Sucking Grapes

ANGELO GAJA, WHOSE ESTATE HASN’T GOT A WEBSITE, SEIZES THE OPPORTUNITY TO REFLECT HIS THOUGHTS ONLINE WITH THE HELP OF BLOGGERS

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. (more…)

ALESSANDRO AND FILIPO FILIPPI CHALLENGE THE MEANING AND THE VALUE OF THE SOAVE APPELLATION

Soave, the wine at which most wine lovers would turn up their noses, has suffered for years under a self-inflicted inferiority complex, having allowed the production of bland and cheap wines under its appellation. Although the Consorzio, the controlling body of Soave, recently embarked on an ambitious project to describe and map single vineyards in an effort to restore the wine’s ancient, but largely forgotten, reputation (of which more later), it has yet to restore the reputation of Garganega, the white grape responsible for wines that are often described as ‘flowery, elegant and with finesse’, but could easily mean ‘dull’. (more…)