Sylvia Poggioli (npr.org) writes:
A sluggish international economy and growing competition from Australia, Latin America and the United States, is forcing Europeans to try to re-assert themselves on the world market.
Nowhere more so than in Italy, where the new trend is a return to tradition. With many Italian producers of international wines being priced out of the market, a reliance on time-tested methods -- and local grapes, instead of more trendy merlots and cabernets -- is creating new excitement and opportunity.
Some wine producers are reviving the concept of territory: a wine that comes from a specific vineyard?, made year after year from native grapes: a synthesis of the soil, the climate and the farmer.
» Full Story (Big? thanks to Ryan for the reference!)
When I was in Italy earlier this year I spoke to a sommelier? who told me that whenever they host Vinitaly (annual wine show) there's also an anti-Vinitaly gathering that runs in conjunction to it.
It consists of an ever-growing group of wine makers that deliberately go against the commercial grain to produce low-volume, regionally-distinctive wines according to purely traditional methods.
The reason being that many of the more commercially produced wines go through substantial malolactic fermentation?? in an attempt to make them friendlier on the palate?, especially as an accompaniment to food. The consequence is that they all end up tasting (nearly) the same. The anti-Vinitaly movement is all about avoiding this flattening process and preserving the original characteristics of certain wines.
The whole thing is pretty? contentious over there, but not many people outside of the country are even aware of it.
In anycase, with all the care put into the average production of Italian wine, can you blame us for our blatant bias towards it at times?