Thursday, Jan. 31, 08

The Magic and Myth of Italy’s Brunellos

Count Cinzano releases Brunello di Montalcino wines in Miami

By Danny Brody

Count Cinzano is confident that Miamians will like his wines.

Wine Spectator ended 2007 with a headline screaming “Wine Auction EXPLOSION,” a look into the rapidly rising prices of great vintage wines at auction.

In just three years, Bordeaux prices are up 63 percent, Burgundy 49 percent, Rhone 80 percent and California a stunning 85 percent. The marquee didn’t mention Italian wines, up a modest 33 percent — an eye-catching figure for anyone looking for values among the world’s premium wines.

While many collectors seek out “cult” wines such as the Sassicaia 1985 (which averages almost $2,000 a bottle and got a big push from the movie Sideways) and hip, younger wines such as the 2001 Super Tuscan Masseto (released at $250 a bottle and now fetching almost $800 a bottle), the solid Brunello di Montalcinos, from Tuscany's ever-underrated Sangiovese grape, maintains a quality and consistency that bodes not just great investment opportunities, but great-tasting wines.

While Chianti has been using the Sangiovese grape for centuries — some might even say abusing it in the not-too-distant past — Brunello masters in Montalcino, Italy, have begun a quiet revolution that’s resulted in some of the most earthy and bitter-sweet exponents of the sometimes violet-scented wine.  Many are not familiar with the fruit and herb notes of this wine, because its best examples, such as the classic 1997 vintage, aren’t ready for consumption for 10 years, and are at their best after 15 or 20. 

But today's winemakers in the beautiful hills in and around the medieval village of Montalcino want wine drinkers to become more familiar with their offerings right now. To that end, Count Francesco Marone Cinzano — owner of the highly respected Col d'Orcia estate and the new president of the Consorzio Vino del Brunello di Montalcino — has taken on the task of promoting his favorite wines to the grape-guzzlers in the United States, particularly in Miami. Count Cinzano, a real count whose family has been in the wine business for 400 years, describes Miami as “cosmopolitan — very American and very Caribbean as well.”

Brunello is simply “what we call the Sangiovese grape in Montalcino, which is a tiny village in the hills of Tuscany,” he explained. “Only the slopes of this proud, medieval village, which was an independent republic 700 years ago, can take these small, dark berries and produce this unique wine.”  It’s true that the Sangiovese grape has not necessarily traveled well; even the count’s own holdings in Chile are planted with more mainstream grapes. This is part of the magic and myth of the Brunello.  But like everything Italian, it always circles back to food. The real heroes of Italian wines, and their most recent resurgence in the United States, according to Count Cinzano, are the Italian chefs. “Whenever I speak about our wines, my first words are ‘thank you to the Italian chefs,’ he said. “Without their help and introduction of Italian wines, we would not be here today. The affinity between Italians and Americans starts with cooks in the U.S.” 

So I asked him what dishes he would pair with a Brunello, expecting the standard answer of, say, a T-bone steak. “I always recommend traditional Mediterranean ingredients, such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, juniper.” This makes sense because the Brunello’s smokiness goes well with these herbs. But since it also is a wine with a “high level of natural acidity, spicy dishes also work as well — Mexican food.” That also makes perfect sense because smoky moles and other rich spicy sauces of Mexican haute cuisine often cry out for a complex wine with a little bite. While today’s wine drinkers have returned to those that are “expressions of their production areas,” Count Cinzano said, “the food they eat with those wines can come from anywhere: South America, Asia, even Italy.”

International wine writer Hugh Johnson downplayed the 2003 harvest in Tuscany, but the count and his Brunello boys (and girls) take up the challenge.

“We are among the few producers who have reacted to climate changes by reducing maximum yields when necessary,” he said, which basically means harvesting fewer grapes, but getting more intense flavor from them. This vintage is not “powerful, but it is elegant and lean [not unlike the Count himself], and maybe, best of all, ready to be drunk right now,” he said.

Count Cinzano seems to enjoy stirring up controversy. He is bringing his 2002 Col d'Orcia Brunello Riserva, a vintage that, according to Johnson, is noted for its “dilution and widespread rot.”

“There have been some very poor reviews in the U.S. press, so I've decided to go against the tide and bring that vintage to Miami and let the people there decide for themselves.” How does he feel about such a risky gambit? “Confident,” he said. “Very confident.”