Melgab International CC - Importers of Fine Italian Wine

Prosecco Goes for top DOCG Status

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:30:13 +0200

Michele Shah (decanter.com) writes:

The Prosecco DOC^? di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Consorzio^? has applied to the Italian government for promotion to the higher DOCG^? status.

At the same time, the basic IGT^? (Indicazione Geografica Tipica^?) level Prosecco grown in the lower plains will also have to go though stricter quality control, the DOC says.

Some IGTs will be elevated to to DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata^?) while others will be demoted, losing the right to put 'Prosecco' on the label.

DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita^?), established in 1963, is the highest legal category of Italian wines.

The Prosecco Consorzio has applied to the Ministry of Agriculture to allow promotion of the best Proseccos in 2009.

Speaking at the Consorzio tasting in London on Monday, Consorzio director Giancarlo Vettorello told decanter.com it was time 'to push ahead with our UK promotion as sales in UK are on the rise and Prosecco seems to be all the rage.'

There were 37 producers at this year's tasting, 12 more than last year.

Today the Prosecco DOC produces some 57m bottles of which 15m are exported worldwide. The currently imports 6% of total exports, the equivalent of 1m bottles exported in 2007.

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, italian, prosecco, docg, south-africa, South Africa

Wine Collectors Eye Cellars for Liquidity

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:44:29 +0200

Sad sign of the times: collectors are resorting to selling their precious wine in order to raise capital. Lisa Baertlein (reuters.com) writes:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wine cellars have been taking a hit from the global credit crisis and it isn't because the owners of rare bottles are drinking more -- it's because they have been selling to raise cash.

The selling started with mortgage brokers and has moved to Wall Street as owners turn their collections of coveted vintages into liquid assets.

"People need money. Even richer people need money sometimes," Vinfolio.com founder and Chief Executive Stephen Bachmann told Reuters on Monday.

In the last few weeks, private collectors submitted offers to sell $10 million worth of wine to Vinfolio, a San Francisco-based company that buys and sells wine online. Normally the company has about $6 million offered to it.

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, collection, recession, funds, south-africa, South Africa

Why Wine Isn't Art—and Why That Matters

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:54:14 +0200

Brilliant article from the recent issue of Wine Spectator written by Matt Kramer (winespectator.com):

Recently I found myself in one of those wine wrangles that, truth to tell, I usually try to avoid. (Check out any wine chat board on the Internet if you've got a taste^? for this sort of thing.)

The wrangle was with, natch, a winemaker^?, while at a social event. It involved the winemaker's assertion that "fine wine is art." I pointed out, as modestly as I could, that there's no denying that nature surely doesn't make wine on its own, let alone fine wine (vinegar^? is more like it). I then went on to say that fine wine is, at best, a high craft both in the vineyard^? and the cellar^?.

Probably, if I had stopped there, the discussion would have proved amicable. But I took the matter one step further. (You're shocked, I know.) I submitted that saying that winemaking, and therefore its result, is "art" was self-aggrandizing. You can imagine how that was received.

Now, I admit that the self-aggrandizing bit was a low blow. Still, it's true. If winemakers can get you, me and, especially, their employers to see them as artists, you know what'll happen: Their salaries will rise, and producers, for their part, will start pricing wine as "art." And you know what that means.

So why isn't fine wine "art"? The answer is surprisingly simple. Art is creation; wine is amplification. The big^? difference between an artist and a winemaker is that an artist starts with a blank sheet while a winemaker works with the exact opposite. A grape arrives at the winery^? with all the parts included, a piñata stuffed with goodies, just waiting to be cracked open.

Is there a craft to doing that? You bet there is. But where an artist conceives of something out of the proverbial thin air, no winemaker anywhere in the world can do any such thing.

For example, when my wine heroine Lalou Bize-Leroy bought the former Domaine^? Noëllat in Vosne-Romanée and transformed it into Domaine Leroy, she did not create her magnificent wines from scratch. It was all right there in the hallowed ground and old vines^? of her newly acquired pieces of Richebourg and Romanée St.-Vivant. She didn't create something from nothing. Quite the opposite.

Fine wine is not creation. It is refinement. If it were otherwise, then everybody would be "creating" Lafite Rothschild or La Tâche or any other wine masterpiece of singular, irreproducible expression and high price. Counterfeiting aside, I don't see anybody doing that, do you?

They don't because they can't. That's precisely why fine wine is not art. It comes from all the forces that create a particularity of site. Great winemakers—which is to say, expert practitioners of winecraft—tease what they can from the sites that are available to them by planting the right grapevines, growing them astutely, harvesting the fruit at an ideal moment (a problematic issue today given some winemakers' and critics' preferences for ever greater ripeness) and handling the fermented juice^? in the cellar with deft control.

This is no small charge, and I, for one, do not seek to diminish it in any way. But art? Not a chance. The poet E.E. Cummings put his finger on it better than anyone else: "A world of made is not a world of born." Wine is no more a blank canvas than the Grand Canyon.

Why does this distinction matter? Because abstract though it is, if winemakers and, yes, wine lovers, see wine as art, then the essential connection between what a grape expresses from its site and what we expect is severed. If a winemaker is an "artist," then he or she, by artistic right, can and should modify the result to suit a personal vision separate from a "mere" expression of place.

However, if the finest winemaking is seen as a high craft, rather than art, the expectation changes subtly yet substantively. Where art presumes a blank slate upon which a personal vision necessarily is writ large, the notion of craft is more deferential. Like great parenting, it's a guardianship of something already largely complete. The goal is refinement and amplification of what's inherent. Think of what happens when parents do otherwise.

So it is with wine. All sorts of technological deconstruction and reconstruction now occurs in many wineries today, especially ones creating high-end—or at least high-priced—wines. They see themselves as artists and would like to convince you of same. If they can, well, you know how distorted the results can be—and who pays.

Matt Kramer has contributed regularly to Wine Spectator since 1985.

» Full Story (subscription required)

It seems obvious on reflection but it remains an important distinction to make, especially given the widespread labeling of wine making as an art form, particularly in wine marketing circles.

Tags: melgab, wine, art, refinement, wine making, south-africa, South Africa

Cellar's Market: Fine Wine Investing On the Rise

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:14:40 +0200

It looks like the trend mentioned a few weeks back is still popular. Jennifer Waters (marketwatch.com) writes:

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- On a hot, sunny Friday here in September only days after the first Monday market meltdown, two well-heeled wine buyers battled each other at a private auction for the privilege of shattering a world-record price for a single case^? of 1982 Chateau^? Lafite Rothschild.

A Chinese buyer who flew in from Beijing for the Hart Davis Hart Co. auction won with a final bid of $54,970 -- a whopping $4,580.83 a bottle. At its release in 1984, a single bottle would have sold for roughly $100. A case of 1990 Romanee-Conti Domaine^? de la Romanee-Conti that was released at about $500 a bottle sold for $179,250, or $14,937.50 each. A case of 2000 Chateau Petrus was bought for $57,360, or $4,780 a bottle. At its release, the price was $750 a bottle.

Such dramatic price appreciation is not the norm for wine investments, but it does underscore how lucrative and resilient investing in fine wine can be -- particularly so at a time when market volatility is deflating 401(k) accounts and retirement nest eggs, and low interest rates are choking returns on cash and other investments.

Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, investment, ROI, auction, south-africa, South Africa

Italians 'turn water into wine'

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:01:41 +0200

Accident or intervention? You decide:

Wine started flowing through taps in dozens of homes during an Italian grape festival in Marino, south of Rome.

At the heart of the town's famous Sagra dell'Uva^?^?, or Grape Festival, is the moment when sparkling white wine flows from the fountains in the main square.

But this year locals and tourists had to make do with water, as bad plumbing meant the wine supply was switched by mistake to local homes.

...

"But this year," Mr Palozzi said, "Due to a technical error, instead of connecting wine to the fountains, we accidentally channelled it into some local homes.

"Apparently the people living around the square who got the wine coming out of their taps were very surprised, they thought that it might be some kind of present from the local council! It only lasted three minutes, we corrected it straight away."

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, italian, festival, rome, south-africa, South Africa

Coffee Giant Illy Buys Mastrojanni in Brunello

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:27:05 +0200

This is the kind of cross diversification I can relate to! Kerin O'Keefe (decanter.com) writes:

Italian coffee giant Illy has just acquired the 90ha Mastrojanni estate^? in the Montalcino hamlet of Castelnuovo dell'Abate.

Founded in 1975 by Gabriele and Antonio Mastrojanni, the estate has 24 ha under vine and an overall production of 80,000 bottles a year.

Until now Mastrojanni has been a family-owned firm^?, and is known for its classic Brunellos, particularly its single vineyard^? Brunello, Schiena d'Asino.

Managing Director and winemaker^? Andrea Machetti, who is to remain in charge of day-to-day operations under Illy, has been with Mastrojanni since 1992.

'The Illy family members obviously love wine and are known for their good taste^?. Though they will make some investments in the business, the house style^? won't change and we will continue to focus on making outstanding Brunello from Sangiovese,' Machetti told decanter.com.

The Illy family, based in Trieste, which bought controlling shares in chocolate^? company Domori in 2006 as well as in French tea firm Dammann Frères in 2007, is not new to the wine business.

Francesco Illy, one of the four grandchildren of the firm's founder, already owns a young estate in Montalcino, Podere Le Ripi. Riccardo Illy, president of the holding group said, 'Everyone in my family has a passion for wine, and with this acquisition, we have realised one of our dreams.'

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, brunello, montalcino, illy, italian, south-africa, South Africa

Gaja: relax Brunello rules on Sangiovese

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:48:23 +0200

A two tier qualification proposal for Brunello? I can't believe it's come down to this... talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. Richard Woodard (decanter.com) writes:

Italian winemaker^? Angelo Gaja has said that Brunello should operate a two-tier system and allow other varieties other than Sangiovese.

As the Brunello grape blending furore continues, the veteran Piedmont producer - who also makes Brunello di Montalcino – has suggested DOC^? Brunello should move on and no longer demand the wine is made from 100% Sangiovese.

In an article published this month in Italian newspaper Libero and local Tuscan paper La Nazione, Gaja says that if indeed Brunello producers have been adding other grapes illegally to the wine, then those producers should have been lobbying to get the appellation^? rules changed.

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, brunello, montalcino, appellation, italy, south-africa, South Africa

Aglianico: An Italian Name Worth Practicing

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:15:42 +0200

Eric Asimov (nytimes.com) writes:

ALL right, class, summer vacation is long gone and school is well under way, but I’m forced to interrupt our curriculum for a quick review session.

Why is this? Because it’s come to my attention that a crucial word in the lexicon of Italian wines has fallen by the wayside.

That word is aglianico, which, just to be clear, is pronounced ah-lee-YAHN-ee-koh, and which is the name of the leading red grape of southern Italy.

Yet the entire category of aglianico wines seems to pass unnoticed by most people, which is a shame because they have so much pleasure to offer.

...

For years, the aglianico torch was largely carried by two producers, Mastroberardino in Campania, best known for its Radici from the Taurasi zone, and Paternoster in Basilicata, which has long made exemplary aglianicos from the volcanic soils of Mount Vulture (pronounced VOOL-too-reh). Now, dozens of producers export their wines to the United States. Sadly, we couldn’t find wines from some of the top producers, like Paternoster, Antonio Caggiano and Galardi, which makes Terra di Lavoro, as close as an aglianico wine comes to cult status.

» Full Story

Mastroberardino: Aglianico; Radici Taurasi Riserva DOCG

Tags: melgab, wine, aglianico, campania, italy, south-africa, South Africa

Investors turn to the Fine Wine Market

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:46:16 +0200

With the credit crunch looming large, 'alternative investments' such as fine wine are becoming increasingly popular. Figures from Berry Bros. & Rudd & Christie's Fine Wine Auction show a combined total of over two and a half million pounds worth of fine wine has been sold by these two companies in the past few weeks.

Berrys', the UK's leading independent wine merchant, has witnessed outstanding sales in the last few weeks, selling 1000 cases of 2006 Ch. Lynch Bages and 1000 cases of 2000 Dom Perignon Champagne^?, worth a combined total of one million pounds.

Christie's Bordeaux 2000 sale^?, held this week, saw bullish spending with the Ch. Lafite Rothschild 2000 making £10,925 per case^? and a case of Ch. Latour 2000 going for £9,200. Overall, the 'Highlights from a Superlative Millennium Vintage^?: Bordeaux 2000' auction realised a combined total of £1,654,775.

Historically great wines from great vintages have appreciated 10-15% per annum, so its no wonder investors are putting their money into alternative funds. And, with wine classed as a 'wasting asset,' any investment is free from capital gains tax.

... goes on to list 'Berry Bros. & Rudd's tips to investing in Fine Wine'. Worth a read.

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, investment, ROI, auction, south-africa, South Africa

New Label Detects Temperature Change During Shipping

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:56:11 +0200

This is a no-brainer. Widespread adoption of this system can't come soon enough. Howard G Goldberg (decanter.com) writes:

Spoilage in wine shipping, which haunts consumers, distributors and merchants, has become easily detectable.

California's wine industry has begun using a temperature-sensitive label that for about two years had been confined to the food industry.

The small label, programmed to reflect a band of temperatures, goes on bottles and packages. If a shipment stays within desired parameters, a light flashes green^?. If temperatures get too high or low, it flashes yellow.

Downloaded into a computer via a manual reader, data show what temperatures occurred and when, thus fixing responsibility for cooked wine.

In Napa, WTN Services, which both distributes wine and sells it directly to consumers under a program called Ambrosia, pronounces itself happy with the labels, which are made by an Idaho company called PakSense.

Customers pay $20 a box for the labeling, a relatively small insurance premium for expensive wine.

In Sonoma, the Schug Carneros Estate^? Winery^? began placing PakSense labels on shipments early this year.

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, label, technology, spoilage, south-africa, South Africa

Biondi-Santi Proposes Change in Rosso di Montalcino

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:39:32 +0200

In the wake of the recent Brunello scandals, I find it surprising that a such a well established name would step forth with this kind of proposal. Tom Hyland (vinowire.simplicissimus.it) writes:

In an interview published Friday, September 5 in the Italian national daily La Nazione, Franco Biondi-Santi — the "father" of Brunello di Montalcino — has proposed a change in the Rosso^? di Montalcino DOC^?, making it "no longer a 100% Sangiovese but a mix with other varieties cultivated in Montalcino." The proposed change would potentially allow for the addition of just a "few varieties" besides Sangiovese, "in percentages to be studied and established with clarity^?," grapes that "would express the characteristics of the terroir^?." The addition of other grape varieties, said Biondi-Santi, "would help those wineries whose growing sites are not particularly suited for Sangiovese." It would also help those wineries "to find favor with the palate^? of a part of the global market."

"This is a possibility that we can exploit," said Biondi-Santi, "not a situation that we must^? be forced to endure. Rosso di Montalcino should not be viewed as a 'little brother' but rather as a 'different twin' of Brunello."

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, rosso, montalcino, brunello, italian, south-africa, South Africa

Authenticating Wine with a Particle Accelerator

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:11:45 +0200

After reading about how Nigerians are diversifying away from email scams, it's heartening to know that science is once again to the rescue. Roger Highfield (telegraph.co.uk) writes:

A rare wine merchant has joined forces with nuclear scientists to develop a 21st-century tool for unmasking counterfeit vintage^? wines.

The technique developed by French scientists for a British wine expert consists of zapping bottles with beams of charged ions generated by a particle accelerator.

The beams of protons are directed at the glass, not the wine, and the telltale spectrum of X rays that results from the bombardment can help scientists to distinguish how old the bottles are and, roughly, where they originate.

"We compare the suspect bottles with those that we know come from the chateaux," explained Dr Hervé Guégan, a researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Bordeaux, where the university also took part in the studies.

The reason this is a powerful^? check on authenticity is, he explains, because "the chemical composition of glass used to make bottles changed over time and was different from place to place,"

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, wine, atomic, accelerator, ageing, authentication, south-africa, South Africa

Delong Publish New Iberian Wine Map

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:50:31 +0200

Spain and Portugal are the first countries in our series of wine maps and two of the most exciting in the contemporary wine world.

» View Site (via catavino.net)

Tags: melgab, wine, iberian, map, spain, portugal, south-africa, South Africa

Is Italy's Prosecco the new Champagne?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:58:20 +0200

Mathias Wildt (uk.reuters.com) writes:

PROSECCO, Italy (Reuters) - Gianluca Bisol has great expectations for the white sparkling wine^? his family has been making since 1542 in the Valdobbiadene and Conegliano regions north of Venice.

A 22nd-generation prosecco producer, he is hoping prosecco's growing international renown will help his fizz gain ground over pricier champagne^?. Prosecco production has grown to 150 million bottles from 5 million a year in 40 years, mainly driven by demand for exports to Germany and the United States.

Now its makers aim to increase production to 250 million bottles, moving it closer to the world's leading bubbly. France last year produced a record 339 million bottles of champagne.

"Prosecco is softer, easier to drink than champagne," Bisol said. "Add the good price/quality ratio, and prosecco could become the leading world bubbly over the next 30 years."

» Full Story (via luxist.com)

Tags: melgab, wine, italian, prosecco, bisol, italian, south-africa, South Africa

World of change in winemaking

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:43:30 +0200

Worthwhile read. Bill Daley (chicagotribune.com) writes:

Chicagoans are thirsty. Whether it's an $8 glass of 2006 Brooks Riesling from Oregon raised in a toast at Webster's Wine Bar in Lincoln Park, a $15 bottle of French rosé^? named the "Pink Criquet" and tossed back on an Oak^? Park porch, or a $2,125 bottle of Gaja's 1978 Italian Barbaresco, sipped respectfully at one of Charlie Trotter's prime tables, folks are reaching for wine.

More than a common love for fermented grape juice^? ties these wine drinkers together, yet few recognize it.

It's the 45th parallel, an imaginary line encircling the world halfway between the North Pole and the Equator.

The 45th parallel is more than an exercise in geography. It symbolizes and connects the increasing globalization of flavors^?, changing climate concerns and the eternal search for good wines at bargain prices.

In the world of wine, the 45th parallel is the global equivalent of the Magnificent Mile in terms of quality and cachet. It threads its way through the Bordeaux and Cotes du Rhone regions of France, Italy's Piedmont, the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

For Steven Alexander, sommelier^? at Chicago's Spiaggia restaurant, the 45th parallel is a global pathway the savvy wine buyer can exploit. For consumers, he said, they will be able to "look east" along the parallel and find regions producing wines of comparable quality but charging a lot less. Think of such regions as Russia's Black Sea coast, the Balkan country of Croatia, China's isolated Xinjiang province and even the Leelanau peninsula in Michigan.

Goes on to discuss the following sub topics:

Wine matters here
New competitors
Where magic begins
Nature will solve crisis

» Full Story

Tags: melgab, climate, wine, 45th parallel, vinography, south-africa, South Africa