A TOAST FROM MOSCOW TO THE NEW DECREE FOR BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO, OR THE “SOLUTION” TO POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH U.S. CUSTOMS OFFICIALS BY ITALY’S MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.

The Italian Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia, made the official announcement the decree he signed that, “relieves the Brunello Consortium of it control activities”, and simultaneously, “institutes a guarantee committee to coordinate and oversee control activities”, as well as re-launching the activities of the Chamber of Commerce because Zaia takes to heart, “the future of our most famous product of excellence and the rights of consumers (who are numerous) around the world”.

It is a decision that has been made in the hopes of helping to resolve the “TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) issue”, or rather, avoids the block on Brunello exports, which the U.S. has threatened to begin on June 23 due to Italy’s legal investigation into producers who may have violated the disciplinary for Brunello production. The visit to Italy by U.S. functionaries and the “political solution” reached by the two ministers Zaia and Shafer could now make up part of an agreement at a government level between the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and U.S. government representatives.


The president of the Tuscany Region, Claudio Martini responds: “if Cinzano had further delayed his resignation it would have become a problem… The magistrate investigating the Brunello case has asked for supplemental time… Make the control system run at a national level”

The president of the Tuscany region, Claudio Martini (who has also been delegated the responsibility for the region’s agriculture) made his comments on the Brunello case as well: “the resignation of the president of the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium, Francesco Marone Cinzano was his obligation and if it had been further delayed it would have become a problem; it was a useful and, in some regards, necessary act”.

President Martini will soon ask Minister Zaia for, “a solution to the role of consortiums” in hopes that the control systems are turned over to national control. Martini also revealed that, “the magistrate that is conducting investigations on Brunello di Montalcino has asked for a supplementary investigation period of six months”.

Coldiretti’s Comments: “Overcome the uncertainties for the success of ‘Made in Italy’”

In response to the possibility of successfully avoiding the threat of an importation ban on Brunello by U.S. customs authorities and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Italian agricultural organization Coldiretti stated that there are the right conditions to overcome the current period of uncertainty with the use of transparency, and to give tranquillity back to operators and consumers to avoid damaging the image of a sector that has the role of leader for ‘Made in Italy’ products both in Italy and abroad.

With earnings of over 120 million euros, 247 producers and 7 million bottles sold each year (62% of which abroad), Brunello di Montalcino is considered the symbol of Italian wine. 25% of all Brunello production is absorbed by the U.S. alone, followed by Germany (9%), Switzerland (7%), Canada (5%), Britain (3%), and Japan (3%). And Coldiretti points out that it is precisely the U.S. market that is the primary reference point for Italian wine, where almost half (45%) of all Tuscan DOC/DOCG red wines that are destined for export are consumed, with Chianti, Chianti Classico, Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montepulciano holding the top positions according to a Nomisma study on Italian VQPRD (DOC/DOCG) wine rankings on the world’s markets.

And according to data from the Italian Wine & Food Institute, Italian wines as a whole made up 30% of all foreign wines consumed in the United States in the first quarter of 2008, notwithstanding the unfavorable euro-dollar exchange rates. A notable step ahead of Australian and Argentinean wines, not to mention French wines (which have experienced a drop of 9.8% in exports).

Wine is the main voice for Italian food exports and makes a quarter of its total export earnings from the U.S. market. Total national wine production for 2007 reached 43 million hectoliters, 60% of which were DOC, DOCG and IGT certified. Total earnings reached a record 9 billion euros, 3.2 of which were earned through exports.