Mayhem in Montalcino; Six Vintages of Soldera Brunello Destroyed

[jeremy parzen] gianfranco soldera in his celler; Sept. 2010Members of the wine community and lovers of Brunello were saddened when the first report came that a recent act of vandalism destroyed more than 60,000 liters of six different vintages of Gianfranco Soldera's Brunello. Sometime between Sunday the 2nd and Monday the 3rd, vandals broke into the Soldera estate and opened the valves of ten casks that were gracefully aging sangiovese. The casks in question were holding 2007 through 2012 vintages of what would become Soldera's "Case Basse" Brunello di Montalcino. Nothing was damanged or stolen, but the wine lost in the incident amounts to more than 80,000 bottles.

Brunello is the local name given to the sangiovese grape in the town of Montalcino in Tuscany, where Brunello di Montalcino is made. The wine requires producers to follow strict guidelines in order to label their product Brunello di Montalcino. In addition to exclusive use of 100% sangiovese grapes, laws require Brunello to age for a minimum of four years. Modern producers typically meet this requirement by aging their Brunello for two years in oak and two years in bottle. Mr. Soldera, an avid, outspoken traditionalist, holds steadfast to the first laws instated when Brunello di Montalcino became a DOCG in 1980.

DOCG is the highest quality assurance label for Italian wine. When Brunello di Montalcino was classified DOCG in 1980, the laws required three years of oak aging in large casks and an additional year in bottle. The laws changed in 1998 and allowed producers to age their wine in small oak barrels known as barriques and for two years instead of three. The presence of these small barrels has divided not just Montalcino, but all winemaking regions in Italy, into two camps: those who use them (modern), and those who do not (traditional). In 2006, Mr. Soldera told New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov, "If a producer puts wines in barriques, it’s because he has bad wine, without tannins." The aging process is a large part of the wine's hefty price tag, and in the case of Gianfranco Soldera, his strict adherence to tradition and his reputation as a legendary Brunello producer have created some of the most sought after Italian wine in Italy and abroad.

Astor Wines and Spirits is one of the city's premiere wine stores and one of the few that carries Soldera's Brunello. The store carries two vintages: 2004 ($397) and 2006 ($349), which is the current release. David Phillips is the sales manager at Astor Wines and, during a brief phone conversation, expressed his concern about the incident, stating, "It was a horrible act of vandalism against art." In terms of consumer reactions and price fluxuations, only time will tell, but Phillips made it very clear, "We would never take advantage of an incident like this and markup our wines."