I woke up today to an email from Tyler Colman, better known as Dr. Vino. He alerted me to a news release on AGI (Azienda Giornalistica Italiana) of a new and very strange development: a white Sagrantino. (The article is in English.) It is being harvested now for the first time, and by none other than Arnaldo Caprai, the top-flight winery in Umbria, already quite famous for its red Sagrantinos.
What's really intriguing to me about this new wine isn't that the grapes are self-fertilized or any of that, but that Marco Caprai and his azienda are teamed up with Milan University to ideate and create it. This sort of partnership is well-known in the United states, and in many fields. But is it common in Italy, or is the go-ahead Mr. Caprai fairly unusual in spearheading such an initiative? And note, please, that the release Dr. Vino linked me to is subtitled Special service by AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office.
Friends in high places indeed.
But what is the market logic of a white Sagrantino?
Good white wines seem to be fairly scarce in that part of Italy. Caprai makes a nice Grechetto, for example, but there's no star power in the whites that I know of. This development seems to be a neat way of gaining the wine world's attention, and no doubt to hitch the white Sagrantino's wagon to its red brother's star. I assume prices would soar accordingly, well beyond the modest levels of an ordinary Grechetto.
At a time when the shelves of wine shops and supermarkets in America and Europe are filled with wonderful white wines from all over Italy, not to mention New Zealand, South Africa, etc., etc., does white Sagrantino make a lot of sense? Can even the premium wine market find room for such a wine?
Now roughly 40% of Caprai's product is sold outside of Italy. Given economic trends in that country, I would suspect that an even greater percentage of the white would find its way overseas.
What intrigued me is a different thing. In this press release they have tryied to stress in all the possible ways that "their way" of creating a completely new variety, that did not exist before, has nothing to do with molecular biology. In their twisted (in my opinion) view of genetics, creating a completely new variety is good when is done with "old tecniques". So, if you had done the same exact thing, with the tools that have been developed in the last 20 years of effefort by genetists all over the whorld, it wouldn't be so good, ence it would have been a "bad" variety.
That always shock me, trying to classifie science in antropomorphic way (goodies and badies). Moreover, in a way Caprai try to look clever - meeting up with a research body (like he's the only one) - and at the same time not truly believe in scienze - a our "science is good, it's still made by hand!". So, how can you believe in research when at the same time you don't believe in what researcher do. Why is this completely new and invented variety supposed to be different, on a "moral point of view" by any generic other Monsanto or Dupont new breeds?
Posted by: Gianpaolo | September 21, 2006 at 08:12 AM
Why does this development not feel like a good thing? Factors are being manipulated more than just the grapes involved (poor dears!) -- The first question to ask is why Caprai thinks it's necessary that Sagrantino produce a red wine; the reds can be splendid both in dry and passito versions. And the hypothetical (not to say mythical) tie-in with the Caucasus "the cradle of European wine-making" is sheer marketing and ego. This all reeks of inauthenticity and bad faith.
Posted by: Fredric Koeppel | September 21, 2006 at 06:38 PM
oops, sorry, in the heat of composition i meant to write " ... why Caprai thinks it's necessary that Sagrantino produce a WHITE wine .... "
Posted by: Fredric Koeppel | September 21, 2006 at 06:39 PM
So far the (unrepresentative) sample seems to be that, no, a white Sagrantino does not make sense. Or worse, if we consider the damning word "inauthenticity."
I'd be interested in tasting the beast, if only to compare/contrast with the well-established red version.
I'd love more comments or points of view on this one.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 21, 2006 at 07:12 PM
Dear friend!!! :)
Non vedo l'ora di arrivare nella tua bella città !!
Cosa ti piacerebbe degustare della "bela turin"?? some chocolate??
A hug for you!
Posted by: Gourmet | September 22, 2006 at 03:41 PM
Gianduja. La vera gianduja.
Quando arrivi, cara Sandra?
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 22, 2006 at 03:50 PM
Bye the way, I'm going to be in new york too 28-29-30 sept. I guess it's going to be hard to try to get a coffe (or a glass o wine may be) togheter. I'll live on Sunday on a small tour of the east coast, i'll be checking the email from time to time: guazza at tin dot it
Posted by: Gianpaolo | September 22, 2006 at 04:15 PM
Allora venerdi o sabato, va bene...o un caffe' o un bicchiere di vino, fammi sapere quando potrai prendere una mezz'ora.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 22, 2006 at 04:44 PM
Saremo a N.Y. il 28 di Ottobre alle 14,30 ( ora locale) :-)
se non ricordo male..
alloggio al Grand Hyatt.. ti scrivo una mail prima di partire.. ;-D
p.s. gianduja?? come se piovesse!!!
Posted by: Gourmet | September 22, 2006 at 07:07 PM
Allora forse un tartufo (di cioccolato, meno costoso!).
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 22, 2006 at 07:17 PM
When I discovered Sagrantino last year when traveling through Montefalco I was blown away by the power (and history) of these wines. Perhaps now that they've figured out how to tame the tannins for the reds a new challenge was needed? Just considering a white Sagrantino has me interested and curious.
Posted by: James | September 25, 2006 at 08:10 PM
Yours is definitely another point of view, since we've had some writers registering their disgust over what they see as a cynical exploitation of a solid success.
As a marketer, I view it as a line extension that may or may not amount to anything. Ideological positions aside, will the wine taste good, or won't it? That is the key question. Ancillary to that is whether or not the wine will be promoted and sold as a worthy "stablemate" to the highly regarded reds.
The danger is that Caprai will try to have his white Sagrantino ride on the coattails of the red, damaging the reputation of the red if the white is 1) perceived as not being up to that level of quality and 2) unconvincingly Sagrantino-like.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 26, 2006 at 08:38 AM
Don't get me wrong. As a consumer a white Sagrantino is certainly something I would like to try. Whether it makes good business sense for Caprai remains to be seen. They certainly seem to be fiddling with a lot of history here.
I guess my point of view stems mostly from reading how much vintners are using new techniques and technologies these days to gain competitive advantage and to bring new products to market. Of course where I am (Northern California), nothing is too crazy to try. Heck, a grower in Napa sprayed sunscren on this grapes this year and people are calling it an innovative and groundbreaking move!
Posted by: James | September 26, 2006 at 10:11 AM
Sunscreen? Are you joking? WHY?
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 26, 2006 at 10:22 AM
Why sunscreen? To protect the grapes from the ravages of the sun, of course.
The winery is Quintessa and the story can be found on Decanter.com. http://www.decanter.com/news/94583.html
Posted by: James | September 26, 2006 at 10:54 AM