The very Tuscan "sacred monsters" such as Brunello and Bolgheri are holding up, but Chianti Classico falters also because the companies in the area are the first not to believe it. The best Italian wine guides are almost ready for printing and the Winenews portal has snatched from the editors the first indiscretions on the future symbolic wines of 2013. What emerges is a picture made up of confirmations and novelties, of territories that after decades lived on the margins of Italian enology, especially in the south, come to the rescue with wines of absolute excellence, even able to undermine our regional bishops.
And there are not only them looking for redemption, but also two types of wine that are increasingly in demand on the market: bubbles and rosés, with many companies dedicating themselves to them with ever greater conviction. “There is a widespread quality which is increasingly expanding - explains to WineNews, Gigi Brozzoni, curator of "I Vini di Veronelli" - with companies that prefer to reduce quantities rather than lower the quality level". Therefore, if the consumer was betting on the crisis to grab the best labels at lower costs, he'd better give up, because the prices of quality wines have remained more or less stable.
In this picture, the “difficulties for Chianti Classico are confirmed – says Brozzoni- , among the Tuscans the one that suffers the most, because for local companies it is never the most important label, the top of the range on which to focus strongly, with the consequence that it is difficult to reach important qualitative peaks: the because it's simple, the wineries focus a lot on their names and very little on the prestige of the appellation”.
Remaining in Tuscany, goes much better to Brunello di Montalcino, capable of "finding serenity in the way of working, even if the 2007 vintage perhaps lacks a little imagination and courage, while everyone has tried to stay within very classic and traditional limits". The Nobile di Montepulciano experiences an even different situation, "where a precise identity is still lacking, there is too much diversity, and the companies themselves are often discontinuous". Among the territories that this year most confirm the expectations, Brozzoni has no doubt : at the top is "Etna, which is proving to be a huge territory, but there are many southern regions that have rediscovered an original and autonomous way of expressing oneself».
Read the news on stamptoscana.it
