Yesterday (14/05/’08) in Montalcino took place the Assembly of the members of the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino. They tried to address the problems coming from the recent famous scam, a scam that prompted the drastic response of the US. As per June 9th, the United States will stop importing Brunello di Montalcino for which cannot be proved the provenience from the sole Sangiovese grape.
From an official point of view, the assembly confirmed its trust into the Committee, the President and the wine itself: the entire resigning committee has been reconfirmed and there were not proposals made to change the DOCG law. Judging from this, we could say that Montalcino’s producers feel quite confident of being able to pass the test of the anthocyanins count and continue to sell their wines.
So much for what concerns the official outcome. In the past few days though, also another more “restricted” meeting took place. Who writes was in fact able to meet whom we shall call the “Montalcino’s Whisperer” and a few other people very much informed on the present situation. From this meeting emerged a totally different situation, and all the recent facts became suddenly much clearer. As I mentioned in a previous article, it seems that the problems concerning those few hectares planted with Merlot grape are more of a financial type rather than a juridical one. The public prosecutors seem to have found that those famous non-complying hectares (and more than those) were paid for with EC funds. But those funds were granted to plant Sangiovese vineyards, and not any other grape variety. If the above will be confirmed to be true, then the charges will not only be of commercial fraud, but also of illicit use of EC funds. At present it seems also that this “procedure” was not a one-off but rather a “fashionable” way of operating that has been going on for quite a while. The public prosecutors Antonino Calabrese and Mario Formisano are at present investigating in that sense.
So we’re talking not only of vineyards not complying with the DOCG law, but also of vineyards planted thanks to EC funds destined to something else. Whether the above is true and eventually how long it has been going on, is up to the Sienna’s public prosecutors to understand.
It all seems to show that the market is actually “presenting the bill” to the Brunello. As per June 9th, the US will stop importing those Brunellos that will not be certified 100% Sangiovese, but that won’t be all. The American government wants the names of the involved producers, possibly to completely stop importing their wines. Considering that the “non-conformity to the DOCG law” charge was pressed against 93 producers, the situation is not at all rosy. But a way-out is at hand. In the letter sent to the Italian Embassy in New York, with which the restrictive procedure was announced, was stated that an official declaration from the Italian government (confirming the sole presence of Sangiovese in the Brunello) would be accepted instead of the lab analysis.
And now the problem takes a politic turn. Is our Government willing to do such a thing? The next 15 days, that separate us from the new meeting of the Consorzio’s producers, will certainly make the situation more clear in that regard.