BRUNELLOGATE - latest wine scandal!

Subject: BRUNELLOGATE - latest wine scandal! Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:54 pm

The following is quoted from Ansa and refers to the Article on the Italian "Espresso" magazine of the 3rd of April.

ITALY MOVES TO CONTAIN WINE SCARE

EU told no risk to public health

(ANSA) - Brussels, April 4 - The Italian government on Friday sought to avert an adulterated wine scare, assuring the European Commission that there was no risk to public health.

Nina Papadoulaki, spokeswoman for European Union Health Commissioner Andreu Vassiliou, told reporters that the Italian authorities had informed the EC that the probe in question involved wine adulterated with ''water and sugar'' and not toxic chemicals, as reported by an Italian news weekly.

In its latest edition published on Friday, the weekly L'Espresso said a major scam had been uncovered in Italy involving cheap wine adulterated with toxic substances including fertilizer and hydrochloric acid.

The report said at least 70 million litres of the potentially harmful wine had already found its way onto shop shelves where it was being sold at 70 euro cents to two euros per litre. Citing details from a judicial probe which has been going on for the past six months, L'Espresso said it was the ''biggest case of food adulteration ever to be uncovered in Italy''.

But top Puglia prosecutor Aldo Petrucci denied the contents of the article, saying: ''I can't understand how reporters can write such things when there is no truth to them and they are destined to create alarm''.

On Thursday, wine producers were put on the defensive after a prestigious red Tuscan brand was accused of cutting its Brunello with inferior grapes to boost quantity and 600,000 bottles were seized by police.

At least 20 wine-making firms were involved in the latest inquiry, L'Espressso said - eight in the north of Italy and 12 in the southern regions of Puglia and Sicily.

L'Espresso said only a third at most of the 'poisoned wine' was pure while the rest was a ''lethal mixture of water, chemical substances, fertilizer, manure and even a dash of hydrochloric acid''.

It said the system enabled the winemakers to cut their costs by as much as 90%.

The article said that only some of the toxic wine had been withdrawn from the market because it was impossible to trace all the bottles.

The report attracted the immediate attention of the EU, which asked the Italian government for information on the case.

According to L'Espresso, the probe was sparked by a September 2007 raid on a winemaker in Veronello near Verona who was among the producers involved in a 1986 scandal over fatal methanol-tainted wine.

Police allegedly found containers full of hydrochloric and sulphuric acid together with 60 kilos of sugar.

Subsequent tests on the wine produced by the maker found that it contained only 20-40% wine with the rest made up of water, sugar, fertilizers, manure and acids, L'Espresso said.

The acid was used to break down the sugar molecules and lift the alcohol content, it said.

L'Espresso stressed that the toxic nature of the wine would not emerge from normal tests and that the damage to a consumer's health would not occur immediately but only over time.

It said investigators had tracked down two wine-making plants near Taranto in Puglia, Enoagri and Vmc, which were thought to supply the chemicals used in the wine.

L'Espresso said the case was destined to dwarf the current scare over dioxin-tainted mozzarella, which has hit exports of the famed Italian cheese.

Public prosecutors in Puglia subsequently confirmed that three people in the region were under investigation, including Vmc's manager and a legal consultant connected to Enoagri, while raids were under way in some 15 wine-producing firms across Italy which had acquired wine from the two plants.

Government officials sought to contain the potential damage caused by the report.

Farm Minister Paolo De Castro said that ''this is a limited phenomenon and investigations will continue for some months yet... Not a single bottle of this wine has been exported''. The methanol scandal crippled Italy's wine industry 32 years ago.

A total of 26 deaths were attributed to drinking the tainted wine and dozens of people had to be hospitalised for methanol poisoning, some of whom went blind.

Subject: Re: BRUNELLOGATE - latest wine scandal! Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:08 pm

Latest article from Wine Spectator:

Brunello Under Fire
Italian authorities impound wines as part of an investigation
Jo Cooke
Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2008

The normally peaceful Tuscan hilltop town of Montalcino, home of one of Italy's prized red wines, is currently in a state of turmoil, as Italy's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, have seized several top producers' remaining stocks of Brunello di Montalcino 2003, on suspicion that the wines may contain grapes other than Sangiovese.

Police, under the direction of Siena's public prosecutor, Nino Calabrese, have so far blocked shipment of Brunellos from Castelgiocondo (owned by Marchesi de' Frescobaldi), Pian delle Vigne (owned by Antinori) and Castello Banfi. According to local press reports, wines from Argiano have been impounded as well. Furthermore, the police block applies to all subsequent vintages still aging in barrel or bottle in the cellars. According to a spokesman for Castello Banfi, the winery has 10 days to appeal the decision, after which the magistrate has 10 days to respond.

The police, under the direction of Calabrese, started their investigation last November, according to local reports, primarily to confirm that the local growers' consortium, the Consorzio di Brunello di Montalcino, was correctly monitoring Brunello production according to DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) regulations. These stipulate that Brunello must contain only Sangiovese grapes from vineyards officially registered with the consortium.

In a recent press release, the consortium said that a three-year-long investigation of the vineyards, from 2004 to 2007, uncovered 42 acres that did not conform to DOCG rules—around 1 percent out of the 4,118 total acres of Brunello vineyards. That spurred the Guardia di Finanza to launch an exhaustive examination of all documents relating to Brunello production at the estates involved, sequestering the wines if they discovered any apparent irregularities.

According to Renzo Cotarella, in-house enologist for all of Antinori's estates, including Pian delle Vigne in Montalcino, the anomalies that are attracting the attention of the police could be explained in various ways.

"In a Sangiovese vineyard designated for the production of Brunello," he said, "there may be a few vines that may or may not be Sangiovese, which have been there since the vineyard was planted." He suggested that estates that produce a Toscana IGT, using varieties other than Sangiovese, might also find themselves in the investigator's sights. "We have a 2-hectare plot of Merlot, which we use in our Rosso Toscana IGT."

Castelgiocondo, another of Montalcino's larger estates involved in the investigation, produces Brunello, Rosso di Montalcino, a Sangiovese-Merlot Toscana IGT called Luce and a Merlot Toscana IGT called Lamaione. "Whenever we have discovered dubious vines in our Brunello vineyards," said Lamberto Frescobaldi, the estate's director of viticulture and winemaker, "we have informed the consortium and used the grapes in our IGT Luce."

A spokesman for Banfi denied that their 2003 Brunellos—about 35,000 cases worth—had been impounded because of vines other than Sangiovese in their vineyards. Instead, he said the problem was supposed irregularities in vineyard yields. He also questioned the timing of the investigation appearing in the press, just as wineries are meeting with potential customers from around the world in Verona at Vinitaly, Italy's most important wine fair. "For some producers, this is their best chance to sell their wines," said spokesman Lars Leicht. "Tell me this isn't political."

So far the public prosecutor's office has refused to comment except for a brief press release, issued on March 28, stating categorically that the police were not investigating the possibility that Brunello wines from 2003 onwards included grapes from Puglia. This was to quell a specific rumor, one of many, that was gaining ground in local press coverage. Papers in Florence and Siena have been filled with speculation, dubbing the scandal "Brunellopoli” (Brunellosville).

Stefano Campatelli, director of the Brunello consortium, currently promoting the wines of Montalcino at Vinitaly, said, “I can't comment on the current state of the investigation, as I have not received any communication from the public prosecutor's office. I can only hope that this is all cleared up quickly."

Cotarella said that if the problem were not concluded within the next two to three months, Pian delle Vigne may decide to declassify the Brunello 2003 to Toscana IGT, in order to be able to sell it.

"There's a bit of an air of a witch hunt at the moment," said Cotarella. "The problem is that, however this finishes, it will be bad for Brunello, for Montalcino and for Italian wine in general."

Subject: Re: BRUNELLOGATE - latest wine scandal! Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:43 pm

June 2008
As I go to Montalcino twice a week with my tours, I have to admit that I'm a little "grossed out" by this whole Brunello scandal business.

While I feel I must inform my guests, I'm at the same time completely calm about it as I have never really wanted to take my guests to the vineyards currently questioned by the authorities.
Furthermore, I have a feeling that the whole scandal might be political - and this is another good reason for me to be a mere observer...
However, being a firm believer in good farming and excellent wines, I can only recommend to any of you to search out small farmers' wines - that may be hard to find, but worth the search - as the small farmer puts nothing at stake apart from own reputition - and in most cases honorable in all phases of agriculture!!!