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Monday, April 28, 2008
Semi truck goes missing — along with its $1 million wine cargo
Oh. My. Golly.
If you see this missing truck, alert me … um, I mean, the authorities right away.
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Adulteration or enhancement? Italian prosecutor probing big-name Brunello producers
Here’s a potential scandal the wine world doesn’t need: An Italian prosecutor is has seized more than a million bottles in his investigation of whether some big-name producers of Brunello di Montalcino used unapproved winemaking techniques or grapes other than sangiovese in their wines, according to a New York Times story entitled ‘Bolt from the Blue’ on a Tuscan red.
The prosecutor is quoted in the story as suggesting some brunello di Montalcino makers “used different grapes to make the wine more tasty.” Wines the prosecutor impounded included bottles from some of the region’s biggest-name producers, including Antinori and Frescobaldi. (How deep are the roots of these two legendary producers in Tuscan soil? About this deep.) Here’s more from the NY Times story:
Why would anyone want to use unapproved grapes? “Very simple,” said Franco Ziliani, the Italian wine expert who helped spread the word about the scandal on his blog, vinowire.com. “Adding cabernet or merlot, which are more pleasant to the American palate, makes for a more appealing wine for the average consumer as well as critics.”
The American market, Mr. Ziliani said, is among the most lucrative and prestigious. Merlot in particular, he said, “makes sangiovese’s acidic tannins rounder, and more ready to drink,” and these grapes give these wines a darker color. Such wines regularly score in the high 90s with American critics, which usually translates into big sales. He and others believe winemakers in the region have been doctoring their brunello for much of the past decade.
Hmmm. If the practice IS widespread, let me ask: To what degree should we care?
If you’ve been buying a particular brunello over several vintages and liked the way it tastes, does it matter whether the wine had some other unapproved grapes in it? Does that practice amount to adulteration or enhancement?
I lean toward the camp that says each region’s rules DO matter — that the surreptitious addition of unapproved grapes, if it occurred, would amount to fraud. But a part of me whispers, “if it tastes good, who cares?”
Do you?
Mark Fisher
