Italian wine probe

70 million liters. that is an immense amount of wine. enough for about 10 bottles for every adult italian(i do not know the exact adult population of italy)

should be very easy to mix brunello with illegal. probably a lot of wine that is equal to brunello grown in the patch next door.

i recall banfi say>

I would not confuse the two SIMULTANEOUS scandals in the Italian wine world... The Brunello affair is really minor, and reflects situations that are well known not only in Brunello but also in all prestigious areas of Italy and France... the adding of rich southern wines to correct poor quality wines from prestigious appellations. It has been done by unscrupulous winemakers for years. A shame really

The 70M litres affair OTOH is a real health hazard and can only be explained by the cheating culture that has become commonplace in my home country, no doubt stimulated by the similarly rotten politics and their structural interpenetration with organized crime.

Er, what is a Brunello grape? There is a Brunello clone of Sangiovese that is used. The amount of aging of the wines is indeed tightly controlled but there is no restriction to my knowledge on the age of the vines themselves. It is no great surprise anyhow. There has long been a suspicion of cheating on the part of Brunello winemakers as to adding lesser southern Italian wines to the mix. The DOC for Brunello is not large and the demand is quite high even with an unfavorable Euro.

I thought the current BdM issue was about illegal varieties (Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot) being used in place of 100% Sangiovese, not the trucking in of Aglianico and Nero d'avola or the like?

OK, yes, but "I understood these were not necessarily from Brunello area. I guess I misunderstood.

No, I think this particular one is that in a survey of registered BdM vineyards, they discovered international varieties in those vineyards. I don't think this will come as a shock to anyone who has tasted Antinori's Pian del Vigne Brunello -it makes a very tasty CalCab. :)

It is permitted to grow those grapes within the general Montalcino area for Sant' Antimo or IGT wines, but they are supposed to be in separate vineyards as I understand it.

Looks like the biggest offending names in the Brunello affair are Banfi and Antinori !

Frescobaldi and Argiano/Sesti aren't small potatoes. Or grapes.