In a press conference this morning, Italian agriculture minister Luca Zaia announced that the Ispettorato centrale per il controllo della qualità dei prodotti agroalimentari (Central Inspectorate for the Monitoring of Food and Farm Products, a department within the ministry) will oversee testing and certification of Brunello di Montalcino and will provide producers with certification letters (now required by the U.S. Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau).

A copy of the minister’s decree was made available to VinoWire by blogger Alessandro Bindocci.

American ambassador to Italy, Ronald Spogli, also attended the conference, noting “We can rely on the Italian government to give the necessary guarantees in good faith. We take their certification as final. Everything’s in good shape now.”

Text of Article 1 of the decree (translation by VinoWire):

1. The Central Inspectorate for Quality Monitoring of Food and Farm Products — Firenze [Florence] Peripheral Area Office (subsequently ICQ [Central Quality Inspectorate, Firenze Office]) — is the official monitoring body designated to release declarations of the wine’s conformity with the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (hereinafter “declaration”).

2. The declaration will be released by the ICQ Firenze Office in response to a request made by companies that export DOCG Brunello to the United States of America.

3. The declaration (which must follow guidelines attached to this decree) must include an original and two copies, reporting the same protocol number and date.

The decree also states that producers will receive certification no later than 15 days after samples and applications are submitted to the inspectorate.

Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry Policies has published the following statement on its website. Translation by VinoWire.

“Brunello is not just wine. It is an important calling card for ‘Made in Italy’ products throughout the world. It must be safeguarded and valued. On Thursday in Montalcino, I will present a decree that will allow us once and for all to move past the looming U.S. import block and to restore perceptions of this extraordinary product of our land. The absolutely innovative solution will most likely be used as the format in the future.”

This statement was made by the Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry Policies, Luca Zaia, who has announced that he will travel to Montalcino on July 3 to meet U.S. Ambassador Ronald Spogli and hold a press conference.

The press conference is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. at the Costanti Colle al Matrichese winery in Montalcino. At that time, Minister Zaia and Ambassador Spogli will meet with the press and will comment on their respective positions on the resolution of this matter.

“I had promised that I would not remain closed up in the offices of the Ministry and that I would head to the field [so to speak] to deal with our country’s agricultural and farming issues. My visit to Montalcino,” said Zaia, “is part of this new approach and it shows that once again the Minister is ready, if necessary, to leave Rome to stand side-by-side with producers and to help them resolve their problems.”