Italian producer Allegrini has pulled out of the Valpolicella Classico denomination over frustration at not being allowed to bottle its wines under screwcap.
The estate's Valpolicella Classico will now be known simply as Valpolicella because it wants to use the closure known as Stelvin
'We have been waiting for the regulations in Valpolicella Classico to be amended so that we could use screwcaps on this wine,' said winemaker Franco Allegrini.
'But they haven't, so we have decided to pull out of Classico. The closure is more important to us than the denomination.'
While the company had not experienced abnormally high levels of cork taint, it felt that Stelvin helped to retain freshness better than either natural or synthetic cork. Demand from the UK and other markets for screwcapped wines had also prompted the move.
David Gleave MW, managing director of Allegrini's importer Liberty Wines, said progressive Italian producers who saw the benefits of screwcaps were now being “held back” by regulation.
'We fully support Allegrini's decision,' he said. 'In our opinion, Italy's tardiness in adopting this new technology is having an adverse effect on the competitiveness of its wines in the UK market.'
Gleave said he did not know of any other producers who had pulled out of the Classico denomination.
'But I'm sure, as in other zones, that others will follow suit once a producer of Allegrini's prominence takes the lead.'
Nobody from the Valpolicella Consorzio was available for comment.
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Good on ya, Franco! And here's hoping other producers across Italy follow Allegrini's lead; DOCG - that's Dodgy Old Corks Guaranteed – be damned! The cork used in Italian wines is some of the most variable of any country in the world in my view, and the sooner the regs are loosened to allow the use of screwcap (or Vino-lok, or other non-cork closures) across all DOCs and DOCGs the better.
I have beside my desk, as a reminder of just how abysmal the cork situation is with Italian wine, three bottles complete with cork-affected contents: Gaja Barbaresco 1999 (low level tca); Giacomo Conterno Barbera d'Alba '01 (guaiacol); Fonterutoli Chianti Classico '04 (fruit stripped and eviscerated – this I know having tasted two sound examples prior). All opened on one memorable evening! Fortunately a Vietti Lazzarito was impeccable, otherwise it was going to be a dry old night.
But the last Vietti Perbacco '05 I tasted was fruit eviscerated and deteriorated rapidly in the glass (this wine tasted a few times now and an effectively sealed bottle is stunning). Of eight (or thereabouts) bottles of G.D. Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo '01 I've opened recently, two have been returned to the supplier with cork issues. Good looking corks too. But that of course means nothing and all the above suppliers pay top Euro for their bits of bark.
However, with respect to the Dodgy Old Corks Guaranteed closure issue, I'm puzzled why there hasn't been a widespread adoption of Oeneo's DIAM in Italy (and France, Spain, and Portugal for that matter). It's a natural cork product and so is allowed within the various consorzios rules and there are no special bottling line requirements.
And it works! Anyone who wants to test and taste it should try and get hold of the '05 San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico. Unfortunately only a small percentage of the wine was sealed under DIAM although Luca Martini has increased the volume with the '06 vintage. The seven or so times I've been lucky enough to broach a bottle it's been consistently excellent. The best Chianti Classico I've come across in the past year in fact.
Now before anyone posts a harangue to the effect that the Italian wines we get down here (in Australia) are buggered because of shipping distances, temperature changes during sea transportation (and any other such old bollocks) I should point out that both the Gaja and Conterno were acquired in Italy and came back – speedily – by plane. And that I've had just as many issues when tasting in Italy: one memorable day at Fonterutoli springs to mind, where we had to open three bottles of Siepi '03 to find a good one.
The most compelling argument for Italian DIAM adoption though is the '06 San Giusto CC example. The wine was shipped in reefer and stored this end appropriately. Like I say: all have opened up deliciously and consistently. Not so the '04 San Giusto 'Le Baroncole' Chianti Classico Riserva shipped at the same time. Three bottles tasted: one perfectly balanced, intense, harmonious; but the other two fruit were fruit eviscerated, clovey oak sticking out, one showing transitory mustiness. The variable here? Natural cork, of course.
As I say to any Italian producer who'll listen: anDIAMo ragazze!
Tim White, Victoria, Australia
Well done! When can I buy it here in Oz?
Larry Dines
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