Heretical wine

Vespa and Masi’s Terreguinte project has created a maelstrom on the web. But can a marketing operation really be so scandalous?

The creation of a wine produced in tandem by journalist Bruno Vespa and Masi winery chief Sandro Boscaini, a blend of a wine based on Primitivo and the other a classic Verona blend of Corvina Corvinone and other local grapes, has created a maelstrom and a sea of polemics worthy of the best causes on the web. 

I, myself, have no particular interest in “rootless” wines, which are simply the result of technical and marketing decisions, but to take up arms denouncing some kind of wine heresy for such an initiative seems quite an exaggeration for me. After all, this is not the first time that two producers in different areas “play” with the idea of making a wine that is a blend of wines from their own estates. I can remember the excellent 50&50 wine from Avignonesi and Capannelle, respectively producers in Montepulciano and Giaole in Chianti. Then there were the 5 Autoctoni of Farnese and Quadratura del Cerchio from Roberto Cipresso, just to name the first that come to mind without doing much research, and I am sure there are many others in the world. These represent sporadic initiatives, divertissements, and are certainly not a threat to the orthodoxy of the system ensuring appellations, as come seem to fear.

To be honest, part of the uproar was caused by a naïve and imprecise press release in which they said the “blend” was one of an Amarone with a Primitivo di Manduria, respectively Costasera Masi and Raccontami from Vespa. The name of this heretical wine was Terragiunte. The statement was not only wrong but also illegal, because neither of the “base” wines had DOCG or DOC recognition from their respective tasting commissions nor were subjected to chemically analysis. The producer associations for both Amarone and Primitivo di Manduria protested because it was impossible to link Terragiunte, which is at most can be classified as an “Italian red wine”, with the more prestigious DOC and DOCG wines, at least from a legal and formal standpoint.  The law, in fact, states that you cannot use, without cause, the names of products with precise classifications on labels or in promotional initiatives, as was the case with the above-mentioned press release. The law exists and should be respected. 

 As for the wine of Vespa and Masi, some say that, in the distant past, a little Primitivo may have sometimes ended up in an Amarone. So why not just make an “official” recognition of such a phenomenon, producing a wine that does not have nor could ever claim to have an appellation but this time is made in a clear and legal way and not as a fraud as in the past? This would, among other things, end the hypocrisy of the custom of “everyone knows but…”? It is obvious that this is an image and marketing operation, dedicated above all to a non-Italian market, and so it is not, in my opinion, so scandalous. I am equally convinced that most of the criticism and accusations of wine heresy come from those who do not like Bruno Vespa for what he does in his professional career. Had this wine been made by someone like Gianfranco Fino using a few barriques of his Es and Celestino Gaspari adding his Zymé Amarone (they are two close friends who have even jokingly considered this), I do not think the reaction would have been so negative. What I would suggest is that one use their head and not get caught up in emotions and the desire to be outraged over something so minor.

 The wine is named Terregiunte, vintage 2016, and is produced in 13,000 bottles and 500 magnums, 100 hectoliters in all, equal to the amount made from two hectares of vineyards. Thus I cannot see this as a threat or even a major commercial operation for Vespa’s winery or, even more so, for Masi, which is a leading international brand. But it has grabbed the attention of the press, TV and the Web. And in a world where it is media exposure that counts, the accusation of being a heretic wine is just part of the game.