SelectPlusItaly to Guarantee Wine AuthenticityItaly to Guarantee Wine AuthenticityThe Associated PressItaly has set up a panel of experts to check if Brunello di Montalcino meets production standards, following an investigation into whether some of the wine might have been cut with other grape varieties. (July 4)The Italian government announced today it will guarantee the authenticity of Brunello of Montalicino…(SOUND OF PEOPLE TOASTING WITH BRUNELLO)Brunello is one of Italy’s best known wines, made exclusively from San Giovese grapes… Italians say it has brought them honor and prestige around the world. But a scandal this spring tainted its elegant name..It began when investigators in Tuscany confiscated hundreds of thousands of bottles saying they suspected the wine was being “cut” with another variety of grape, such as sauvignon or merlot.25-percent of Brunello produced every year IS sold in the United States- so american wine-experts were not pleased to hear that the Brunello they were drinking might NOT be the real thingThe US threatened to block all imports of Brunello unless Italian authorities did laboratory tests to prove that the wine was made with only San Giovese grapes. But experts say those tests are slow and costly. Now the US and Italy have reached a compromise. The US Ambassador to Italy Ronald Spogli explained …. SOT: RONALD SPOGLI, US AMBASSADOR TO ITALY: “the issue was simply having the assurance that it was 100-percent San Giovese…. that is the reason why the determination was ultimately made to this agreement whereby the Italian government would stand by the notion that the wine that was exported to the Untied States being called Brunello was indeed brunello according to the rules established by the consortium.”Under the new decree, government inspectors will visit the vineyards, examine the grapes and check the wine to guarantee the product is made with San Giovese grapes and nothing else. STAND-UPTo some this may seem like a tempest in a wine glass, but Brunello sales bring in more than 185 million dollar a year to Italy, so its purity and authenticity must be unquestioned.Trisha Thomas, the Associated Press, Montalcino
SelectPlusItaly to Guarantee Wine AuthenticityItaly to Guarantee Wine AuthenticityThe Associated PressItaly has set up a panel of experts to check if Brunello di Montalcino meets production standards, following an investigation into whether some of the wine might have been cut with other grape varieties. (July 4)The Italian government announced today it will guarantee the authenticity of Brunello of Montalicino…(SOUND OF PEOPLE TOASTING WITH BRUNELLO)Brunello is one of Italy’s best known wines, made exclusively from San Giovese grapes… Italians say it has brought them honor and prestige around the world. But a scandal this spring tainted its elegant name..It began when investigators in Tuscany confiscated hundreds of thousands of bottles saying they suspected the wine was being “cut” with another variety of grape, such as sauvignon or merlot.25-percent of Brunello produced every year IS sold in the United States- so american wine-experts were not pleased to hear that the Brunello they were drinking might NOT be the real thingThe US threatened to block all imports of Brunello unless Italian authorities did laboratory tests to prove that the wine was made with only San Giovese grapes. But experts say those tests are slow and costly. Now the US and Italy have reached a compromise. The US Ambassador to Italy Ronald Spogli explained …. SOT: RONALD SPOGLI, US AMBASSADOR TO ITALY: “the issue was simply having the assurance that it was 100-percent San Giovese…. that is the reason why the determination was ultimately made to this agreement whereby the Italian government would stand by the notion that the wine that was exported to the Untied States being called Brunello was indeed brunello according to the rules established by the consortium.”Under the new decree, government inspectors will visit the vineyards, examine the grapes and check the wine to guarantee the product is made with San Giovese grapes and nothing else. STAND-UPTo some this may seem like a tempest in a wine glass, but Brunello sales bring in more than 185 million dollar a year to Italy, so its purity and authenticity must be unquestioned.Trisha Thomas, the Associated Press, Montalcino