Last week I meant to write a post about an article I read on reuters.com titled, “Vine Talk: Battle of Brunello exposes row over purity vs blends,” but it was a busy week and unfortunately I didn’t get to it. Well, this past Friday night I opened a bottle of 2001 Valdicava (98 WS, 93 WA) at a going away gathering for a friend who is moving out of the country. Tasting this wine again inspired me to take a shot at this blog post after all. It’s the fourth time I’ve had this wine over the last four years and it was just as impressive as ever. We didn’t finish the entire bottle, as this was the fifth wine of the evening, and so I had the opportunity to taste it on Saturday and again on Sunday. The wine was amazing on the first day, but evolved into something spectacular on the second and third days after opening.
Those of you who have had Valdicava’s Brunello di Montalcino know that this is a robust, muscular wine, inky black in color with excellent structure. It is most definitely a Brunello made in the modern style, in an area where, as indicated in the article, tradition and modernity are coming to a head. As the article states, acclaimed winemaker Ezio Rivella (of Castello Banfi fame) is now the president of the consorizio that oversees the production of Brunello. Yet, Mr. Rivella is considered by many of Montalcino’s traditional winemakers to be too much of a maverick. He espouses the use of modern techniques and has himself produced a Syrah and experimented with other varietal blends that are foreign to Montalcino’s winemaking traditions. One has to ask, “is this such a bad thing?” Look at what the Super Tuscan has done for the reputation of Italian wine. And wasn’t Angelo Gaja, one of the Italian wine industry’s most respected producers, once considered a maverick and upstart?
A modern approach that also respects the best of the traditional winemaking practices of Montalcino will probably be a good thing for the region. Although nothing ever came of the recent 2004 Brunello scandal, it has impacted prices for these wines and there are still many who remain skeptical about the purity of previous vintages. So, as the article suggests, isn’t it time for two Brunello designations? One for 100% Sangiovese Grosso and one for Brunelli that is blended with other varieties? Sounds like a great idea to me, and from a marketer’s perspective it presents the opportunity to reach out to the wine buying community with an exciting new product that blends the familiar with the new.
