Brunello ids a DOCG wine. If there has been manipulations that villate the rather strict disciplinary of the consortium, the producers involved will be forbidden to use the name "Brunello di Montalcino" on their wines by the consortium itself.
Yesterday's New York Times had disturbing news about suspect Brunello.
It's expensive wine, and I can see how some would be tempted to stretch production further by "watering it down" with some cheaper grapes.
Let's hope this is fixed soon!
According to Corriere Della Sera (awhile back) the main problem is the use of sangiovese grapes from outside the denominated hectarage from which DOCG Brunellos are made. Though other storeis flaot the idea that the wine may have a shot of merlot to soften it for American tastes. Several 'big names' in the region are affected and it looks like they will have all the relevant 2003 vintage marked down as table wine rather than Brunello. No harm. It is a ridiculously priced marque in my opinion compared to Amarone or Ripasso, and indeed several of wines between Cortona and Montepulcino. Coincidentally, the once 'supertuscans' seems also to be fallign from favour, with sales dropping though you would never conclude that from any enoteca in a tourist region.
Posts: 84 | Location: Tuscany | Registered: 08 April 2008
From a traveler's point of view, we have never even sampled brunello, but we hear so much about it, we want to go check it out. Considering the wine's cost and the reputation involved, we certainly want "the real thing" when we are there, and we hope that any wine found to be "breaking the rules" will be re-labeled and sold as something other than brunello (but please don't pour it out...I couldn't stand the thought of that).
In my opinion, if some of my fellow Americans want brunello to taste more like merlot, let them buy a bottle of merlot and do their own mixed drink-making back in the privacy of their hotel room where I don't have to witness the sacrilege. I want only the pure brunello as it's meant to be!
________________ When life gives you lemons, make limoncello.
The problem, IMHO, stretches beyond Brunello wines. How many times has it happened: a wine becomes popular for its distinctive qualities and the wine makers start tweaking the wines to appeal to many more "American" palates. The special wine suddenly becomes indistinguishable from any other wine (chardonnay or merlot, depending on the color you want).
Sorry if I sound cynical, but it's a constant battle to stay ahead of the mass marketing of wine and so many other "products." Sharon
there are a lot of brunello wines that are not involved in any shoddy marketing schemes and there are a lot of very good brunello wines that are not expensive. the DOCG will sort this out and the wine-making business will continue as usual.
as the article states, this "news flash" (my quotations) is 10 years old. tuscan friends in the wine-making business tell me that it wasn't just a coincidence that this story broke just prior to vinitaly. go figger.
Posts: 958 | Location: smack dab midwest | Registered: 06 September 2004
Originally posted by SharonZ: ...a wine becomes popular for its distinctive qualities and the wine makers start tweaking the wines to appeal to many more "American" palates.
The Italians did a good job keeping their caffè and adding caffè americano. The solution is obvious: brunello americano. Salute!
________________ When life gives you lemons, make limoncello.
Originally posted by elizabetta: hello patrick, have you actually tasted caffe americano?
Goodness no! I've only read about the stuff!
And let me mention that I wouldn't sample brunello americano if it existed. If I want American wine, I'll buy it from California (or what we make right here in Arkansas).
The best coffee I've ever had in my life was the caffè at my hotel in Rome in 1996. I will never settle for a watered-down Americanized version.
I'll post below what I wrote on the subject recently on the Rick Steves "To the Boot" page:
I'm not one of those people who always see European ways as superior to our own. For example, I growl at people who draw a line through the middle of the number 7 just because the Europeans do, without realizing that it's only necessary if you also put a flag at the top left of the number 1, making it confusable with a seven.
But, with apologies and no intent to offend, the following observations, while just my own opinion, are probably shared by many Europeans, who see us Americans as spoiled children:
If you need decaf because you cannot handle caffeine, you are not a caffè drinker. After noon, don't order caffè. Order a fruit drink.
If you need extra milk because you cannot handle strong coffee, you are not a caffè drinker. Order a fruit drink.
If you need to add extra water because you cannot handle strong coffee, you are not a caffè drinker. Order a fruit drink.
If you need ice in your drink, you are not a caffè drinker. Order a fruit drink.
________________ When life gives you lemons, make limoncello.
Originally posted by margaretlb: So, lucky me. I bought a $70 bottle to celebrate my birthday with in a couple of weeks.
Brunello is a long lived wine and classic makers make wines not really meant to peak in their potential for 10-20 years after release.
I like to decant a young brunello to help it open up, give it an hour or better yet 2 hours in a decanter.If I am going to have the wine in a restaurant I decant then take a funnel to pour the wine back(just before leaving) and use a rubber cork. RR
I leave a young Brunello in the bottle, and drink the Rosso di Montalcino. Costs less, created to be drunk sooner.
Neither is to be drunk with an insalata caprese.
Too many people just buy Brunello (or Barolo for that matter) because they know the name, so that they can then tell others they had some. For them, heck, throw the merlot in, what difference does it make. Did anyone hear the npr broadcast about people who, in blind taste tests, judged wine that they were told cost more to be better wine? How absurd is that?
The big mistake is to look for the "best" wine, without knowing yourself what you are looking for. Best what? to be drunk alone? To accompany fish? A pot roast? a salad? To swim in? The solution: drink lots, and lots of different types, and pay attention to what's different about them.
The solution: drink lots, and lots of different types, and pay attention to what's different about them.
Nan, That's great advice. I'd like to add one tip: drink what you like -- and the only way to know what you like is, as you suggested, to drink a lot! Sharon
Quoting James Martin: I think that Kyle Phillips' Italian Wine Review does a good job of clarifying the Brunello saga.
I agree the article helps, but most people will probably just scan the first 2/3, about the injustice, and never get to the main problem described later in the article, regarding vintners who are adding non-Sangiovese grapes to doctor their Brunello's taste.
The unfair situation he describes with Banfi sounds contrary to the usual advise of "remember...this is Italy...laws are just a suggestion". As I've suspected, it sounds like, by painting with a wide brush, the Italian bureaucracy sometimes comes down hard on both guilty and innocent.
________________ When life gives you lemons, make limoncello.
there are a lot of brunello wines that are not involved in any shoddy marketing schemes and there are a lot of very good brunello wines that are not expensive.
quote:
Inexpensive Brunello is very elusive. Most that I have seen have been around $50 and I don't consider this inexpensive. I did pay $15 for a glass at Enoteca Forteza in Montalcino. When I pay this much for wine, I expect something special. I have been disappointed in my limited experience with the Brunellos that I have tasted.
While we're on the subject of wine, I was thinking of taking a bottle of California Zinfandel to Italy and finding some Italians, who enjoy wine, to share it. Zinfanfdel (not the pink s#*t) is the only grape that is native to America. Any thoughts on how this would be received?
While we're on the subject of wine, I was thinking of taking a bottle of California Zinfandel to Italy and finding some Italians, who enjoy wine, to share it. Zinfanfdel (not the pink s#*t) is the only grape that is native to America. Any thoughts on how this would be received?
We took some wines a few years ago.... our friends didn't say much about the wine but they were facinated by our government warning.
I think the problem is that if you're not an dedicated enthusiast who follows wines production fairly closely, you'll think that just because a bottle says "Brunello" it will be an exceptional wine. There better and weaker Brunellos, good and bad years, etc., and prices for optimum bottles for a good year by notable producers soar as the number of bottles of that particular year diminishes. It's a commodity.
I think taking an Italian producer a bottle of red zin would be like adding insult to injury, as the primitivo clone is one of the varitals the big Brunello producers are accused of including. In fact, it is partly due to the mass market taste for wines like the jammy Red Zin that is causing the market for more diverse Italian wines to evaporate. A Red Zin or die phenomenon, you might call it.
Perhaps the solution for producers in the future will be to mass produce something that tastes like Red Zin or a standard cab/merlot blend that the mass markets seem to prefer, and use profits to subsidize the production of more individual wines just to keep them from disappearing. That's what the Super Tuscans are doing, perhaps: big, oak-soaked IGTs you can charge more for.
I have niente against Brunello (heck, one of my favorite people on the planet will be happy to tour you about Altesino anytime you like, or Frassina where they play Mozart for the vines. Tell Giulia Ciao! for me). I just wish the American palate would challenge itself just a BIT more, certainly not to eliminate big California wines and Red Zins of the world, but only to do its part to help maintain the splendid diversity within the vast world of wine.
Have you seen Mondovino? Interesting perspective. I'm with Mr. Rosenthal ...
And giving a wine a NUMBER??? What does a number rating tell you about a wine? Nothing. Nothing! A number tells you who won the football game, for heavens sake.
OK, OK...I'll stop now. (I guess that's why they call it a forum, right? )
Salute!
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