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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

US may block imports of Italian wine

Italian authorities last month seized hundreds of thousands of bottles of 2003 Brunello di Montalcino because of the suspected use by winemakers of grapes other than the Sangiovese, the only ingredient allowed in the premium Tuscan wine.

The allegations were first made in a news magazine report and the Agriculture Ministry has confirmed that hundreds of thousands of bottles of the wine have been seized by investigators.

A letter by the US Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to the Italian embassy in Washington said US customs authorities had been told to "withhold the release of all shipments" of the wine from June 9 unless Italy or importers could demonstrate only Sangiovese grapes were used.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The WineNews Corner

The European CMO (Common Market Organization) wine reform that will go into effect on August 1, 2008, is decidedly geared towards conservation, postponing the resolution of the root of the problems for European wine. Nevertheless, there are a few comforting efforts towards transparency, like the formalizing within the EU of a ban on vinifying and/or mixing wines and musts that come from other countries, as well as the more unscrupulous practices that are allowed in the New World.

This theme, often confronted on the website www.winenews.it, was also one of the central debates at Vinitaly 2008.

Kyle Phillips's Italian Wine Review

Wine Lovers Page