Have any Fodorites been to Montalcino this spring? If so, has there been a drastic change in Brunello availability / price in light of the growing scandal over addition of other varietals?

In case one does not know or understand what 64driver is posting about here in an article from the International Herald Tribune regarding this subject.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/...23brunello.php

And no 64driver, I do not know if there is an increase in price or not but I wouldn't be surprised if there was.

Italian olive oil has been found to have been tampered with also..other oils added which are not from olives. And for a long time a lot of olive oil stating produced in Italy merely means the olives are made into olive oil in Italy but the olives are NOT from Italy but rather from other countries.

Same problem with shoes, purses etc., marked "made in Italy". They are not always the quality that most people think of when seeing "made in Italy". A long story that has been talked about here on Fodor's.

I do understand the issue with descriptions, single varietals and the arguments over "tampering etc", but it does seem strange to me that makers have been illicitly "blending" Brunello with other grapes to more suit the pallet of certain customers

As Brunello has a high price tag €20+ a bottle, it appears that in general people are prepared to pay far more money for a wine they don't actually like as much as a cheaper version. Is it snob value? Expectations (The critics all rave about this, so if I don't like it, there must be something wrong with me) ?

I think there is undoubtedly "snob appeal" surrounding Brunello, but I pay a lot for it because I love the wine, and I love the idea and place it represents- a completely "organic" product, very typical of its region. I certainly don't drink it every day at the prices it fetches, but consider it a "special occasion" treat that brings back some treasured memories.

Some producers have already decided to declassify their wines (kind of an admission of guilt on some level I suppose) and these bottles will sell for less than they would have if they were labeled Brunello.

I've found that I often prefer a top quality blend that utilizes the sangiovese grapes over the
the single variety like Brunello. Even Vino Nobile di Montepulciano producers (80% sangiovese?) are doing much more blending to taste, which I think is a good thing.

Interesting, I found that wine prices at local supermarkets (Spar, Conad, etc) were cheaper than at the actual wineries or their affiliated wine shops in town. Same bottle, same vintage, up to 20% less. (random price sampling, AFTER I bought (happily) at winery).

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Interesting, I found that wine prices at local supermarkets (Spar, Conad, etc) were cheaper than at the actual wineries
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that's typical. customers are far less price sensitive when they are visiting a winery as opposed to comparing labels in a supermarket. when people go out of their way to visit a winery they are hardly bothered if the 'souvenir' bottle costs €18, 20 or 24.

willit, i would not blame the customer (even those 'certain' customers). tastes evolve and it's clear that the brunello 'brand' is out of step with the market needs. they had many different strategic options for addressing different tastes in the marketplace but they chose to cheat. now they have done great damage to their brand and they will need to pay the consequences. i have no sympathy and the customer bears no responsibility for this PR disaster.

I just learned that Argiano has declassified their brunello and will sell it at a 10% discount. As one "wag" said, "Raising the price 20% and then discounting it 10% is not so painful".

The battle (Brunellopoli) wages on! More news to follow. Cin Cin

"I love the wine and I love the idea and place it represents- a completely "organic" product, very typical of its region."

Completely organic??? You've got no idea.

Chemical fertilizers, weed killers, insecticides, and other synthetic chemicals are used to produce wine.

Even an organic wine in Italy (defined as "a wine made from organically grown grapes”) is allowed to contain up to 60 ppm of added sulphites.