A NEW “LAW” FOR BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO: THE ITALIAN MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE HAS SIGNED A DECREE THAT REQUIRES THE INSTITUTION OF A GUARANTEE BOARD. THE MEMBERS ARE RICCARDO RICCI CURBASTRO, VASCO BOATTO, AND FULVIO MATTIVI

The Italian Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia, recently signed into act a ministerial decree (which is an administrative act emitted by a ministry of relevant competency; it does not have the same power as a law and can take the form of a secondary regulation for the legal system) titled, “Interventions intended to reinforce the management system of DOCG Brunello di Montalcino.

The decree calls for the creation of “a guarantee committee with the role of coordinating and supervising control activities for the production of DOCG Brunello di Montalcino wine as well as DOC Rosso di Montalcino, Moscadello di Montalcino and Sant’Antimo” for a period of six months.

The members who have been chosen for guarantee committee are Doctor Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, Professor Vasco Boatto, and Doctor Fulvio Mattivi. The ministerial text continues with an explanation of the role of the guarantee committee: “the Committee is entrusted with the task of verifying the conformity to the Control Plan, with particular reference to the ampelographic conditions of the vineyards, the viticultural techniques, and the emission for consumption. On the basis of the results of the activities that have been carried out, the Guarantee Committee will formulate proposals relative to the introduction of innovative control methods geared towards ensuring the respect of the production disciplinary”.
The text states further along, “in regard to the identification of non correspondence and specific problems relative to the realization of the plan… the Guarantee Committee can propose to the Ministry and the competent authorities extraordinary interventions to ensure respect of the rules. The costs of the functions of the Guarantee Committee are at the expense of the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium”.



The Members of the Guarantee Board for Brunello di Montalcino

Riccardo Ricci Curbastro

A producer of Franciacorta wine at his family run winery, Curbastro is also president of Federdoc, the only inter-professional organism existing in Italy that gives guarantee and legal safeguarding at an international level and which unites 90 wine consortiums (90% of total consortiums, that includes 180 VQPRD representing 80% of total Italian winemaking production).

Fulvio Mattivi

Mattivi has a degree in Industrial Chemistry and, since 1987 works at the San Michele all’Adige Agrarian Institute (Trento). He specializes in scientific research on viticulture and enology and enological chemistry. He is head of the operative unit Chemistry of Food and Drink.

Vasco Boatto

Boatto is Professor at the Institute of Economy and Agrarian Statistics in the Department of Agrarian Sciences at the University of Padua. Since 2003 he is Director of the Inter-university Center for Agrarian Accounting and Management, and member of the Administrative Council of INEA. Since 2006 he is head of the PhD program Territory, Environment, Resources, and Health at the University of Padua.

The Official Press Release – Minister Zaia exonerates the Brunello Consortium from its controls

“The Minister of Agricultural, Forest and Food Politics, Luca Zaia, has made fact the announcement made recently and has instituted, as of today, a Guarantee Board to coordinate and oversee the control activities on the production of Brunello di Montalcino wine.

The decree, unique and the first of its kind for the relations between a Ministry and Consortium, nominates the members of the Guarantee Board:

-Doctor Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, president of Federdoc, the Federation that unites all of the guardianship consortiums for wine;

- Professor Vasco Boatto, teacher of Agrarian Economy at the University of Padua and Director of Enology at the same academy, at the branch in Conegliano Veneto;

- Doctor Fulvio Mattivi, head of the analysis laboratory at the San Michele all’Adige Institute in the province of Trento.
To these three experts, Minister Zaia has entrusted the task of verifying the total correspondence between the Control Plan and the emission of the product to consumers. In the case the Committee should identify a non correspondence or problems regarding the product, it must propose to the Ministry and the competent authorities an extraordinary intervention to ensure total respect of the rules.

Minister Zaia, who with this decree intends to guarantee Brunello di Montalcino to consumers all over the world and safeguard the image of the most noted national product of excellence, thanks Doctor Cinzano-Marone and all of the members of the Consortium for the work that was undertaken and hopes that the Guarantee Committee will return, in the shortest time possible, certainty and serenity to all of the components interested in Brunello di Montalcino wine”.