"UPS AND DOWNS OF 2006": ANGELO GAJA, ONE OF THE MOST ESTEEMED ITALIAN WINEMAKERS, COMMENTS ON HOW THE PAST YEAR WENT FOR THE WORLD OF WINE IN ITALY.

Below, is the publication of "Luce ed ombre", a discussion on the highs and lows of Italian wine in 2006 by Angelo Gaja, one of the most authoritative names in Italian wine.

Markets

The market was good throughout all of 2006, regardless of the weak dollar that continued to favor the so-called "New World" wine producers. Italian entrepreneurs worked well, active on foreign markets. And nobody has demerited the less fortunate producers who, because of the impossibility of selling abroad were forced to accept liquidation prices for wholesale wine and grape sales, thus involuntarily contributing to continued low sales prices for almost 80% of all Italian wine throughout 2006. Often, even superior wines were sold at very discounted prices, benefiting almost exclusively the consumer who, however, did not show any signs of wanting to profit from the occasion by buying more wine.

Legislation

In 2006, the reorganizing project for wine legislation made its return. Among the different interventions were those on DOC and DOCG (there are too many and not all merit the denomination). The law foresees that, to promote DOC and DOCG, they must be wines possessing a "particular prestige": the significance of this is clear but it is difficult to have an objectively reasonable definition of this requisite in Italy because, in the eyes of producers, all Italian wines possess this particular prestige.

The introduction of a new clear and unequivocal parameter is necessary: my proposal is to refer to the prices of bottles according to the GDO (Large Distribution Organization). This would force wines that have been authorized to use the DOCG seal but which sell for prices inferior to 3 euros per bottle, to return to the original DOC seal that was previously used, in order to recuperate from the "loss of prestige".