A Tuscan search for finesse

Any time spent in Italy is a bonus and a few days earlier this month taught me a lot, not least about how downbeat most Italian wine producers seem to feel about the current market.

Montalcino has its own reasons for navel-gazing and uncertainty, not least the ramifications of Brunellogate. According to Roberto Guerrini of Fuligni, the effects on sales have been most marked within Italy, where presumably there has been the most detailed reporting of the minutiae of the scandal involving the illegal addition of varieties other than the traditional Sangiovese. Although he also pointed out that until 1980...