Montalcino producers are not suspected of using Apulian wine in the production of Brunello, said the Siena prosecutor’s office on Friday.

As the Brunellopoli or Brunellogate scandal continues to unfold, Siena prosecutor Nino Calabrese issued the following statement Friday to WineNews.it.

“I am abstemious,” said Calabrese. “I do not read newspapers. I prefer literature and I do not issue statements to the press. In this case, however, it is necessary to give some clarity. This office is verifying whether or not grape-growers have respected appellation regulations for Brunello di Montalcino DOCG. The investigation is still pending. There is no truth, however, to what has been reported by certain members of the media regarding the use of wines from the region of Apulia in the production of Brunello.”

According the the website, the statement was issued exclusively to WineNews.it.

According to a report published today by the Florentine edition of Italy’s daily newspaper La Repubblica, winemakers Antinori, Argiano, and Frescobaldi have been implicated in Siena prosecutors’ investigation of fraudulent winemaking. The scandal has been dubbed Brunellopoli by the Italian press and blogosphere (a reference to the notorious Tangentopoli or bribesville political scandal of the 1990s). At least four other producers are to be named according to the report.

The Sienese edition of the daily La Nazione also reports today that investigators have informed at least 12 persons that they are currently under investigation, although officials have yet to release their names. Investigators have identified 14 Montalcino vineyards, according to the account, where growers have cultivated varieties other than the required Sangiovese Grosso grape.

“There is no basis for such a claim,” said Tiziana Frescobaldi to La Repubblica journalist Maurizio Bologni. “And we have no doubt that we will be able to clear this all up.”

“We will not release a drop of 2003 Brunello,” said Piero Antinori, “even though we could. Before we do, we want this affair to be cleared up and we trust it will be, fairly and promptly as far as we are concerned.”

The report by La Repubblica credits Italian journalist and VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani with breaking the story in Italy.

According to a report published today by the Italian daily La Repubblica, five Montalcino wineries are being investigated for adding “Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, [and/or] Petit Verdot” to their Brunello (appellation regulations require that Brunello be made from 100% Sangiovese grapes). The article erroneously attributes the initial reporting of the investigation to wine writer James Sucking’s blog. News of the investigation was first published by VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani on Friday, March 21, 2008 (read post in Italian here). Suckling did publish a post later in the day where he refers to “rumors” of irregularities.

The following is a translation of the report published today by La Repubblica (translation by VinoWire):

The case: “doctored Brunello,” seizures at five wineries… Brunello cut with other grapes, regulations for Italy’s most famous wine broken by combining other grape varieties with Sangiovese in the bottle. Prosecutors in Siena investigate top Montalcino producers for fraud. Treasury and Labor Departments have already seized vineyards, cellars, and bottles.

The hypothesis is that those producers used between 10 – 20% of grapes other than Sangiovese in their Brunello. According to appellation regulations, the wine must be made from 100% Brunello grapes. They are suspected of using different grapes – Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot – and sacrificing hectares historically used for the cultivation of Brunello.

Investigators believe that the operation began in 2003 (this vintage was released for sale in 2007). Three or four persons from each winery have been investigated. The intention was perhaps that of producing a softer wine, more appealing to certain palates, like American palates. The first to report the investigation was a blog published by the noted American magazine Wine Spectator. The blog reported that the wine used to doctor the Brunello arrived from the south. But this has been ruled out by investigators. [the blog post in question, by James Suckling, refers to “rumors” that southern Italian wine has been blended with Brunello; but he clearly states that he believes such claims to be unlikely – editor’s note]

– Michele Bocci

The website WineNews.it published the following statement yesterday, attributed to the website of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino (translation by VinoWire). The editors of VinoWire have not been able to find the statement on the Consortium’s website. The editorial offices of WineNews.it are located in Montalcino and its contributors frequently report coverage of Consortium events and press releases.

In reference to recent website postings on alleged violations of regulations for the production of Brunello di Montalcino, the Oversight Consortium issues the following statements:

1) In regard to “rumors” that Montalcino producers have used southern Italian wines in their 2003 Brunello: we find it hard to believe that such a grave accusation is true and the Consortium has found no evidence whatsoever to support these claims.

2) In regard to the purity of Brunello vineyards, in 2007, the Consortium completed inspections of more than 1,667 hectares of registered vines [according to the statement, there are 2,000 registered hectares in the appellation – editor’s note]. These inspections, which began in 2004, have revealed only 17 hectares in non-compliance, 1% of the vineyards inspected. Therefore, we can confirm that at the end of 2007, more than 99% of vineyards registered in the Brunello di Montalcino appellation were in absolute compliance with production regulations.

The declared mandate of the administration of the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino is the oversight of the wines of the four appellations of Montalcino. The Consortium has always carried out this task using monitoring tools required by law as well as more rigorous tools prescribed by the Consortium’s internal norms.

Source: Consorzio del [sic] Brunello di Montalcino [the consortium’s official title is Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino – editor’s note].

In the wake of widespread rumors that Italy’s Treasury Department is poised to indict scores of Brunello producers on charges of fraud, VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani spoke with director of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, Stefano Campatelli, who has confirmed that “irregularities” have been found in wines labeled as Brunello produced by at least twenty producers in Montalcino.

According to outside sources who have requested anonymity because they were not permitted to speak publicly about the investigation, that number could be as high as 80 or 90.

Campatelli did not deny or confirm rumors, first reported by Franco Ziliani on Friday, March 21, 2008, that scores of producers are about to be indicted on fraud charges by Italy’s Treasury Department after an investigation revealing the presence of Apulian-grown grapes in wines labeled as Brunello di Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino appellation requires that wines labeled as Brunello are made with 100% Sangiovese Grosso grapes grown in Montalcino).

According to a March 6, 2008 report by the Corriere Fiorentino, fourteen persons have already been charged with labeling wines made with Apulian grapes as Tuscan, including Lamberto Frescobaldi, Director of Production of the Frescobaldi estate.

VinoWire reported the Frescobaldi indictments on March 10, 2008.

Wine blogger and Wine & Spirits Senior Editor Wolfgang Weber reports that Italy’s 2008 Critical Wine fair has been canceled. The fringe fair was to be held in Verona beginning April 3, 2008, to coincide with the Italian mainstream wine and spirits trade fair, Vinitaly (April 3 – 7).

According to Weber, who cites an email message from one of the fair’s organizers, the event was canceled after the mayor of Verona Flavio Tosi ordered the host venue closed. The event was to be held at the Centro Sociale La Chimica.

Critical Wine was founded in 2002 by food and wine writer and activist Luigi Veronelli. Its first fair was held in 2003 at the Centro Sociale Leoncavallo in Milan.

See this post by blogger Alan Toner for a history of Critical Wine.

According to a report published Wednesday by WineNews.it, the term Brunello was trademarked in the U.S. by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino in 1994.

“The Brunello trademark,” says Brunello Consortium president Stefano Campatelli, “has been registered in the U.S.A. since 1994 and the name Brunello is a denomination allowed by the European Union solely for Sangiovese Grosso grapes grown in the Township of Montalcino.”

Campatelli issued this statement in response to a press release circulated on Tuesday by Lorenzo Petroni of Petroni Vineyards. According to Petroni, he has received three letters from the Brunello Consortium asking him to stop labeling his wine as “Brunello” and he has vowed to fight the Consortium’s action through legal channels.

According to a press release issued yesterday by Petroni Vineyards (Sonoma, CA), the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello di Montalcino Consortium) has asked winemaker Lorenzo Petroni to stop labeling his wine as “Brunello.”

“The name Brunello refers to the grape and not the place where it is produced,” writes Petroni in the release.

When contacted by VinoWire, a winery spokesperson said that Petroni has been producing a wine called Brunello since 1998. The winery was first contacted on December 10, 2007 by the Consortium. A second letter was received on February 10, 2008 and a third on March 18, said the spokesperson.

Other Californian wineries label wines as “Brunello” and Californian nurseries sell “Brunello” rootstock, noted the spokesperson, and it is not clear if the Consortium has contacted other companies.