old, mixed vineyard. Owing to their different ripening times, several passages through the vines are needed to complete the harvest. The first two are done only by Dario’s family, without the help of other pickers, as through experience they can distinguish the different varieties, and know what to pick and what to leave. The wine is fermented in steel and undergoes lots of remontages and déléstages. Regardless of whether alcoholic fermentation has been completed or not, the wine is racked off the skins after 12 days or so to prevent further tannic pickup. Once the fermentation is terminated, the wine gets one racking only to separate it from the gross lees, after which malolactic fermentation immediately starts, presumably because so little sulphur is used at this stage. Racking at regular intervals is done throughout the year to prevent reduction, which is a greater risk when using totally inert glass-fibre and stainless-steel tanks.
A deep crimson colour. Immediate, lifted, vivid nose with a touch of VA. Dark fruits with a layer of maraschino cherry and savoury notes, followed by a rustic, energetic palate of sweet concentrated fruit with crunchy, bitter tannins. Ends warm and rustic. Very animated and long. Seems quite young. RS about 5 g/l. 14% (WS)

Mondo Antico, Agenore Bonarda 2006 Oltrepò Pavese 16 Drink 2009-12
This wine is in fact a 100% Croatina. Bonarda is the local synonym for Croatina, and the Oltrepò Pavese Bonarda DOC requires at least 85% Croatina and doesn’t allow the use of Bonarda Piemontese, a completely different variety. (If Dario wanted to label the wine Croatina, he would have to declassify it and label it IGT.) Bonarda Piemontese is apparently not present in Oltrepò Pavese. The wine’s name is derived from the Greek, meaning ‘virile’ or ’strong’. Quite an apt name as it turns out.
Deep purple, with intense sweet forest fruit nose. Again a touch volatile and lifted, with layers of cherry liqueur and notes of garden herbs. On the palate, multilayered with just a touch of spritz and dark fruits with structuring acidity. On the finish, a bitter tannic twist offsetting all that dark-fruit abundance. Singular, with signature rusticity and not for the faint hearted. The wine’s various components seem unsettled, suggesting further bottle age is needed. Great length, though. 14% (WS)

In recent years, Amarone has become an international success to such an extent that production figures have tripled over the last 10 years, from 2.3 million bottles in 1999 to more than 8 million in 2007, resulting in lower prices and lower quality overall.

The mission of the 10 families - Allegrini, Brigaldara, Masi, Musella, Nicolis, Speri, Tedeschi, Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Tommasi and Zenato - is to keep prices as well as quality up. Or, as their press release states: ‘Our Amarone must remain exclusive, precious and correctly priced’. Masi’s Alessandro Boscaini, president of the newly founded association, argues that Amarone must remain ‘rightly priced to stop low cost logics and the standardisation of taste’.

To this end the association has set up the following list of criteria and requirements. Wineries must be small or medium sized as well as family led. They must grow at least some of their own grapes - although the proportion is not specified. They must also have a history of producing Amarone for at least 15 years, of which total sales must be at least 20,000 bottles per year, and the Amarone of each member must be available in at least five foreign markets.

Furthermore, the wines must have a minimum alcohol content of 15% rather than the legal minimum of 14%, with a minimum dry extract of 30 g/l (cf 26 g/l by law) and must be aged for at least 30 months from the 1 Dec following the vintage (by law this is 24 months). But the most important, and the most drastic, rule is that members of the association promise to declassify their fruit should the vintage not allow for an optimal product.

The concern of the Amarone Families seems genuine enough, even if it may be inspired by the fact that the estimated 15 million bottles of Amarone that may be released in 2011 are likely to be nearly twice as many as the market can absorb, but they themselves seem to struggle to comply with the regulations of their own manifesto. Masi, producing 3.5 million bottles a year, Zenato with 1.2 million bottles and Tommasi with 900,000 bottles can hardly be considered ’small- to medium-sized wineries’.

Instead it would appear that the most internationally visible Amarone producers have decided to combine their strength to stop prices falling. But with their considerable total weight they should certainly prove an effective challenge to the generous production rules of the Consorzio of Valpolicella, the producer association. Currently, the Consorzio’s rules allow up to 70% of DOC Valpolicella grapes to be turned into Amarone, which, combined with strong demand for the wine, provides very little incentive to select only the best fruit.

Traditionally the production of Amarone, which involves a mandatory period of grape drying, was confined to the hills, because autumn fogs increased the risk of rot on the plains, but the enlargement of the classic zone when the DOC was introduced in 1968 and the introduction of modern technology to control humidity and temperature has resulted in a dramatic increase in Amarone production.

So far, proposals to limit Amarone production to superior vineyards have, perhaps not surprisingly, gained little ground. Improvements in quality, accompanied by price stability, could also be achieved not only by restricting which grapes may be dried but also by mandatory bottling within the DOC zone, and restricting grape varieties to the superior Corvina and Corvinone (which may currently constitute no more than 80% of the total blend) and prohibiting the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon currently allowed.

The 10 members of Amarone Families, which already represent 40% of the value of total Amarone sales, are keen to stress that the Association is willing to extend membership to all of those willing to comply with its rules.

This explanation did not go down well with some of Italy’s most prominent wine critics, who argued that Giacosa’s action not only tarnished the reputation of the 2006 vintage generally, but also openly suggested some connection with the recent departure of Dante Scaglione who had been Giacosa’s winemaker and right hand for more than 16 years and was considered instrumental to the high quality of the wines.

While speculation circulated online, Giacosa denied that Scaglione’s departure had anything to do with the decision, but refrained from shedding more light on whether the quality of the grapes or Scaglione’s work had been the main reason for the declassification of the vintage.

With 2006 Barbaresco already released on the market, to be followed by 2006 Barolo next January, the situation has triggered a potentially damaging debate on the quality of the 2006 vintage, which was halted only after one of Italy’s prominent wine critics, Franco Ziliani, asked Piemonte’s most knowledgeable oenologist, Armando Cordero, for his opinion. While admitting he had not tasted Giacosa’s 2006s, Cordero came out in favour of the vintage in general.

He has now been joined by the Consorzio of Barolo and Barbaresco, which has sent out a press statement maintaining that ‘the 2006 vintage is a very good one, with some exceptional peaks’. To back up their assertion, they have issued the following vintage report:

In order to highlight the great value and quality of the 2006 vintage for both Barbaresco and Barolo, we hereby summarize the climatic conditions which characterized that year.

During 2005/2006 winter it snowed a lot, but springtime was not very rainy, thus causing some risks of water shortage. Rain luckily fell in the second half of June.
Even though the summer started with thunderstorms, it quickly turned to dry weather. Actually, July 2006 was one of the hottest Julys in history. Rainfall around mid-August refreshed the air, mitigating the pre-maturity in the development of grapes caused by the dry July.

The climatic trend in September - usually the crucial month for the final quality of the Nebbiolo grapes used to produce Barbaresco and Barolo - was very favourable: warm but rather windy during the day and fresh during the night. These conditions allowed the grapes to ripen correctly.
Even the rain that fell between 24 and 26 Sep did not create any problem to the quality of grapes. At the most it determined a short interruption in harvesting, which nevertheless ended up with general satisfaction. Therefore, 2006 vintage has been characterized by a standard rhythm, with harvesting of Nebbiolo grapes - healthy and of excellent quality - taking place between the end of September and the beginning of October.

As far as the wines are concerned, both Barbaresco and Barolo 2006 show great structure, full body and roundness. Even if young, both are elegant. The garnet colour is intense, in some cases still with ruby-red highlights. The perfume is full-bodied, with clear fruity hints and the first hints of spices. The taste is full and persistent.

At this moment Vino Nobile, which was the first of all Italian wines to be elevated to the superior status of DOCG in 1980, must consist of a minimum of 70% of Sangiovese, or Prugnolo Gentile, as it is known here, with the balance made up of a maximum of 20% of the indigenous Canaiolo and a maximum of 20% of authorised grape varieties. This rather cryptic regulation already allows for the international grape varieties, first and foremost Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and, more and more, Syrah to put a stamp on the wines, but with the new proposal this will be increased to a hefty 30%. Unsurprisingly it has the protagonists of Sangiovese up in arms, as they consider the change an official degradation of Sangiovese. According to this camp it erroneously suggests that this most important ingredient of all Tuscan wines is not capable of producing great wines on its own, and needs “amelioration, as this authorisation of “other grape varieties” is euphemistically known by.

With the recent Brunello scandal fresh in mind it is curious, to say the least, that the Consorzio is going this way, especially in the light that there does exist a perfectly suitable category, Rosso di Montepulciano, with exactly the same regulation, and which allows for a free hand with the international intruders, unlike the Rosso di Montalcino equivalent, which must consist of 100% of Sangiovese only. Therefore, the argument, which claims that out of economic reasons (and catering for an alleged international, but mainly American consumer taste) there must be more lenience with the blend, is virtually powerless. Contrary to the Brunello di Montalcino debate, the Rosso di Montepulciano category already pulls in all grape varieties other than Sangiovese into the legal framework, whereas in the Montalcino area, Cabernet & Co can only be marketed under the much less commercially appealing DOC of Sant’Antimo, which doesn’t allow to capitalise on the famous Montalcino name.

While the Consorzio proudly states on its website that the Vino Nobile is considered a true expression of its terroir, it is questionable in how far this message can be conveyed in a wine that relies so heavily on non Italian grape varieties. Although advocates of the change argue that regardless of grape variety used, terroir characteristics are mainly the result of a specific site and soil type, it is doubtful if an international style would be able to express the uniqueness of the wine and make it inimitable on a global market saturated with French varieties. However, according to Thomas Francioni, Project Manager and marketeer of the Consorzio of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, the proposed changes merely simplify the existing situation, introducing more clarity to the legislation without any radical amendments.

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.
The Consorzio’s motto for this year’s event was: Prosecco is not the wine of a specific provenan or terroir, but rather a terroir expressing itself in a wine. This may seem an open door to most wine lovers accustomed with France’s AOC, but, with very few exceptions, Italy rarely gets philosophical about its viticultural history.

The changing status of Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene, as the wine is officially called, has far more implications than meets the eye. Giancarlo Vettorello, the Consorzio’s director and its most important communicator, is one of the main protagonists behind the elevation of the wine to DOCG status. Interestingly, Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene is not the only area to benefit from a promotion. What were until now the so called IGTs, a table wine category with a geographic indication, of which there are five in Veneto, accommodating large volumes of Prosecco produced under less strict rules, will also be pulled up in the hierarchy to Prosecco DOC.

Although in general the DOCG category represents the highest level of wine quality with more stringent production methods, the new status for Prosecco wines from Conegliano Valdobbiadene, will not result in any major changes, neither in volume nor methods. The DOC, on the other hand, which will plainly be called “Prosecco” and including all the IGT’s under which previously the sparkling wine was produced, will see a considerable lowering of yields, from 250 to 180 quintals. One doesn’t need to do think long to realise that these lower yields will have a major impact on the large and very large bottling operations in Veneto, which, with the beginning of the 2009 vintage, will see their total production volume come under pressure. The only way this can be compensated is by planting new vineyards. And although with more than 10,000 ha the province of Treviso alone produces 95% of all Prosecco in Italy, the whole of Veneto can be expected to see a formidable increase in hectares in the next few years.
Vettorello, however, sees the changes as an enormous benefit for the consumer, who has associated Prosecco with a sparkling wine from Italy in the first place, blissfully ignorant that the word actually stands for a grape variety. Not only will a lower yield for the elevated DOC Prosecco mean an increase in quality according to Vettorello, but the quality control that comes with it, and which has never been mandatory for IGT wines, will improve the wines further, at least in theory.

It is easy to see that one of the main reasons for the changes is the fact that Prosecco has become a victim of its own success. According to Vettorello, many hundreds of hectares of Prosecco vineyards, especially in South America, will come on stream in the near future, potentially threatening one of Italy’s most lucrative wines. But one doesn’t have to look too far into the wine world, nor the future, to realise how fragile Prosecco as a truly Italian product is. Recently, a German court ruled that still wine from Prosecco grapes imported into Germany and undergoing its secondary fermentation in that country, legally could be labelled “Prosecco”. The court ruled that the base product originates from Italy, and while respecting the IGT regulations, exactly where the wine is made sparkling doesn’t play any role.

In the very near future, praxis like this will no longer be possible, as Prosecco no longer be a will be grape variety but a designated region, literally anchored in the village of Prosecco on the Slovenian border in the province of Friuli. From the 2009 vintage on any wine labelled Prosecco can only come from this enormous DOC, which will represent de basis of the quality pyramid, with the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG representing the top, and the Cru of Cartizze, around 106ha of the very best vineyard sites in the classic hilly area producing grapes of the highest standard, the very pinnacle.
Although it would seem that all regulation are in place to prevent any abuse of the word Prosecco within Europe, and furnishing Italy as a EU partner with a strong weapon to prosecute any idle use of the name, this didn’t seem to go quite far enough for the Consorzio. The very name of the grape will cease to exist, and will officially be changed into Glera, the Friulian synonym for Prosecco. Perhaps the Italians are now more than ever on their guard, especially after having recently seen their white Tocai Friulano grape variety loose its name, when Hungary claimed exclusivity over it. But one can’t help a certain loss, Prosecco probably being the same grape the Romans called Pucinus and officially documented from the 16th century on. But Vettorello is adamant that only these drastic changes will see a halt to what he considers abuse of the Prosecco name. And that will include the Prosecco Rosé, a fizzy Prosecco literally coloured with a dash of the red Raboso and sold at the lowest price point in strikingly gaudy pink labelled, and which recently appeared on the shelves of one of UK’s largest supermarkets.

At the Vino in Villa tasting the Consorzio had changed the traditional alphabetical producer order into rooms devoted to the largest of the Rives, with the two subzones, Conegliano and Valdobbiadene each having most of the space.

Even after having tasted more than 50 wines, all in the Extra Dry category in an effort to keep at least one of the variables constant (a fallacy in itself, as Extra dry ranges from 12 to 20 g/l of residual sugar, with overlaps both into Brut – up to 15 g/l – and Dry – from 20-35 g/l), a common theme did not emerge.

Please note that the life span of Prosecco in general is roughly about 18 months, which gives it just enough time for the last vintage to be drunk before the next one is released on the market.

Conegliano
Buffon Giorgio, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink now – 2010
Cold fermentation aromas with a certain yeasty impact, perhaps a touch medicinal even. Sweet fruit on the palate without a lot of length. 11.5% (WS)

Ca’ Vittoria, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now - 2010
Fresh green apple and white fruits. Very fine, but fleeing co2 on the palate. Highish acidity on the finish with pleasant bitternote. 11.5% (WS)

Carmina, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2010
Subdued but elegant white fruit palate, well balanced, clean and attractive. 11.5% (WS)

Carpene Malvolti, Prosecco di Conegliano Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink Now - 2010
Initially dusty nose. Assertive co2 on the attack, while on the medium finish the residual sweetness pops up briefly. 11.5% (WS)

Giavi, Prosecco di Conegliano Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now – 2010
Characterful, almost minerally nose. Fragrant palate, but medium length disappoints somewhat. 11.5% (WS)

Lucchetta Marcello, Prosecco di Conegliano Spumante Extra Dry 14 Drink now – 2010
Open, inviting nose, with hints of earth and bubblegum. Somewhat earthy on the palate too. Not entirely clean? 11.5% (WS)

Massotina, Prosecco di Conegliano Spumante Extra Dry 15.5 Drink now – 2010
Fresh green fruit nose. Assertive co2 attack, but the impression lasts. Well balanced, would make for a nice aperitif. 11.5% (WS)

Salatin, Prosecco di Conegliano Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now -2010
Very restraint, almost herbal. Similar restraint palate, without great impact, but fragrant finish and lasting co2. 11.5% (WS)

Refrontolo
Colsaliz, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink now -2010
Boskop apple with a touch of spice. Almost aggressive co2 on the palate, contrasted by sweet apple sauce notes, and well integrated sweetness. Not ridiculously long. 11.5% (WS)

Colvendrà, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now – 2010
Pronounced green apple. Attratcive wine, without a lot to say on the mid palate, but fragrant finish with freshness. 11.5% (WS)

Tarzo
Andrea da Ponte, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15.5 Drink now – 2010
Vinous nose of white stone fruit and bread crust. Quite vinous palate too with refined co2 and good length. Quite delicious. 11.5% (WS)

Pieve di Soligo
Cantina Colli del Soligo, 2008 “Solicum Cuvee”, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2010
Spicy apple and Satsuma nose, with a light fragrant palate, and aromas becoming more pronounced on the fisish. Good length and balance. 11% (WS)

San Pietro di Feletto
Bepin De Eto, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2010
Light, herbal apply nose, with notes of cut grass and white blossoms. Apple fruit palate with sweet sour balancing act on a lingering, but light finish. 11.5% (WS)

Frassinelli, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15.5 Drink now – 2010
Earthy white fruit and yeast nose. Quite persistent with mid palate concentration. Assertive co2. 11.5% (WS)

Il Colle, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink now – 2010
Subdued, soft and very fine co2, which doesn’t make it to the finish. 11% (WS)

Le Manzane, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now – 2010
Earthy, almost smoky. Somewhat less impressive on the palate, but fresh fruit impression returns on the finish. The earthy note gives it some complexity. 11.5% (WS)

Roberti Itali, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2010
Uplifting, fresh with an invitingly featherlight palate. Elegant and quite delicious finish. 11.5% (WS)

San Giuseppe, Prosecco di Conegliano Spumante Extra Dry 16 11% Drink now - 2010
At first somewhat neutral and at the same time serious. Develops notes of tropical fruit on the nose but shows restraint on the palate. Finish with long lasting co2, good balance without being overtly sweet. 11% (WS)

Vittorio Veneto
Bellenda, “Miraval” Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14 drink now – 2010
Does this wine have a problem? Seems quite vegetal. 11.5% (WS)

Le Vigne di Alice, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now – 2010
Brooding, almost heady fruit fragrance, with a restraint palate. Good balance. Pleasant. 11.5% (WS)

Cison di Valmarino
Vigne Matte, “Millesimatte” (sic) Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2010
Fresh, light and appealing, with notes of spicy apple. Quite assertive co2 on a full flavoured palate. Touch of boiled sweets but charming. 11.5% (WS)

Miane
Gregoletto, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2010
Seems to have a bit more colour than the other wines. Brooding white fruit compote, intense, medium sweet apple palate, and interesting apply finish, with very good length. 12% (WS)

Susegana
Borgoluce, 2008 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 16 Drink now – 2011
Small production of 4000 bottles, made by Collalto, but marketed under a separate label. Quite vinous with spiel and full bodied sensation on the palate. Full flavoured too and long. Will certainly not be cheap. 11.5% (WS)

Malibran, “Gorio” Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15.5 Drink Now - 2010
Lifted fruit nose with hints of bread crust. Good persistence on the palate, with lasting acidity balancing the sweetness. 11.5% (WS)

Farra di Soligo
Perlage, “ Col di Manza” Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink now – 2010
From biodynamically grown grapes.
Sweet, almost candied lemon peel. Quite sweet attack with herbal finish. 11.5% (WS)

Progettidivini, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now - 2010
Fresh nose, with a hint of candied peel. Very light co2 on the palate, just enough to reach the finish. Shows attractive acidity in a medium white fruit finish. 11.5% (WS)

Vidor
Scandolera, “Vigneti del Fait”, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink now - 2010
Apple compote with a vegetal note. Similar vegetalness comes through on a light fruit palate. No great persistence. 11.5 % (WS)

Valdobbiadene
Bortolin Angelo, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 15 Drink now - 2010
Lifted green apple with a touch of melon and cold fermentation aromas. Quite “dry” fragrant fruit and lemony notes on a medium finish with very fine co2. 11% (WS)

Col Vetoraz, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Spumante Extra Dry 14.5 Drink now – 2010
White fruits with green streak. Less pronounced on the palate with modest length. 11.5% (WS)

The production zone of Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdabiodene is confined to the hills around the towns of the same name, where yields are naturally lower as vineyards are planted on terraces. This guarantees, at least in theory, a higher quality of wines than the ones produced under the much more lenient IGTs Veneto, Marca Trevigiana and Colli Trevigiani, which stretch for miles and miles on the plains of Veneto. This trio spews forth enormous volumes of sparkling wine which have become so popular internationally that foreign imitations of Prosecco abound.

In a way the Italians have only themselves to blame, allowing Prosecco to become shorthand for inexpensive bubbly. Current total production of Prosecco is around 1,300,000 hl annually, of which 60 million bottles are marketed as DOC, but more than 100 million hl as IGT, and selling at half the price.

As with all varietal wine, protection of origin is a sheer impossibility, which is why the Consorzio has been fighting to get recognition for the superiority of produce from the hills. Unfortunately, at least from a consumer’s point of view, the name does not exactly roll off the tongue.

While British and German supermarkets in particular have kept downward pressure on prices, the ultimate slap in the face came with the introduction of a Prosecco in a can, with Paris Hilton recommending drinking it with a straw. Producers were up in arms about what they saw as a further deterioration of the wine’s reputation, but the regional government was less offended, welcoming the product as an ingenious way of dealing with potential overproduction.

However, officials did begin to worry after Prosecco from outside the prescribed zone started to appear on the markets, potentially affecting profitability of the Italian original. Allegedly Luca Zaia, Italy’s Minister for Agriculture, and from the Veneto region himself, promoted the idea of the creation of a generic DOC Prosecco, which would stretch all the way up to Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the village of Prosecco is located near the Slovenian border. This would provide the legal condition of protection, which is based on provenance of agricultural produce only, and hence what was previously the name of a grape variety would now be a name with geographical significance.

It therefore comes as no surprise that while DOCG status is introduced for Prosecco Conegliano-Valdobbiadene (and at the same time also for its much more obscure southerly neighbour Prosecco Montello e Colli Asolani), a new DOC has been designed to encompass no less than eight provinces (Belluno, Gorizia, Padova, Pordenone, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Venezia, and Vicenza), absorbing practically all of the IGTs under which Prosecco production outside the classic hills has been marketed. Curiously, while the province of Treviso boasts more than 10,000 ha devoted to the grape, Padova, Vicenza and Belluno together have no more than 600 ha planted with Prosecco, and Friuli a mere 125 ha.

Although the producers from the classic area now at last may see official recognition for the superiority of their wines, the ambition of their Consorzio goes further. During the annual Vino in Villa festival to be staged next month, the Consorzio will introduce the notion of crus. This in itself is nothing new, as witness the suffix Cartizze, a tiny subzone within Valdobbiadene considered the source of the finest Prosecco of all. Apart from this subzone, common knowledge within the region itself has it that, among others, the villages of Saccol, Vidor and Santo Stefano historically have been the source of outstanding grapes. An official classification, however, has previously not been considered, and it will be interesting to see whether the wines actually allow for such subtle division reflecting their terroir.

At the same time the Consorzio has started a campaign to obtain recognition for Conegliano-Valdobbiadene as an official Unesco World Heritage site - which could confer even great prestige on the area than any DOCG could achieve.

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.

The vineyard in this particular case, Madonna del Carmine, yields so little it is nothing short of a miracle its vines were allowed to grow to such old age. Its owner Alfonso Arpina jumps through this tiny patch bordering a small chapel, after which it is named, and keeps on shouting to me: vieni qua – come here! He grasps my hand and drags me from vine to vine, all ungrafted and on their own rootstocks, pointing out a bird’s nest hidden in one of the mansize trunks, or a particular long branch meandering its way throughout the entire vineyard making bends and u-turns. One branch is so long it is impossible to follow it with the eye, and, mostly out of disbelief, I walk along it to the very end of the vineyard. Arpina kneels down and hugs one of his vines (he knows them one by one) to show me how wide their trunk is. After the assault on all senses, which Naples is, the tranquillity in this part of Campania, in Italy’s South, is almost overwhelming, with only the sound of rain contrasting it.

Alfonso Arpina, medic by day and viticoltore by conviction is the proud owner of this and 3 other old vine vineyards, which have been in the possession of his family for as long as he can remember. Until the early 1990s they had been rented out leaving only a small portion of the grapes to be vinified by Arpina himself in his kitchen using demijohns and plastic canisters.

The vineyard’s main protagonist is the Tintore, an indigenous red grape variety, and even by Campanian standards very rare. As its name indicates, it belongs to the Teinturier family,
sporting red flesh as well as juice, resulting in deeply coloured wines with lots of extract. The wine’s structuring element is its high level of acidity, which, in combination with the intense red and black crushed fruit and tamarind aromas and flavours, creates a lipsmacking sensation without ever being heavy or alcoholic.
In Italy in the past all grape varieties belonging to the Tenturier family were conventionally referred to as “tintore”, although 19th century ampelographic research, notably by the Campanian scholar Giuseppe Froio, already distinguished between the Tintore di Tramonti, Tintora di Lanzara and Olivella Tingitora, with “Tintora”, a variety cultivated on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, appeared to have no relationship with the Tramonti variety either.

The Tintore di Tramonti is characterised by elongated loose bunches with small berries, which makes it much less prone to fungal diseases than varieties with compact bunches. It is an early ripener, at least to Campanian standards, as it is normally harvested at the end of September, a full four to six weeks earlier than Aglianico, Campania’s signature grape. The variety is almost exclusively confined to the Monte Lattari valley, where Alfonso’s vineyards lie. Its existence, however, is duly acknowledged in the larger Costa d’Amalfi DOC, in which it can be a minor ingredient in a blend featuring Campania’s most universal red varieties Piedirosso, Sciascinoso and Aglianico. Curiously, the Costa d’Amalfi distinguishes officially three subzones, of which Tramonti is one (the others being Furore and Ravello), but its historical and cultural vineyards of Tintore have been completely ignored when the regulations were drawn up in 1995. Hence a Tintore “in purezza” can only be marketed under the modest IGT designation, which is basically no more than a table wine with a geographical indication.
This, however, doesn’t make any difference to Arpina, who has been convinced of Tintore’s greatness and ageing potential ever since he tasted a wine made by his father in 1974. This made him decide to cease renting his vines out and instead start for himself, albeit only on a part time basis. And thus the Monte di Grazia estate was born.

Arpina’s holding is tiny, a mere 2,7 ha located in the commune of Tramonti, in the heart of the Monte Lattari and a stone’s throw away from Costa d’Amalfi while 45 km from Naples. The terraces on which the vineyards have been planted consist of volcanic ashes, originating from eruptions of the nearby Vesuvius in the past, and red clayey soils. Although a secluded spot, well hidden from Naples, there is continuous ventilation coming from the nearby coast as well as inland winds blowing from the North, which not only has a mitigating effect in summer as well as winter, but the constant thermic movement add to the special micro climate in this part of the hills.

The vines are Tendone trained, and similar to a pergola with an overhead trellis from which the fruit hangs down. This not only facilitates picking but normally also allows for very high yields. But in this case the antiquity of the vines means yields are a fraction of what can normally be expected, whereas the organic methods used by Arpina reduce this even further. Interestingly, the branches (canes is not an appropriate reference due to their size) are tied to the tendone by using willow shoots. These shoots are also used to construct a series of hedge like walls not unlike the ones used for horse jumping, which are scattered around the vineyard, and which turn out to be a biological way to combat Esca, a fungal disease. The fungus is more attracted to the humid willow hedges than to the old vines it would normally attack.

Although with an average of 25 hl yields are truly tiny, it is still a hell of a lot to ferment in a kitchen. Arpina therefore took a plastic bottle, filled it up with his Tintore red, and headed off to Naples to look for a consultant who could help him build a cellar.
This may not seem the most logical place to search for one, but Arpina was looking for is Gerardo Vernazzaro, a young oenologist in charge of his family’s Cantine Astroni, in the Campi Flegrei, or Phlegraean fields, an area existing of craters dotted around the Vesuvius. This DOC, with its flag bearers the white Falanghina and the red Piedirosso, is right in the middle of Naples’ urban sprawl fighting a lost cause against speculation and real estate, making the vineyards of Chateau Haut Brion in the suburbs of Bordeaux look distinctively rural.
Gerardo told me that he still remembers seeing Arpina turn up with his plastic bottle to present him the home made contadina style 2003 vintage, black as the night and with more than 15% alcohol. Gerardo expected a dirty, oxidised wine, but was immediately taken by its complexity and high acidity. Two days later he drove down to the Madonna del Carmine vineyard, and after having seen the ancient vines he immediately decided to team up with Alfonso. A minuscule cellar was constructed, so tiny you wonder how they got the already quite small stainless steel tanks in there.

The pair started off with the somewhat unforgiving 2004, a very cold vintage giving grapes with searing acidity and little extract. They did the best they could, but Gerardo admits that at that stage he didn’t know the grape very well. He also wanted to use oak to make the wine look more flattering, but Alfonso, who had gained his experience with Tintore using plastic demijohns and glass ballons only, vetoed this, and Gerardo never suggested it again.
Under Gerardo’s guidance an equally impressive white wine from Pepella, Ginestra and Bianca Tenera, as well as a Rosé version of Tintore are produced. With a total production of a mere 7000 bottles in total one can easily understand how obscure grape varieties remain just that. Their extinction is often literally prevented by the likes of Arpina and Gerardo, whose driving force passion only, as the expectancy on a financial return on the estate is as low as the yields of the centenarian vineyard.

The wines
The vineyard plots are all vinified separately in stainless steel tanks and without any use of sulphur. Malolactic fermentation is hoped for but not actively sought, as Tintore’s acidity can be of such high level that it inhibits the activity of the bacteria.
After its fermentation Tintore may be blended with a tiny portion of Moscio, another obscure and ancient Campanian red variety, of which the quantities are too small to justify a separate bottling. However, Arpina and Gerardo are experimenting with a passito version of Moscio. The idea to produce a dessert wine of partially dried grapes came when they faced their first cool and rainy year, and they felt they were struggling to produce a good wine. As Tintore’s high acidity and low extract in those vintages doesn’t create something exceptional, Gerardo wants to “declassify” in such years the Rosso and make only a Rosé. In very good years on the other hand, he wants to make a Moscio passito, the grapes of which are now used as a tiny component in the Rosé.

Monte di Grazia, Bianco 2008 Campania IGT cask sample 17.5 Drink 2010-14
Healthy as well as a proportion of very lightly botrytised Pepella, Ginestra and Bianca Tenera grapes where left in the pneumatic press to macerate overnight.
Pepella has the genetic peculiarity of sporting tiny as well as large berries on the same bunch, however there is no difference in ripeness between the small and large berries. And although Ginestra can easily be considered Campania’s greatest grape according to Gerardo, due to the tiny numbers of vines left, the grapes are generally blended into the white to increase the production.
Deep, brilliant yellow. Opens very sweet and multilayered, with notes of apricot preserve and develops almost Riesling like. Full, concentrated apricot, peach and apple palate, well balanced by lots of lemony acidity. Lemon fruit finish. Pristine acidity, crystal clear. 1000 btls produced. 12.5%

Monte di Grazia Bianco 2007 Campania IGT 16.5 Drink 2009-214
Ginestra, Pepella, Bianca Tenera.
Very pale yellow. Perfumed sweet pear and peach jelly, with high acidity immediately kicking in on the palate, carrying a long, softly fragrant fruit finish. Elegant. 11.5%

Monte di Grazia, Rosato 2008 Campania IGT cask sample 17 Drink 2009-14
A blend of Tintore and Moscio.
This wine was made properly as a rosé instead of being the result of the saigné method, which improves the skin-juice ratio during red wine vinification, and with the Rosé being a left over product.
Tintore was left to macerate for 8 hours in the press, which suffices for the skins to release an unusual amount of anthocyans, the colour pigments, and therefore there is no need to start the first part of the fermentation on the skins to distract some colour of the skins. The wine went partially through malolactic fermentation, but the wine’s high acidity prevented a full functioning of the bacteria responsible for this transformation.
Pale violet ruby.
Heady, fragrant nose of red fruit coulis, strawberry and cherry. On the palate immediate and intense impressions of sweet summer fruit salad and cherry lifted by high, linear acidity. Ends on cherry, strawberry and lemon sorbet. Unusual and unique. 13% vol.

Monte di Grazia Rosso 2008 Campania IGT cask sample 17.5 Drink 2009 -16
After the wine has finished fermentation it is being racked every month, exposing it to as much oxygen as possible to stabilise the colour and aid the polymerisation of the tannins.
Impenetrable, almost black violet. At this stage reductive, showing shy notes of stalky red fruits, but the enormous concentration behind it is immediately apparent. Develops into lots of minerally fruit with hints of pepper corns. Signature freshness and concentration on the palate, with very fine, filigran tannins absorbing the acidity. Closes up again on the finish. Very pure and crystal clear, impressive and long. 13.5% vol.

After this wine Gerardo handed me a sample without actually telling my what it was:
Same impenetrable, black violet as the previous wine. The nose seems more open though, with bright cherry and stalky dark fruits. The impression you get when smelling a wine just finishing fermentation with notes of hay. Full, sweet concentrated and intense fruit attack, but closes up immediately on the finish. Finely grained, powdery tannins. It turns out to be the press wine of the 2008 Campania Rosso.

Monte di Grazia Rosso 2007 Campania IGT 17 Drink 2010-18
This wine has just been bottled, but will not be released on the market for another year.
Deep, concentrated violet ruby. Plum, spice and lots of dark fruits, with succulent red and dark fruit palate, with hallmark freshness. Somewhat compact and closed on the finish, but already showing lots of potential for extended cellaring. 14% vol.

Monte di Grazia Rosso 2006 Campania IGT 18 Drink 2010-18
Deep, violet ruby, extremely youthful looking. Fascinating nose of crushed blueberry, basil leaves and a touch of pepper, as well as savoury, minerally notes all at once. Lots going on here. Smoky, minerally plum, blackberry and blueberry notes and very fine tannins. Very long and elegant, developing on the finish. Impressive in its elegance. Not ostentatious at all. 14% vol

Monte di Grazia Rosso 2005 Campania IGT 17.5 Drink 2009-18
Very dark ruby. Almost upfront nose of spicy, almost oriental nose with lots of black and red fruits. Lots of depth on the palate too with persistent dark and red fruit salad impressions with a fine layer of grainy, soft tannins. Very long and elegant, with potential. 13% vol.

The Consorzio of Chianti Classico, the organisation which represents most of the producers and bottlers of the region, except for a few rebels and the likes of Antinori, who would rather spend the money on its own marketing, has always been one of the most proactive when it comes to promoting Chianti Classico.

It has the unenviable task of raising awareness of the fact that Chianti Classico is a whole different ballgame from straight Chianti. Although both denominations carry the highest quality designation, DOCG or Denominazione d’Orgine Controllata e Garantita, in the form of a pink banderol around the bottle’s neck, they are actually two separate designations, with Classico being the original, historic area, with much stricter regulations, especially with regards to yields, than the catch-all, do-whatever-you-like DOCG Chianti. This is not a distinction easily conveyed to the general public, especially when the name itself has been tarnished with mediocrity, and the difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico not a given in terms of quality either.

Since 2006, in an ongoing marketing effort to get international recognition for the progress the region and its wines have made, the Consorzio of Chianti Classico annually organises a showcase tasting in Florence - the Collezione Chianti Classico. It is an almost all-encompassing tasting of the most recent vintages held in a defunct and dramatic but sombre-looking 19th-century train station, Stazione Leopolda. Where once trains would roll in, now hundreds of Chianti Classico wines on tables as long as wagons are waiting to be poured to an international gathering of buyers and journalists by smart, if old fashioned-looking, sommeliers with tastevins dangling from their necks as if to prove their expertise.

At the beginning of the first of two days of solid tasting, Marco Pallanti, proprietor of Castello di Ama and the Consorzio’s current president, took only a couple of minutes to welcome the guests, explaining that the original Greek meaning of the word ‘crisis’ is ‘separating’ or ‘selecting’. The parallel to the current economic crisis that he sees is the fact that choices need to be made. He went on to say that he was certain that we would surely find something to select from the 350 or so offerings on show. This was mirrored by the surprising optimism the Consorzio showed in its press release, which stated that the region sees the recession as though from a ‘fortress’, since the majority of estates and wineries are wholly owned by their proprietors and therefore ‘quite immune to the fluctuations of the finance markets’. This confidence seemed naive, to say the least, especially as in the same breath the 100 million euro investments made over the last five years in the region were also mentioned. And investments, we all know, need to be earned back sooner or later.

While this two day tasting exercise clearly showed that the wines have in general improved considerably, the real question is: has the image of Chianti Classico in the consumer’s eye kept up with these quality improvements? In other words: can Chianti Classico sell itself confidently enough to recoup these investments?

One look at the grape variety blend that makes up Chianti Classico shows that Sangiovese as the sole ingredient for Chianti Classicos is rapidly gaining ground, although the law requires only an 80% minimum. In those wines which are not all Sangiovese, more often than not it is complemented by ancient Tuscan grape varieties such as Canaiolo, Colorino, Malvasia Nera and Pugnitello. But the fashion for a dollop of Cabernet Sauvignon and especially Merlot is not over yet. And as Canaiolo tends to be unreliable, giving irregular yields, its sudden popularity is not easily explained. Several wines were too deeply coloured and often too international in aroma to be wholly convincing as an expression of the Tuscan spirit.

This in itself is not surprising. Although Sangiovese is undoubtedly the most capable carrier of the Tuscan terroir message, many of the region’s vineyards are planted with clones that were selected for quantity rather than quality. Interestingly, a hectolitre of wine produced as Chianti Classico now fetches double that of something bearing the name Chianti. The direct result of this is that many unsuitable spots in the Classico region are planted with Sangiovese, which has led to a lowering of quality, as well as adding credibility to the assumption that Sangiovese is merely a good, rather than an excellent or even outstanding grape variety. This in turn makes it difficult for producers who are genuinely convinced of the quality of Sangiovese to get a proper return on their financial investments and timely efforts in the vineyards. Planting the right clones and bringing down total yields comes at a cost, which continues to be compromised by the still significant production of cheap, low-quality wines which nevertheless lawfully carry the Chianti Classico designation.

It is therefore no wonder that many producers still believe in international grape varieties, notably Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, to beef up the wines for an international market that is not used to acidity as a main structural element in Chianti Classico. These grapes, however, have a considerable impact on the style of the resulting wines, and tend to impair Sangiovese’s characteristic perfume on the one hand and compromise the ageability of the wines on the other, turning Sangiovese’s garnet colour into a brownish black ruby, with a nose dominated by tarry and tired fruit.

The Chianti Classico zone is also heavily dependent on winemaking consultants, who in some cases have acquired superstar status. Because the most celebrated of them are considered nothing less than a guarantee of return on investment due to their international exposure and their internationally appealing style of wine, some of the oenology courses at Italy’s universities are now over-subscribed. The Italian Association of Oenologists, Assoenologi, warned two years ago that the situation would lead to an over-representation of the profession. And while Assoenologi was worrying about how to guarantee enough employment, others were expressing concern about how this breed of professionals ‘detached from the land’ would ever be able to express the sacred notion of terroir in their wines – especially if they had so many clients that they could never truly study the special characteristics of specific plots of land over the long term.

But it is not all bad news. Fortunately, this year’s tasting showed the high quality 2007 vintage of Chianti Classicos, as well as the equally attractive 2006 Riservas, which, with their additional mandatory 24-month ageing period, are just appearing on the market. The general quality of the wines is high, pairing sweetness of fruit with tangy, biting acidity and long and fragrant fruit flavours. The wines are food partners par excellence, and while bistecca fiorentina is the clichéd match for a fine Chianti Classico, the best examples fare much better with subtler foods, especially after being allowed some bottle age.

A noticeable trend was that regular as opposed to Riserva Chianti Classico seemed a touch neglected, almost being treated as a ‘second wine’, with the best quality grapes reserved for the Riserva. Meanwhile, the price of regular Chianti Classico has increased substantially even though the level of concentration, balance and persistence does not always seem to warrant these prices. However, progress throughout is undeniable, and most producers have started to embrace Sangiovese’s fresh, crystal clear acidity which, in combination with its sweet, ripe red fruit flavours, creates agreeable tension and freshness on the palate.

A final, but nevertheless striking, observation from the Florentine fortress was that the UK trade and media seemed surprisingly under-represented. One can only conclude that the Consorzio’s resources are being channelled into other efforts and, especially, other markets, which seem more promising than the cooling UK market.

Could it be that the current government tax regime, with its steady if unpredictable increases in duty, is starting to affect the UK’s reputation as the world’s largest export market for wine, as well as its past image as prestigious shop window and the ‘place to be seen’ for any producer with international ambition? British supermarkets have certainly done their fair share of deflating the value of wine by suppressing price points to an absolute minimum, making the decision to invest in markets with a less harsh regime promising a much higher return seem a logical one. However, the long-term investment which the Chianti Classico Consorzio has built up in the UK over the past few years is bound to dissipate and will surely be much more costly to rebuild in the future. British wine lovers and Chianti Classico producers alike will be the poorer for it.

While it may seem that the Brunello di Montalcino scandal has lost most of its newsworthiness, especially after the majority of its producers voted with a clear “no” against any adulteration of what by law is supposed to be a 100% Sangiovese wine last year, a very belated aftermath was staged this January way up in North Italy, literally miles away from Montalcino, by Angelo Gaja. Dubbed by his critics as “the Bishop of Barbaresco” due to his openly authoritarian, and by no means subtle, stance on the Brunello affair, Gaja, who also has a winemaking operation in Montalcino, Pieve Santa Restituta, producing Brunello, had offered last year September to stage a “blogger summit” on the Brunello scandal in his winery in Barbaresco. The offer was made public in a thread on the Gambero Rosso website (Italy’s most influential food and wine organisation, and responsible for the annual publication of Vini Italia guide) promising total openness in expression of thought. The date for this summit was set for January 18th 2009, so far in the future that by then the event could well be past its sell-by-date, no longer having any relevance for the wider debate.

Last year while at its peak Gaja had already meddled in the Brunello scandal by publishing his thoughts in an open letter on the AIS website (http://www.sommelier.it/archivio.asp?ID_Categoria=8&ID_Articolo=1273 ), Italy’s influential and very popular sommelier association, expressing his views that a 100% Sangiovese Brunello just wasn’t a realistic option. At that stage he had already condemned in the harshest of terms the efforts of journalist Franco Ziliani, the main protagonist in the fight for a lawful Brunello. At the same time Ziliani was also attacked by Enzio Rivella, senior consultant and wine maker of Castello Banfi, saying journalists in general and Ziliani in particular are to blame for the scandal. Castello Banfi, by far the largest operation in Montalcino, became the centre of attention after it had appeared that the estate’s Brunello was under investigation for adulteration of its Brunello and literally thousands of hectolitres where impounded by the Guardia Finanza, Italy’s financial police. During a conference organised by Ziliani to debate the future of Brunello di Montalcino, which took place last October at the University of Siena, Rivella accused Ziliani of tarnishing Brunello’s reputation, one of Italy’s most successful (and most expensive) wines. Gaja added fuel to his by openly discrediting the debate calling it “boorish” and comparing its relevance with “pub banter”.

The blogger summit itself, which assembled twenty bloggers at the Gaja Head quarters in Barbaresco, reporting live on a discussion fed by questions of a virtual public while a 1999 Rinaldi Barolo was being served, appeared to be a very inconvenient way for discussing such complex topic, interrupted as it was by five minute toilet breaks and a general slowing down of the debate due to the multitasking effort of arguing and typing at the same time. Italians seem to have taken a liking to this medium that allows to speak out in favour or against controversial issues in a country staunchly clinging to conservative values. However it did furnish a stage for Gaja to repeat much of what he had said in the past. He openly questions the law that stipulates the sole use of Sangiovese for Brunello, which came into force in 1982, and which he considers a political decision made in Rome, far away from the reality of the vineyards in Montalcino.

Gaja had already ventilated his thoughts in a thread on the Il Numeri di Vino website last August (http://inumeridelvino.it/2008/08/il-caso-brunello-di-montalcino-di-angelo-gaja.html
), in which he explains that the original Brunello area back in the 1960s didn’t comprise of more than 60 hectares, with around twenty or so producers, and with Biondi Santi being the leading estate, which in the 19th century had isolated a superior clone of Sangiovese, capable of producing wines of great longevity, and calling it “Brunello”. This wine reached near mythical status in Italy and abroad for sheer rarity due to the fact that the single vineyard version “il Greppo” was only very infrequently made during the past 100 years or so.

The region came to enormous prosperity after Banfi, an Italo-american operation, settled in the area in 1977 buying large swathes of land to plant with Moscadello, an aromatic but mediocre white grape variety to produce the Tuscan equivalent of and speculating on the best selling Moscato d’Asti. Banfi’s ambitious Moscadello planting scheme became a financial fiasco, until the estate started focusing on Brunello as well as the production of a range of international grape varieties, most notably Merlot and Syrah, planted alongside Sangiovese.

According to Gaja, the huge success of Banfi’s Brunello, especially in the United States, triggered a frenzy of plantings in the region, increasing total vineyard size to 2000 hectares divided by 250 producers. This enormous increase was undiscriminating to say the least, not taking into account that Sangiovese, a variety with “weak points” according to Gaja, demands certain speficic sites to ripen properly. A high return seemed to be secured by the name Brunello on the label alone. However, to mitigate the tartness of Sangiovese planted in too cool spots the international grape varieties introduced by Banfi appeared to be ideal blending partners.

Over time the wines have met with a huge international success, and again according to Gaja (and Rivella) it is unacceptable that anyone would want to defend a 100% Sangiovese wine, which would mean that large parts of the Brunello vineyards would not be suitable for its production. Although during the blogger summit Gaja literally said that he didn’t want to tell the producers in Montalcino what to do, and would rather keep his thoughts to himself in order to avoid controversy, in reality there wasn’t a doubt that he clearly favours a legalised inclusion of international grape varieties in Brunello to either make the wines more marketable or to compensate for sites where Sangiovese struggle to ripen, or a combination of both. The law that stipulates a 100% Brunello doesn’t take this into account, and Gaja argues, that if producers constantly are in conflict with that law, it should be changed. The suggestion made by one of the bloggers to use the St. Antimo DOC, a designation with much lenient regulations regarding grape varieties allowed, was declined by Gaja, saying that he had made a considerable investment in Montalcino implying he expects a proper return on that.

According to Gaja’s critics his idea of a “blended” wine, which is supposed to be monovarietal comes from the same man who tried to have the Barbaresco DOCG changed to allow for inclusion of a certain percentage of anything other than the revered Nebbiolo, but had failed and as a consequence declassified some of his most prestigious wines to the fairly non descript Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, which nevertheless allows up to 15% of other grape varieties in a Nebbiolo based wine.

Gaja also criticised the positive outcome of the “100% Brunello” vote, calling it an act of “hypocrisy” saying, than in spite of almost all producers having voted in favour of this, it doesn’t reflect the reality. He pleads for a regulation, in which producers themselves can decide how to make a marketable Brunello, especially as according to Gaja, more than half of all vineyards registered for the production of this wine do not possess the vocation, nor the quality to grow Sangiovese, but which no one can (or wants) to declassify. It is easy to see that statements like these infuriate purists, defending the special characteristics that only a 100% Brunello, plus bottle age, will possess. They also insinuate that Gaja was a relative late comer to Montalcino and therefore may have been unable to buy up the best vineyards for the production of a truly great Sangiovese Brunello. But Gaja thinks it is irresponsible to endanger the position of Brunello and with it its international sales, by laws making the production of a rounder, easier wine impossible. During the summit he exclaimed that drinkability goes before typicity (“la bontà del vino fa premio sulla tipicità”), especially if a producer ends up with a Sangiovese, which is a bit thin, and decides to “ameliorate” it even if this possibility lies outside the law.

The question of the public asking why Gaja always seems to want to change some DOCG or the other, first for Barbaresco and now for Brunello is replied by one of the bloggers with a succinct “because the wines that are obtained by following the law are inadequate according to Gaja”. Even the president of the enoteca Regionale del Barbaresco, Giancarlo Montando rushes in to Gaja’s defence making the bold statement that it is hypocritical to even think that a pure single grape varietal wine is possible in Italy, as there will always be something in its vineyards that doesn’t comply with regulations. And it is Gaja’s strong belief that any law should work around that fact.

The summit ends punctual at 12.56, when its chairman Antonio Tombolini exclaims: “ and now it is time to have lunch at Ristorante “Antica Torre” di Barbaresco!” The summit doesn’t seem to have ruined any one’s appetite greatly although one cannot escape the impression that Gaja seems to be more interested in marketability than terroir characteristics. Very odd too that during the summit no one wanted to even accept the fact that a “consumer friendly” Brunello can be perfectly legally produced in Montalcino, but without the use of the prestigious name. And it is here where one suspects the true problem lies.