Do what?!?
God bless the Italy, and while he/she's at it, bless the Italians as well. It looks like they're going to need it. Here's the entire article:
Well, in the mid-late 70's, some folks thought it would be a great idea to start blending 'non-traditional' grape (i.e. French grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, etc...) in with the Sangiovese that had been traditionally grown there. Obviously, the resulting wines would not conform to DOC or DOCG status, now would they? That was until a couple of clowns from the U.S. tasted them, went ape-shit over them, gave them 300 points and the stuff sold like hot cakes. One of said clowns takes credit for coining the phrase 'Super-Tuscans'. I have my doubts but whatever. Generally speaking, the wines are hardly ever 'Tuscan' and rarely 'Super' except in price.
Along with the onset of the 'Super-Tuscan', so too the need for some sort of regulatory concept to qualify the wines. Cue the I.G.T. (Indicazione Geografica Tipica). But that only lasted for a bit. After the wines got a bunch of attention, they too were granted DOC and DOCG status. I'm sure this is all making sense.
And so we find ourselves in present day. The I.G.T., D.O.C., and the D.O.C.G. apparently aren't enough and so the idea is the further qualify the wines in some sort of 'Cru' method as the French use. Why not? Just as people are learning Italian wines, let's change it all up.
Here's the problem. In Burgundy, the cru-s have been decided upon by the vineyards that produce the best wine. Of course, these wines tend to command the highest prices, but the last 2000 or so years have afforded the time to figure out the qualitative difference between the vineyards. In Bordeaux, the cru-s were decided back in 1855 on the receipts of the Chateaux for the previous 100 years. Those who commanded the highest prices, got first billing, and so on.
While it may sound good to try this in Italy, they have neither the track record of a couple thousand years dealing with these grapes and their respective vineyards, nor the luxury of 100 years worth of Sassicaia to establish such a hierarchy.
Just a thought.
WINE MAKING: NEW LABEL PROPOSED FOR THE 'SUPERTUSCANS'So here's a little crash course in (Italian) brain surgery: For countless years, certain grapes were grown in certain areas. Many times then (and still to this day) the same grape had a different name, depending on the region you were in. At some point, the peoples got together and decided that there should be regulations regarding the grapes grown and the manner in which the wine was made. Enter the DOC (Denominazione di Origin Controllata). After a while, certain people started monkey-ing around and it was decided that there should be another tier, supposedly of higher stature. Hence, the DOCG. Same as above, only tack on the 'G' meaning 'Garantita'. Except the DOC was the guarantee to begin with. Got it?
(AGI) - Florence, Italy 13 Dec - A new label for the 'supertuscan' wines has been proposed during the course of the presentation of a book by Andrea Zanfi entitled "I Supertuscans" (The Supertuscans') - over four hundred pages that praise wines such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, made strictly in accordance with the Doc and Docg prototcols. Products that, according to Zanfi, "risk ending up off the market because of an economic crisis that demands low prices". The proposal is "to get - says Zanfi - recognition of the quality of these wines, via a label created in the style of the great French 'cru'" ; a proposal that that risks sparking controversy. "A new label - claims Flavio Tattarini, president of the Italian Wine Making Society, isn't appropriate for wines that come on the market freely. It is instead necessary to work on the discipline of denominations, relaunching, at the same time, the characteristics of the area of origin".
Well, in the mid-late 70's, some folks thought it would be a great idea to start blending 'non-traditional' grape (i.e. French grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, etc...) in with the Sangiovese that had been traditionally grown there. Obviously, the resulting wines would not conform to DOC or DOCG status, now would they? That was until a couple of clowns from the U.S. tasted them, went ape-shit over them, gave them 300 points and the stuff sold like hot cakes. One of said clowns takes credit for coining the phrase 'Super-Tuscans'. I have my doubts but whatever. Generally speaking, the wines are hardly ever 'Tuscan' and rarely 'Super' except in price.
Along with the onset of the 'Super-Tuscan', so too the need for some sort of regulatory concept to qualify the wines. Cue the I.G.T. (Indicazione Geografica Tipica). But that only lasted for a bit. After the wines got a bunch of attention, they too were granted DOC and DOCG status. I'm sure this is all making sense.
And so we find ourselves in present day. The I.G.T., D.O.C., and the D.O.C.G. apparently aren't enough and so the idea is the further qualify the wines in some sort of 'Cru' method as the French use. Why not? Just as people are learning Italian wines, let's change it all up.
Here's the problem. In Burgundy, the cru-s have been decided upon by the vineyards that produce the best wine. Of course, these wines tend to command the highest prices, but the last 2000 or so years have afforded the time to figure out the qualitative difference between the vineyards. In Bordeaux, the cru-s were decided back in 1855 on the receipts of the Chateaux for the previous 100 years. Those who commanded the highest prices, got first billing, and so on.
While it may sound good to try this in Italy, they have neither the track record of a couple thousand years dealing with these grapes and their respective vineyards, nor the luxury of 100 years worth of Sassicaia to establish such a hierarchy.
Just a thought.
1 Comments:
Christian... I think you've misread or misunderstood the gist of the article.
The president of the winemaking society, who probably, has more influence on whether a new labeling system is needed than the author, says that no changes are needed. In fact, he's advocating that winemakers more closely follow the spirit and letter of DOCG/DOC regulations instead of blending cabernet, for example, with sangiovese or aglianico.
Based on your previous posts, I would have thought that you'd be in favour of this.
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