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According to proposed legislation, Italians would no longer be allowed to consume any alcohol before operating a car. Even one glass of wine would take a driver over the legal limit.

Under a bipartisan bill being discussed by the Chamber of Deputies transport committee, the legal blood-alcohol limit would be lowered to 0.2%, or 0.2 grammes of alcohol per litre of blood.

”If you drink you don’t drive and if you drive you don’t drink: that must be the rationale of the bill to prevent repeated murders by drunk-drivers,” said committee chairman Mario Valducci.

The current legal level for driving in Italy is 0.5%, the same as in France, Germany and Spain and already lower than the United Kingdom’s 0.8%.

Sanctions for drunk-drivers would become harsher under the bill, with an initial six-month driving licence confiscation that could be made permanent in the event of repeat offences. Valducci said the possibility of applying the 0.2% blood-alcohol limit only to certain age groups was also under examination.

Source: Ansa.it

Across Italy, pundits and bloggers are calling the proposed legislation “neo-prohibitionism” and some claim that the impact on restaurants and wine tourism will be devastating. Proponents of the legislation note that “random roadside alcohol checks” will not be as frequent as in France, for example, where 10 million motorists are stopped at check points each year. In Italian, only 1 million would be stopped annually at check points if the legislation is approved.

Legendary Italian winemaker Giacomo Tachis made waves in the Italian eno-blogosphere this week when he suggested that the Italian wine appellation system should be overhauled or even abandoned.

“It’s time to open our minds because the appellations are balderdash,” said the creator of some of Italy’s most famous cult wines, using a more colorful word in an interview granted to WineNews.it. The appellations in the Italian system, observed the “babbo del Sassicaia” or father of Sassicia, were “invented by someone who does not understand wine… I, myself, contributed to the expansion [of the appellation system] when I understood less about wine.”

When asked whether or not the Italians should borrow from the French system, Tachis responded “dryly”: “we have nothing to learn from the French… We were the ones who brought Cabernet Sauvignon to France. So, what can we learn from them? We need to use our brains more and be more realistic than the French.”

The following translation is an excerpt of Franco Ziliani’s response to Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews, posted December 8, 2008.

How can one respond to the simpatico executive editor? They can make all the clarifications they want. They can reassure us that all the tastings are rigorously carried out “blind”; that no editor, not even “Giacomino” would dream of favoring “friends” or punishing “enemies”; that they have 2.6 million readers (and I don’t doubt those readers’ intelligence but I do wonder about their capacity for critical thought). Their readership does not doubt that the editors of the Wine Spectator are impassioned experts who aim to inform and educate. But the scores and the rankings are what they are. They are clear and evident and they negate the very suppositions being defended here.

One the one hand, Suckling gives a ridiculous and shameful 78/100 to a fantastic Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2001 by Case Basse, noting that it “Smells like day-old tea, with stewed tangerine. Full-bodied, with lots of fruit and a chewy texture, but turns hard and uninviting. Volatile. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. JS.” And a 68/100 to the same wine from the 2000 vintage: “Turpentine remover, with a wet wool undertone. Has lots of ripe fruit underneath. This is better on the palate, with ripe plum flavors, round tannins and a funky finish. Not right. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. JS.”

On the other, he gives 97/100 to Marchesi Frescobaldi’s Brunello di Montalcino Castelgiocondo Ripe al Convento Riserva 2001: “Aromas of blackberry, licorice and tar. Full-bodied, with silky tannins, great mouthfeel and a caressing finish that’s long and exciting. Builds and builds on the palate. Very close to the legendary 1997. Best after 2010. 2,200 cases made. JS.” And 94/100 to Brunello di Montalcino Luce della Vite 2003 made by the same company: “Big and powerful for the vintage. Full-bodied, with loads of ripe fruit that turns to black pepper and sultana, with smoky oak and dark chocolate. Very long and opulent. On the edge of being too much, but it’s impressive. A debut Brunello from this estate and one of the best of the vintage. Best after 2011. 850 cases made. JS.”

There are two possibilities here: either Suckling does not understand much about wine (as many have suspected) or Suckling does not provide useful information to his readers. Objectively, he is serving as publicist for companies that would be hard not to define as his “friends” and wineries for whom he is ever at the ready to cater to their commercial interests.

I kindly ask Thomas Matthews: did Wine Spectator and Marvin Shanken Communications ever wonder if their coverage of Italy and its wines — overseen by James Suckling for too long — could end up being more harmful than profitable?

Kindest regards, Franco Ziliani

The following comment was submitted to VinoWire over the weekend by Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews, who was responding to an editorial (“The best that Enotria has to offer? Relfections on the Wine Spectator Top 100″) by VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani. VinoWire will publish a translation of Franco’s response tomorrow.

I would like to add three comments to Franco Ziliani’s post about Wine Spectator’s Top 100 of 2008.

1. The wines selected are not the “best” of the year, as measured strictly by score; they are chosen because of their combination of quality, value, availability and excitement. For this reason, many excellent wines (including some of Ziliani’s favorites) are excluded.

2. All wines reviewed by Wine Spectator are evaluated in blind tastings (unless explicitly noted otherwise). Neither James Suckling nor any other editor can favor “friends” or punish “enemies.” Ziliani may disagree with our judgments, but he has no grounds to criticize our ethics.

3. Wine Spectator has been publishing for 32 years; according to independent research, we have 2.6 million readers. Are all these people stupid? Or do they recognize that our editors are passionate about wine, fair and experienced, and aim to educate wine consumers about wines, wine producers and the life of wine? Wine Spectator is working to broaden the world of wine. We welcome honest debate, and urge wine drinkers to sample widely, consider all sources of information, and judge for yourselves.

Thomas Matthews
Executive editor
Wine Spectator

The following is an excerpt of Franco Ziliani’s post dated November 25, 2008. Click here to read the entire post in Italian.

As I reflect on the Wine Speculator’s Top 100 classification… I beg your pardon, I meant to write, Wine Spectator! As I reflect on the magazine’s selections, I realize there’s not much to add to what I’ve written in the past. Only the ingenuous (and ingenuous is a generous euphemism) can take the classification seriously. And anyone who does take it seriously is sure to utter those illustrious words of wisdom: “If you’re not in the Wine Spectator Top 100, it means that your wine isn’t worth a hill of beans and, therefore, I, as an Italian, hope to be in it.”

For years, we’ve known that the classification is not a serious endeavor and lacks the authority with which it is peddled to consumers. Nonetheless, it’s worth a few moments of our time to try to understand its meaning.

The following is a list of Italian wines that made it into the Wine Spectator Top 100 (position, score, cost, winery, and wine):

06 94/100 $62 Pio Cesare Barolo 2004
14 95/100 $65 Aldo & Riccardo Seghesio Barolo Vigneto La Villa 2004
15 96/100 $110 Sette Ponti Toscana Oreno 2006
22 95/100 $63 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Grandi Annate Riserva 2004
31 93/100 $28 La Massa Toscana 2006
45 94/100 $80 Jermann Venezia-Giulia Vintage Tunina 2006
50 91/100 $28 Firriato Nero d’Avola-Syrah Sicilia Santagostino Baglio Soria 2006
51 90/100 $17 Fattoria di Felsina Chianti Classico Berardenga 2006
59 90/100 $18 Terredora Falanghina Irpinia 2007
70 90/100 $19 Attems Pinot Grigio Collio 2007
75 90/100 $19 Suavia Soave Classico 2007
76 90/100 $25 Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Castello di Nipozzano Riserva 2005
81 91/100 $32 Querciabella Chianti Classico 2006
84 91/100 $39 Stefano Farina Barolo 2004
96 93/100 $60 Cabreo Toscana Il Borgo 2006

What do we find in this representation of Made-in-Italy wines? The usual Tuscan domination, with 7 wines, topped off by 3 Piedmontese wines (3 bottlings of 2004 Barolo), 2 Friulian wines, 1 Veneto, a Sicilian, and an Irpinian (Campania).

The best wine of the lot, the 6th place winner in the classification, is a 2004 Barolo. But it’s not one of the wines that received Italian wine editor James Suckling’s highest scores over the course of the year, like the 98 he gave to Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Le Rocche del Falletto, the 97 he gave to Aldo Conterno Barolo Colonnello, or the 96 he gavie to Corino Vecchie Vigne, Ceretto’s Bricco Rocche, or Pio Cesare’s Ornato. The 6th place winner is a Barolo that landed a 94 like 9 other Barolos.

Despite the splendid, classic 2004 vintage, no Barolo can even dream of being considered a top Barolo — one of those must-have, outstanding, benchmark Barolos. Wine Spectator gave the vintage less-than thrilling scores of 89-93 (as compared with the 100/100 awarded to the 2000 vintage).

Yet, despite its lack of true character, Pio Cesare’s 2004 “classic” Barolo, which in my opinion is surely better than the more celebrated and more costly Ornato, has obtained a hyperbolic classification, clearly superior to its actual merits.

And even though I am happy that it is a Barolo that spearheads Italy’s representation in the classification (albeit with an overvalued wine), I also cannot help but note the extravagance of 84th position: Fratelli Seghesio’s Barolo La Villa 2004, by a winemaker relatively unknown in Italy, Stefano Farina, whose commercial and administrative offices are located — according to its website — in Albavilla in the province of Como, even though the company “can boast of cellars and vineyards in the most prestigious winemaking regions of Italy, Piedmont and Tuscany.”

It’s a commercial winery and yet its Barolo, which snagged the 49th position in the 2005 Top 100, leaves the crème de la crème of Barolo production in the dust.

Who do we find among the “best Italian wines” in the opinion of the Wine Spectator? We find “cult wines” (as a simpleton would say): the obligatory Oreno (a “very original” mixture of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sangiovese) blended by the “mustachioed enologist” Carlo Ferrini for Tenuta Setteponti, a winery owned by businessman Antonio Moretti, a close friend of Wine Spectator editor and owner Marvin Shanken. This winery, founded only ten years ago, quickly entered into James Suckling’s heart. In 2001, it was ranked 10th and by 2003 it was 5th.

Shouldn’t there be a Pinot Grigio in the Top 100? It is, after all, the most popular white wine in the U.S. (and not a Chardonnay or rather anything but Chardonnay)? Sure thing! A Collio Pinot Grigio but not just any Pinot Grigio: a Pinot Grigio labeled Attems, a wine that orbits in the solar system of a well-known Tuscan dynasty, Marchesi Frescobaldi, a winemaking group notoriously close to Giacomino Suckling. They are so friendly, in fact, that he gave their 2003 Brunello 94 points, despite the mediocre vintage.

With all the Pinot Grigio on the marketing the United States, is it possible that Giacomino had to select the one produced by an estate that was purchased by the owners of Tenuta Luce in Montalcino in 2000?

Is it possible that once again this year, just as in 2007 and 2005 (with the respective 2004 and 2002 vintages, yes, 2002!), Frecobaldi’s Nipozzano Riserva (this time with the 2005 vintage) makes it into the Wine Spectator Top 100?