Italian officials – at the ministerial and ambassadorial levels – met with the head of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade unit (TT in the middle of October trying to get some relief for the producers of one of Italy’s most expensive wines – Brunello di Montalcino. 

It seems it didn’t work.

U.S. officials first banned the importation of the famed red wine last spring when Italian authorities started their own investigation into what the diplomats refer to as “mislabeling” and normal folks would call fake.  Under Italian rules – and those adopted by the European Union – Brunello di Montalcino must be made entirely of Sangiovese grapes. No Merlot. No Cabernet Sauvignon. Just Sangiovese. The Italians and the producers insisted on these rules to begin with. 

But, it seem someone in Italy noticed that there were just so many hectares of Sangiovese grape vines and there was no way that many vines could produce all those bottles. So they seized the production at five different producers while they investigated. The Italian press caught wind of the investigation and U.S. officials in Rome notified the folks back in DeeCee. 

U.S. Customs folks at TTB’s direction at first halted any imports. Now the U.S. represents 25 percent of Brunello di Montalcino market, so the move comes as quite a blow.  Then TTB said the Italian government was on the hook and it had to certify that any of the wines bearing the designation Brunello di Montalcino were in fact, 100 percent Sangiovese. 

As one TTB official, speaking off the record, told me that the agency wouldn’t have known anything about the adulterated wine and frankly, if the bottles were labeled properly – i.e. they said they also contained other grapes – they would have been allowed in. “We don’t care what you call it, so long as you label it properly.”

But, if the vintners admitted that the Brunello in question wasn’t 100 percent Sangiovese – they wouldn’t be able to: a) call it Brunello and b) command such high prices. Brunello di Montalcino, depending on the house and the vintage goes for about $60 and up a bottle. 

The Italian officials met with the TTB folks on Oct. 20 and tried to reassure the U.S. that the Italian Minister of Agriculture’s office “has taken fully responsibility for the integrity of all 500 Italian wine denominations and has ensured that none of the mislabeled products that have the subject of numerous press reports for months now are on the market.”

The Italians also said that a court case as a result of their investigation would be concluding shortly and that they’d provide the information on the final disposition to the TTB as soon as possible.

TTB’s response: Fine as soon as we get the prosecutors’ report we’ll evaluate it. Meanwhile, the certification rules remain in force, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.

Of course, the Italians had issued their own press release a week earlier saying that the issue had been closed.

The result is less clear than unfiltered wine.