December
9, 2008
Varietal vs. Territorio: A Scientific Approach to Wine Laws
Italian Wine
Appellation News
Firenze, Toscana
December 9, 2008
Varietal vs. Territorio: territorio—the Italian
word for terroir—seems to be the winner, at least
it's what the scientific world suggests for the future of
Italian enology. The debate was at the center the
recent Third
International Sangiovese Symposium held in Florence
last week, and among the closing remarks came the revolutionary
suggestion of a new classification criteria for Italian
wines.
The new criteria was proposed by Mario Fregoni, Honorary
President of OIV (Organisation Internationale de la Vigne
et du Vin) and would entail classifying Italian terroirs
within the already existing DOC appellations following the
current Burgundy model. A feasible change, according
to Fregoni, “as the current Italian legislation would
allow it, and would mean redefining the quality of Italian
terroirs and wine production in general.” In
Burgundy terroirs are classified in four distinct categories:
Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Village and Region. Can the
same concept be applied in Italy? According to Professor
Fregoni it can and should be, “as it would become
a hierarchical classification based on history, quality
and geology”. It means creating a system that
would avoid the recent problems experienced in Montalcino
because, Fregoni explained, “the redefinition of the
appellations would be based on territory not varietals.
A model applicable and valid for all Italian DOCs, especially
those most esteemed and based only on one varietal”
Professor Fregoni continued by saying “in Italy too
much attentions is placed on the different varietals used
to make a wine, when it would be best to emphasize the terroir.
What is most important is to make things simpler and clearer
for the consumer, that is what is highlighted on the wine
label should reflect the content in the bottle.”
A statistic by OIV confirms this: of the 390 Italian appellations,
both DOCs and DOCGs, only 45 refer to terroir (geographical
area, quality, natural and human factors). In comparison,
among the rest of the world wine producing countries only
10% choose to indicate on the label just the terroir, 70%
include both the varietal and the terroir, while 20% just
the varietal.
The third edition of the symposium was deemed a success: 250
international participants, 32 presentations, 18 reports debated
by Italian and international experts, under the support of
OIV, whose research and data suggested that despite the current
particular economic times, the number of wine consumers in
the world keeps growing thanks in part to the conquest of
new markets. As for the debate varietal vs. territorio: is
following the Burgundy model really in the best interest of
the future of Italian wines? Not everybody in the industry
is in agreement, but one thing is for certain, there's much
to be discussed in Italy in the coming months, especially
with the approaching August 2009 deadline set by the European
Union when the new CMO Reform
is expected to go into effect. |
