Pure as the driven soot

No, ladies and gents, the Brunello scandal isn't going away, no matter how much some people wish they could "disappear it" and the people who won't let the thing go. 

Yesterday I asked Andrea Gori what was going on over there.  I mentioned that we were still getting aftershocks but the Big One seemed to have ended.  I wondered if a kind of Tuscan omertà was stalling the necessary cleaning of Montalcino's Augean stables.

That's a big 10-4, good buddy.

Andrea wrote:

"People there are saying things were a lot better before the scandal broke.  They're just trying to forget it.  So while the bottles of Frescobaldi, Antinori and Banfi have been impounded (and the magistrates oppose this impoundment), the other producers are moving ahead.  They've got this idea in their heads, that if everybody in Italy did like them, 99% of DOC wines would be disqualified.  [So...what? me worry?]

"So it suits everyone to say that 'nothing' happened at Montalcino.  Mamma mia...

"I don't know what else to tell you except that for now there's a general sense of condoning it."

No one wants to rock the money boat, of course.  It doesn't matter that one of the proudest appellations in Italy has been besmirched.  There's a widespread feeling of So?  Everybody does it.

Which sticks in my craw because of the money the big guys make from Brunello.  Money schmucks like us fork over for a highly rated bottle. (NB: Who reviews this stuff??)  And because I know some small producers whose wines are honestly, beautifully made.  They'll suffer, too, till the stables are shoveled, swept and scrubbed clean.

Andrea also sent me yesterday morning's post from Franco Ziliani.  Franco, as some of you may know, is a fine writer and a sometimes too zealous prosecutor for the truth.  (He can be rather

self-righteous at times. Don't deny it, old boy, you know it's true.)  Still, he's done Italian wine and its consumers a service by striving to expose the full scale of the complicity and venality of Brunellopoli -- one symptom among many of the shoddy state of Italian governance and commerce.

Franco himself

I'll cull just a few key points from his April 21 post.  It's long, and I hope that Jeremy Parzen will translate the whole thing for Vinowire.  But the cullings do much to underline Andrea's complaints about Brunellopoli -- not least of which is the furious denial of the use of non-Tuscan grapes in Brunello. 

Franco puts Brunellopoli in the context of other current "scandals" having to do with various famed food products, then zeroes right in on Patrizio Cencioni, the VP of the Brunello Consortium, and Andrea Costanti, head of a historic wine-producing house, as championship wafflers and empty suits.  Cencioni affirmed that "there are enough vines in Montalcino to make Montalcino's wines without having to 'cut' them by adding grapes from elsewhere."  Given the present situation, an anodyne response isn't really helpful.  Or convincing.

Costanti is made to sound even more fatuous in declaring that "we cannot deny that there may be more modern wines on the market," which seems like an implicit go ahead to add Merlot or whatever else you want to make the wine more sellable, although he goes on to declare:  "The rules of Brunello were made by the producers, so that only Sangiovese grapes may be used."  Implicit in this: the producers may decide to change the rules if it suits them. 

And I love this one:  "The response of the wineries has been so inexplicable and absurd that the [TV] interviewer suggested that the producers 'had succumbed to the blandishments of the market.'"

Elegant as that statement may have been, it did prepare the way for Costanti's reply that "I don't know what it;s like at the cellars of my colleagues," but he did affirm that "other grapes were added only to improve quality."  [My emphasis.]  What an admission from a Brunello producer.  He did go on to blame the press for breaking the story at Vinitaly, although I had hinted that something big and nasty was going to break nearly a month earlier. 

Franco's post goes on and on.  I won't translate it all.  The fact is, though, that the mendacity and evasions in this whole affair indicate that something is rotten in the state of Brunelloshire, and not only there.  I've said it before but I'll say it again:  most of the Italian wine producers I know are marvelous people who are honest and dedicated to improving the quality of their wines, and are committed to the best expression of their land and tradition.  There are many traditions and ways to interpret them.  But this scandal in Brunello will ultimately benefit these people as we pan for real gold.  Only not in the high-rent districts of Italian wine, thank you very much.

Comments

[Ronald]

T,
after 3 months living here in Italy, one thing that i observed the most is that:

Institutionalized crimes is deeply rooted in Italian culture, i am sorry to say this but almost all aspect of Italian life, big or little has something to do with crime..i heard 'marvellous' stories of Italian organised crime and involvement even in Australian wine making industry! note Australian brands with italian names...
i am not saying that 'everyone' is 'involved' as there are some who as you said, are honest, marvellous and hardworking wine maker and producer..

It would be sad if the people in the 'high places' does nothing, be in self denial with the hope that the name 'Brunello di Montalcino' itself is enough to cover the tracks and misdeeds of the guilty one..

I still have 5 months more here in Italy, i'm keeping my fingers crossed all the time with the hope that this scandal will NOT be the poster boy of self destruction

[andrea gori]

Phrases like "Institutionalized crimes is deeply rooted in Italian culture" are something that makes us italians very angry! Deeply rooted is what from outside is very common and likely to seem but I assure you that is something common only in the movies. Italy would not have benne the fifth WORLD biggest economy is this was true!
What happen in Montalcino and elsewhere is the continuing struggle between a state with some old and impossible rules made out by politicians that have always some pleasure to do to someone and the producers that are trying to cope with the customers and the market. Don't you know that our taxes are the highest in Europe and probably the world? and our public services are probably one of the worst?

[Ronald]

Ciao Andrea
spero que mio opinion non hai disturbato la tua bella giornata!

but you yourself admit that its due to some part, are caused by the politicians but WHY didn't somebody or any Italians say out loud that this is wrong and needs to be changed?
when i say 'deeply rooted', it means that it is mentioned almost all the time in the media, consciously, unconsciously or subconsciously italian people read this news all the time, the scandals of Brunello, tainted wines, Mozzarella di Buffala containing dioxins, Napoli grabage problems, abnormally high taxes but nothing changes, just more highlights in the media

anyway, my opinions is not supposed to provoke anyone, it is just my observation and thanks (or apologies ) to Andrea for the enlightenment..

what do you expect from a 25 year old who have been giving the runarounds in getting his student 'permesso de soggiorno' and 'codice fiscale'?

[Fredric Koeppel]

the story in the Times this morning indicates that this issue, this problem in Montalcino is NOT going away. the producers need to 'fess up and fix up. if they want to make "modern" wines, go ahead, but call them something else.

[andrea gori]

I am not upset and you had not ruined my day Ron! You americans got the UFO and the X Files and we have mafia under everything we cannot define in other way...:-)

[andrea gori]

and good luck for your permesso di soggiorno...I know what it means in Italy! my wife is german and it was NOT so easy to marry her for our fantastic bureacracy!

[TH]

Andrea, Ron isn't American, he's Malaysian, so he's not guilty of being one of U.S. assholes!

Secondly, I guess if I wanted to buy an apartment in Italy it would be hell to get it done??

It's always been a dream of mine to live in Italy for at least part of the year. Not when the houses aren't heated.

[andrea gori]

http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_aprile_23/arizona_ufo_punti_luminosi_dc9611ac-114d-11dd-b319-00144f486ba6.shtml

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/22/20080422abrk-strangelights0422.html

[Richard Peden]

Today, the New York Times finally posted an article on Brunello that our blogs have been reporting for weeks. The powerful seem to always move slow and divulge little. All the more reason to buy local and know/support your fellow artisans.

[andrea gori]

terry for your apartment I can ask some friend of mine from mafia...
and richard...the little the better...in wine, food and journalism!

[TH]

Andrea Gori, uomo d'onore!

[TH]

@ Richard, you couldn't be more right. When it's possible to know fellow artisans. I'm thinking of a wine lover in North Dakota or Alberta, a long way from a wine-producing region. This is where attentive, trustworthy distributors and importers come in. We usually know who they are, even if the general public doesn't.

Ergo the value of bloggers and their media. Like it or not, we are all really just consumers in the end. And we need to let "a suffering humanity" know what's what or we too are guilty of falling down on the job.