Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
protect the not-so innocent.) These anecdotes
will give you more insight than anything else I
could say or write.
Wine lovers everywhere, not just in Italy, owe
them a huge thanks. That said, it is undoubt-
edly true that the many diffi culties presented
by native varieties—both in the fi eld and in the
cellar—make most winemakers wince in pain.
Neither high-volume producers nor many well-
known consultants really want to work with
native varieties, though they state otherwise, of
course. In fact, producers have told me count-
less times about how their famous winemaker
insisted that the natives be uprooted in favor of
planting Chardonnay and Merlot. This is not
surprising: a consultant winemaker might
have fi fty or more estates, spread all over the
world, in his or her portfolio. Consultants sim-
ply do not have the time to study local
terroirs
and the specifi cs of all those unknown local
grapes. Furthermore, they are usually hired to
deliver almost immediate results, and turning
out so-so wines while attempting to understand
the local variety is neither what they are paid for
nor why they are so looked up to. In fairness,
this attitude has begun to change, and some,
such as Attilio Pagli and Alberto Antonini with
their excellent Matura group (a team of viticul-
turalists and winemakers who work together),
have devoted plenty of time and energy to little-
known native grapes such as Tintilia and Moli-
nara, launching new monovarietal bottlings.
Other winemakers in Italy have also always
believed in the potential of native varieties.
There is no bigger expert on Nerello Mascalese
and all the Etna varieties than Salvo Foti. Argu-
ably, nobody understands Sangiovese in Italy
better than Maurizio Castelli or Franco Berna-
bei; both have a level of expertise achieved by
working mainly with central Italian estates
where Sangiovese is king. The aforementioned
Attilio Pagli is the single biggest expert on Cili-
egiolo, an extremely high-quality Italian native.
To Pagli's credit, another estate he consults for
produces a lovely 100 percent Corvina wine that
is neither hugely tannic nor ridiculously black
in hue, something a wine made solely with Cor-
vina can never be. Lorenzo Landi works with
Buriano and is making some of Italy's best Ver-
dicchio wines, as Federico Staderini works with
STORY
A
In 2003, while visiting a Tuscan estate
and tasting the wines, I mention that they
make a great Malvasia wine, called Night Pas-
sion. Everyone in the room beams: “We're
happy you like it, Ian. We like it too, it really is a
great wine. Unfortunately, we're having trouble
selling it.” I ask, “How come?” “We're not sure:
It's bright, crisp. We think it's the name, it
lacks appeal. So we plan to change it.” I query,
“Really? . . . but Night Passion is a cool name.
What are you going to call your malvasia in the
future?” The answer: “Vermentino.”
STORY
B
Back in 2002, a long article I'd written
on Italy's native grapes had just hit newsstands,
and promptly a producer called the wine maga-
zine's offi ce wanting to talk to me. “Ian, I know
you wrote that there is no Grillo in Puglia, but I
want you to know, it grows in my vineyard near
Bari.” “Really?” I asked uncomfortably, “my
apologies, I must have been wrong. So how do
you know it's Grillo? Who studied the vines?
What tests did they do?” The quick reply—“No,
no, you don't understand, my grandfather told
me there's Grillo in that plot.”
STORY
C
On the back of a bottle of a Sicilian
wine made with, among other grapes, Cabernet
Sauvignon, I see the phrase “made from auto-
chthonous soils,” and wonder how the soil
could be anything other than native, unless
perhaps it were shipped from Algeria or Spain?
Clearly, a wine made with Cabernet Sauvignon
cannot be called autochthonous, but as the lat-
ter is an almost magical word in helping propel
wine sales in Italy, everyone wants to use it—in
any way they can!
The Problem with (Some) Consultant
Winemakers
Consultant winemakers have undoubtedly
played a major role in improving Italy's wines.
